A review by florapants84
Hitler, My Neighbor: Memories of a Jewish Childhood, 1929-1939 by Bertil Scali, Edgar Feuchtwanger

4.0

"He's right in front of us, outside his building...I can see he's cut himself shaving, as my father sometimes does. He has blue eyes. I didn't know that. You can't see that in photos. I thought his eyes were completely black. I've never seen him so close up. He has hairs in his nose, and a few in his ears. He's shorter than I thought."—Edgar Feuchtwanger, aged 6

Gah! What a memoir! It's just about perfectly written. Through sensory memories, Feuchtwanger takes us back to his quiet, upscale neighborhood in Munich circa 1929-1939. In 1929, when he's five years old, Hitler moves into an apartment across the street from him. He can look out his window and look directly into Hitler's bedroom and study. In the beginning, the new neighbor is the main topic at the dinner table of Edgar's family, who are authors and/or work in the publishing field. Also a great topic of interest is Hitler's Mein Kampf, which is a bestseller in Germany at the time.

However, as each year goes by and Edgar's neighbor works his way up the political ladder, the number of visitors to Prinzregentenplatz 16 become more numerous as well as notorious. Security is beefed up, and most nights he can see Hitler's shadow across drawn curtains. What's he cooking up tonight? What change in agenda or policy will be altered on this night?

"It's cold outside. You can't walk along the sidewalk outside Hitler's house now because there are barriers and, behind them, soldiers standing to attention, watching the Mercedes cars in the street. I recognize the guards because I pass them every day, but they don't notice me, an invisible little Jewish boy. I've been walking past this building all my life, and I watch them closely. I imagine what it must be like being Hitler. I wonder what he eats for breakfast. I see his shadow pass behind a window frame. He hates us. He hates me. Without even knowing I exist."

Then one morning, he wakes up to news of the Nuremberg laws, and his world is systematically turned upside down. Everything about his routine, school, friendships change on a dime. Now he's not just Edgar, but he's a Jew.

"Ralph has the whole uniform, and after school he and some of the other boys do their exercises [Hitler Youth]. On Saturdays they go hiking in the country, and they're planning to camp out one night. I sometimes wonder whether I could leave my family and stop being a Jew, be just a German like the others. I'd like to be free to decide who I am and be friends with Ralph again. Maybe we'll be friends again tomorrow."

So wonderfully told and structured. I love how this could have been a dense historical memoir, but it wasn't. It was elegantly sparse in keeping with the age of the narrator at the time. His knowledge of the world and politics is what he gathers from scraps of adult conversations he overhears. By this, we can see the foreshadowing of events to come, and we can understand why his parents and nanny are concerned about the way the tide is turning in the government. Later as he matures, you can see him working things out for himself, learning about his identity and embracing it...and then getting mad! Highly recommend!