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A review by whatsnonfiction
Those Who Forget: My Family's Story in Nazi Europe – A Memoir, A History, A Warning by Géraldine Schwarz
3.0
I didn’t love this like I thought I would and I feel guilty about it because it seems like one of those books you really should appreciate and that has great historical and cultural significance. But it was just so dry in parts, it read like a textbook! I wasn’t sure I’d stick with it from the first few chapters alone. It does get better, but it was easy to lose the thread of who’s who from all the branches of her family — mother and father’s sides, grandparents from each, I don’t even remember who else. I was always confused. BUT it was completely worth it for the last couple of chapters, especially about the GDR/reunification of Germany and countries that haven’t done the memory work — everything she wrote about Austria is so true, I can’t believe what they’ve gotten away with and things I heard while living there. She writes that they “hid” behind Nazi germany’s crimes and the more unbelievable part of that is that it worked. Eventually they developed the FPÖ, a far-right party that currently governs in a coalition and helped give rise to a far-right party in Germany that’s the first to get as much support as it has since the nazis. When the FPÖ first gained seats in 2000, it drew negative attention worldwide; when they were re-elected in the coalition in 2017, hardly a stir. What she writes about the rise of right-wing populism across Europe, and of course, in America, which she also analyzed incisively, is very upsetting but important.
And her analysis of the refugee crisis and what Merkel had in mind when opening Germany’s borders was also excellent. Some of the bits describing her own experiences are lovely too, it’s just the majority that sort of walks through the Holocaust that was less captivating. I’ve read a lot in that area though, maybe if it’s a less explored subject it won’t feel as dull for others. I dunno. Aside from the last couple of chapters it felt like pretty standard, well-trodden ground history of this time.
And her analysis of the refugee crisis and what Merkel had in mind when opening Germany’s borders was also excellent. Some of the bits describing her own experiences are lovely too, it’s just the majority that sort of walks through the Holocaust that was less captivating. I’ve read a lot in that area though, maybe if it’s a less explored subject it won’t feel as dull for others. I dunno. Aside from the last couple of chapters it felt like pretty standard, well-trodden ground history of this time.