People's History

Lots of people think that history doesn't matter. But it really does, very much indeed.  None of us can be entirely sure where we're going, but we can be absolutely certain, whether we knew them or not, that we had parents, who also had parents, who also had parents, going back to the very dawn of time.  So something of each of us has lived through every era, as empires rose and fell, rulers lived and died and wars were won and lost.

I've just finished 'My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me', the story of how a black, German woman came to terms with the shock discovery that she was descended from Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth. Although raised in an orphanage, Jennifer Teege did have some contact with her mother and grandmother as a child, but neither woman ever gave any hint as to Teege's dark family history.  It wasn't until she was in her late 30s, a happily married mother of two, that she found out by chance when she picked up an unknown book by her mother in Hamburg's central library. Suddenly she finds herself plunged into the shadow of one of World War II's most notorious psychopathic killers, the Butcher of Plaszow in Poland, slaughterer of thousands of Jews - and her grandfather.  As Teege struggles to comprehend what this means for her, her family and her many Jewish-Israeli friends, she summons the courage to face this family skeleton head on.  But is it possible to come to terms with such a chilling discovery?

This book is gripping, uplifting and thought-provoking from beginning to end.  Written from Mrs Teege's perspective, interspersed with supporting sections by journalist Nikola Sellmair, it explores how both a person and a people have had to deal with a past they would rather forget.  Some deny it, some ignore it, but I have great respect for Mrs Teege as she decided to tackle it head on and not give the past power over the present.

I think that this would make an excellent reading group book.  There is much to discuss and think about here.  It's not really a book about World War II, it's a book about family, national guilt and coming to terms with a shameful past.

I found it gripping from beginning to end and would thoroughly recommend it.

Now, what next...

Related Links

'My Nazi Grandfather, Amon Goeth, Would Have Shot Me' (BBC News Magazine, 03/10/2013)

Book Details

'My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me' by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair.  Translated by Carolin Sommer.  Hodder & Stoughton, 2015. Originally published in Germany as 'Amon: Mein Grossvater hätte mich erschossen', 2013.

Treasure Trove

Considering I'm trying to read so many books, I think I've been pretty lucky so far.  I've only found a handful so unbearable that I've not finished them and have unearthed so many hidden gems that the project has often been a delight.

One such brilliant discovery is the latest book sent to me by Waterstones, 'Love and Treasure' by American author Ayelet Waldman.

'Love and Treasure' is the story of a stunning peacock-shaped pendant, three remarkable women and

'Love and Treasure'
by Ayelet Waldman
(Two Roads, 2014)

the men who loved them.  Interwoven with key political and social shifts in the last 100 years, this excellent book is set in three eras.  In 1945, the jewel is found by American soldier Captain Jack Wiseman among the vast contents of the Hungarian Gold Train, stolen from the Jews during World War II and now under his care.  As he falls in love with the determined concentration camp survivor Ilona, Jack finds himself torn between his personal sense of justice, the demands of his distant superiors and how unlikely the property can be returned to its rightful owners.  More than 60 years later, Wiseman's granddaughter, Natalie, has joined forces with Amitai Shasho, a specialist dealer in items seized by the Nazis, to return the unique jewel.  Amitai has recognised the piece from a lost painting he has spent a lifetime tracing. Together, they hope to find both the owner's descendants and the elusive artwork.  Finally, in 1913, a strong-minded young woman in Budapest is sent to a pioneering psychoanalyst after defying her family and pursuing her dream of a medical career.  A campaigner for women's suffrage, her passion and politics lead her into danger.  But how is she connected with the peacock pendant?

I found 'Love and Treasure' a fascinating page turner and incredibly hard to put down.  I was very sad to finish it.  I knew nothing about the Hungarian Gold Train before I started reading the novel and would now very much like to know more about it and this time period.  I always enjoy a book which lets me learn something new.

I felt that the part set in post-war Salzburg was the strongest, but moving between different times helped remind the reader that the dramatic events of one era often have their origins many years before and will cause ripples long into the future.  That is why history is important; it helps us understand why things are as they are and where they could lead.

The author has successfully written people not just characters, each with complex motivations and beliefs that felt authentic to their time period, no matter how ridiculous they look through 21st century eyes.  No-one could be classed wholly as a hero or villain, but all are conflicted and often naive and confused, trying to make good moral choices and judgements is a less than honourable world.  They were often torn between the just and the practical and it was easy to find yourself wondering what you'd do in the same situation.

My only criticism of 'Love and Treasure' is that I felt it needed some minor adaptation for the UK market, perhaps in the form of an added glossary.  Aspects of Jewish culture are not so well known here and I regularly had to reach for the dictionary to look things up, which obviously interrupted the narrative's flow.  Basically, a certain level of prior knowledge was presumed and, while US readers must be better informed on the subject, I think ordinary UK readers may struggle.

Overall, I thoroughly recommend this book and I hope to read more by this author in the future.  It is indeed a novel to love and treasure.

Now for something completely different!

Lost Properly?

I've just finished 'Little Boy Lost' by Marghanita Laski, one of Persephone Books' rediscovered 20th century classics.  How this gem of a novel remained buried until the early 2000s, I'll never know!

'Little Boy Lost'
by Marghanita Laski
(Persephone Books, 2001)

After the death of his Parisian wife in occupied France, English poet Hilary Wainwright is content to believe that his baby son perished with her.  But when an unexpected guest arrives with news that the child may still be alive, Hilary suddenly finds himself duty-bound to begin searching for his son.  Returning to France after the war, he reluctantly follows a trail through the corrupt and abused country, until he meets a little boy in a poor orphanage 50 miles from Paris.  Every day for a week, he gets to know the child, Jean, but remains torn between his selfish desire for intellectual solitude and his need to love and be loved.

'Little Boy Lost' is a beautifully crafted, well observed analysis of Hilary, a complicated man caught between his desire to secrete himself away in an intellectual ivory tower and properly grieve for his lost wife and son.  He's not particularly likeable, but he is a realistic, contradictory human being.  As a result, tension is created not just by the will-he-won't-he search for the lost little boy, but also by whether Hilary is actually likely to make a good enough father.

His potential son Jean absolutely broke my heart.  I know I'm a big softy, but I was so affected by this story that I cried my eyes out over this fictional child.  I think this was the result of the post-war setting; there are probably children like Jean left homeless and lost after every conflict and this tale deftly reminds the reader of   the innocent and often lifelong victims of war.

Overall, 'Little Boy Lost' is an absolute emotional rollercoaster which forces you to keep reading in the hope everything would turn out well, but never gives the slightest reassurance that it could.  Right until the final pages, I had no idea which way it would go and whether the rug would be pulled out from under me and my hopes dashed.  Having built up the tension over 219 pages, in the end the writer breaks it perfectly in just one line.

It may not be a cheery ride, but I would thoroughly recommend this book.  It's extremely well written, features interesting and complex characters and is a real lesson in suspense. I can't wait to read more by the author and find out what other treasures have been unearthed by the clever people at Persephone Books!