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texreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
The author’s father kept his life in Czechoslovakia secret from her, identifying himself as Venezuelan. When she learned from a complete stranger in college that her name was Jewish, she was shocked. With very few hints from her father, and a box he left her when he died bearing little information, she went on a search for how he came to be in Venezuela. This book is about her genealogical search, and her father’s and his family’s story during WWII. The prologue felt like I was about to read the author’s memoir, but it really settles into most specifically her father’s story and his family. It is very deeply researched and to the extent she could, she provided immense detail in a way that shed light on what life was like trying to survive Nazi occupation and concentration camp as a Jew. It was always revealing—always making the reader think: how would I survive this? The narrator was perfect for the audiobook. Her voice was calm and appropriate throughout the story. I’m also glad I checked out the ebook from the library at the same time because it has photos. A highly recommended read for both its apt approach to telling about a genealogical search and of course, describing a life of fear and survival in Nazi-occupied Prague.
sonialusiveira's review against another edition
4.0
3,5 stars
“If you want to be truly just in this life, when you see people who are weak, you must stand with them. Because you are strong, and it is the weak who need you more, not the strong.”
This book is a testament to the importance of staying curious and to have the tenacity to find answers for your questions. After her father's death, Ariana began her quest to find answer for her family history starting with the box full of letters left by her father.
I would have rated this book higher but to be honest, the first half of the book was very hard to follow. Since I was listening to the audio, it was very hard to follow when the transition of narratives happened; I often caught myself confused and have to repeat the chapter. But it is a story worth listening to or read. Hans Neumann was a very brave man to live right among the Gestapo with false identity. I usually love stories of such bravery (I mean, who doesn't) and I really wish Hans would've write his own book with bit more details. It is truly the part of the book that I wish to get more of. Nonetheless, Ariana did such a great job discovering her father's story and her extended family members and how her family was during the war.
“If you want to be truly just in this life, when you see people who are weak, you must stand with them. Because you are strong, and it is the weak who need you more, not the strong.”
This book is a testament to the importance of staying curious and to have the tenacity to find answers for your questions. After her father's death, Ariana began her quest to find answer for her family history starting with the box full of letters left by her father.
I would have rated this book higher but to be honest, the first half of the book was very hard to follow. Since I was listening to the audio, it was very hard to follow when the transition of narratives happened; I often caught myself confused and have to repeat the chapter. But it is a story worth listening to or read. Hans Neumann was a very brave man to live right among the Gestapo with false identity. I usually love stories of such bravery (I mean, who doesn't) and I really wish Hans would've write his own book with bit more details. It is truly the part of the book that I wish to get more of. Nonetheless, Ariana did such a great job discovering her father's story and her extended family members and how her family was during the war.
vbayman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
namsmommy09's review against another edition
4.0
This was the emotional story of how one young woman found her father's story. In boxes and old letters, even from strangers, Neumann found her father's story, how he survived the occupation and Holocaust when so many of his family members were murdered. It was not only an amazing story (her father's) but also amazing in the way she got to find it. Great story!
sjgrodsky's review against another edition
5.0
I am usually meticulous about setting the start and end dates, but I am entering this Goodreads record long after I’ve completed reading the book. Start and end dates are estimates.
Another heartbreaking Holocaust memoir, of a prosperous happy family that is destroyed, though two members, the author’s father and uncle, survive and remake their lives.
Two stories stand out for the sheer nerveless courage demonstrated. One character, Zdenka, a Christian married to the author’s uncle Lotar, sneaks into the Terezin concentration camp to bring life-saving supplies to her mother-in-law. This is perhaps the boldest of her many forays, but she risked her life every day merely remaining married to a Jew.
The other story concerns the author’s father, who obtains false identity papers, moves to Berlin, and survives the war as a chemist in a paint factory. What does it cost you, when you are in your 20s, to leave everyone and everything you know and venture into the heart of enemy territory?
But Hans made it work, survived, moved to Venezuela after the war, founded several successful businesses, remarried, and had a daughter who wrote his story.
The story repeats a theme I’ve seen in other Holocaust memoirs: the individual members of a couple manage to survive (often by being apart for long periods) but their marriage does not survive after the Holocaust.
Zdenka and Lotar both survive the war, but ultimately divorce. Why, you have to wonder, after sticking with her Jewish husband through the worst days possible, does she leave him then, when they could enjoy a quiet life in Switzerland? The story is that Zdenka had fallen in love with another man, and so initiated the divorce. But that second marriage lasts only a few years. Zdenka’s daughter reveals that her mother regretted divorcing Lotar, but this was late in life and far too late.
The authors father, Hans, also marries the Christian woman, Mila, who’d stood by him during the war. They move together to Venezuela. And that marriage also breaks apart. Hans remarries a Venezuelan woman whose daughter, Ariana, is the author.
And so we see the long shadow of the Holocaust. Broken marriages, children growing up without extended family, parents who wake their children with screams when nightmares disturb their sleep, parents who cannot bear to tell their children what happened.
Another heartbreaking Holocaust memoir, of a prosperous happy family that is destroyed, though two members, the author’s father and uncle, survive and remake their lives.
Two stories stand out for the sheer nerveless courage demonstrated. One character, Zdenka, a Christian married to the author’s uncle Lotar, sneaks into the Terezin concentration camp to bring life-saving supplies to her mother-in-law. This is perhaps the boldest of her many forays, but she risked her life every day merely remaining married to a Jew.
The other story concerns the author’s father, who obtains false identity papers, moves to Berlin, and survives the war as a chemist in a paint factory. What does it cost you, when you are in your 20s, to leave everyone and everything you know and venture into the heart of enemy territory?
But Hans made it work, survived, moved to Venezuela after the war, founded several successful businesses, remarried, and had a daughter who wrote his story.
The story repeats a theme I’ve seen in other Holocaust memoirs: the individual members of a couple manage to survive (often by being apart for long periods) but their marriage does not survive after the Holocaust.
Zdenka and Lotar both survive the war, but ultimately divorce. Why, you have to wonder, after sticking with her Jewish husband through the worst days possible, does she leave him then, when they could enjoy a quiet life in Switzerland? The story is that Zdenka had fallen in love with another man, and so initiated the divorce. But that second marriage lasts only a few years. Zdenka’s daughter reveals that her mother regretted divorcing Lotar, but this was late in life and far too late.
The authors father, Hans, also marries the Christian woman, Mila, who’d stood by him during the war. They move together to Venezuela. And that marriage also breaks apart. Hans remarries a Venezuelan woman whose daughter, Ariana, is the author.
And so we see the long shadow of the Holocaust. Broken marriages, children growing up without extended family, parents who wake their children with screams when nightmares disturb their sleep, parents who cannot bear to tell their children what happened.
piedwarbler's review against another edition
5.0
Quite a stunning piece of work, and, for me, a fresh perspective on the Holocaust by a writer who investigates a family mystery to discover that her father was in Berlin during WWII during the worst of the Nazi atrocities. Most of her relatives died in Terezin or Auschwitz, and yet, — and yet, her father demonstrated incredible courage in travelling under false papers to Berlin: “the shadow is darkest underneath the candle’s flame”, where he works to provide secrets to the allied forces. Ariana Neumann, in turn, shows incredible fortitude in confronting the most harrowing details of her family’s lives.
Several times while reading this book I felt that time stopped, while I paused, in order to try and assimilate the magnitude of the events about which I was reading. Opening a box your father has left after his death, to find letters from Terezin, from your grandparents, when you had had literally no idea that they had been sent there. I can’t imagine how this must feel.
I’ve read Alone in Berlin, and Anne Frank’s Diary, and If This is a Man, and this book stands alongside them as a testament to the events of the war in Europe. How other reviewers can say it is not a powerful enough piece of work utterly baffles me. It stopped me in my tracks many times.
I am left with the image of Hans hiding in the factory all day, sitting, silent, feeling that time had stopped.
This book is a warning. I urge you to read it.
Several times while reading this book I felt that time stopped, while I paused, in order to try and assimilate the magnitude of the events about which I was reading. Opening a box your father has left after his death, to find letters from Terezin, from your grandparents, when you had had literally no idea that they had been sent there. I can’t imagine how this must feel.
I’ve read Alone in Berlin, and Anne Frank’s Diary, and If This is a Man, and this book stands alongside them as a testament to the events of the war in Europe. How other reviewers can say it is not a powerful enough piece of work utterly baffles me. It stopped me in my tracks many times.
I am left with the image of Hans hiding in the factory all day, sitting, silent, feeling that time had stopped.
This book is a warning. I urge you to read it.
nicjohnston's review against another edition
5.0
Wowsers. What a book.
Ariana Neumann was left a box of papers by her enigmatic father whose wartime past is something of which she knows almost nothing. Uncovering his incredible story and telling the true story of her extended family amidst Nazi occupation, we follow each of their journeys with breathtaking pace. Peppered with photos and documents which brings the narrative to life, this book is a very special collation of horrific events, love and loss.
Ariana Neumann was left a box of papers by her enigmatic father whose wartime past is something of which she knows almost nothing. Uncovering his incredible story and telling the true story of her extended family amidst Nazi occupation, we follow each of their journeys with breathtaking pace. Peppered with photos and documents which brings the narrative to life, this book is a very special collation of horrific events, love and loss.
flannieb's review against another edition
4.0
This one started slowly for me. But once I got into it, I became so attached to the people. The author’s did a wonderful Job with her descriptions and her storytelling. What a traumatic story. I finished it in tears.