A review by samstet
Hitler, My Neighbor: Memories of a Jewish Childhood, 1929-1939 by Bertil Scali, Edgar Feuchtwanger

5.0

This book was life changing. I used it as a primary source in my history paper about the Jewish experience is Nazi classrooms. It doesn’t really focus on that though. It’s the memoirs written after the fact by someone who as a boy lived in the heart of Berlin, coincidentally across the way from Hitler. Now, one reviewer did not like it cuz they thought they didn’t learn anything about Hitler and wwii. While this is written by a historian (professor, not pop historian). It’s written more as a primary source. I found it moving and touching to read the experiences of someone in their day to day lives. The beauty is in the reflections and details Feuchtwanger reveals to us. He personally deals with the effects of Nazism and anti-semitism. This is one of my all time favorite (though rather sad) books. (Also don’t always trust goodreads reviews for academic books (memoirs count imo) so check the state of the field)