pickThis book is part author‘s memoir,intermingled with discussions & interviews with her grandmother,Helga, archival material from Nazi &Jewish organizations,family mementos,letters,files,& journals her father kept.She writes,”For…Helga, remembering has become a sport– race against oblivion”(21).The author‘s great grandparents & one son perished in a concentration camp.The other son Hans,hides in plain site with his later adopted grandfather,Pepi.⬇️
kspenmoll ⬆️ in Vienna. After the war, Hans & his wife Helga become physicians & try life in the United States with his family, but after a year they return to their beloved Vienna, as they miss family,culture,the language & the city.The author experiences the same reaction after spending a year as a NYC reporter.She too misses the family closeness & weekly dinners,the city‘s culture & home to her family for generations.So she goes back to Vienna & her⬇️ (edited) 2mo
kspenmoll ⬆️ Grandmother‘s home.With her grandmother she tours places of meaning to Helga:old homes sites,some since bombed out & rebuilt, Theresienstadt concentration camp,which her grandmother survived,Terezin,the small town where the camp was located & she saw its people watching them farm,the Aspang train station from which most Viennese were deported.Like many Jewish people, her family were not religious, but viewed themselves as Viennese Austrians. (edited) 2mo
tpixie @kspenmoll this sounds very interesting. I have a historical fiction novel on my TBR about that camp![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
The Girls of the Glimmer Factory: A Novel 2mo
The Girls of the Glimmer Factory: A NovelSee All 6 Comments
kspenmoll @tpixie that book sounds fascinating! 2mo
tpixie @kspenmoll I did enjoy it. More great research by this author.Cradles of the Reich: A Novel 2mo
Cradles of the Reich: A Novelkspenmoll #14books14weeks #week5 6d
