Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival

Product Information

While personal drama drives the story, there is much of contemporary relevance. The author tells us that the global turmoil of the last decade has shaken his former confidence that we are perpetually safe from the fate that befell his parents. When he writes that their tormenters, both Nazi and Soviet, “believed the will of the people was being thwarted by elites, and that the individuals who made up the elites needed to be eliminated by force”, it’s not hard to hear the echoes today. But tragically, despite “all the truth-telling combating all the lies”, Hitler still came to power, destroying Alfred’s “romantic idea” of “the liberal values he associated with his country’s better nature”. There’s an echo here of Clive James’s haunting ode to Viennese cafe culture in Cultural Amnesia: “For the Jewish intelligentsia, cultivated to the fingertips, it was very hard to grasp the intensity of the irrationality they were dealing with – the irrationality that was counting the hours until it could deal with them.” If like Finkelstein’s mother’s family, for example, you’ve fled Berlin because it’s no longer safe to be Jewish there, and you’re in Amsterdam, living close to Anne Frank, once war breaks out, are you better off in the Netherlands or in Britain? Now we know the answer, but Finkelstein’s skilful use of dramatic irony helps us see that at the time, smart people could conclude that the Netherlands was the better place to be and so stayed put – with disastrous consequences. It is impossible to find words adequate to describe the demonic and barbarous brutality meted out to the extended family and to the millions of other Jewish people . The dreadful facts and statistics are well known but I found the greatest strength of these 12 hours to be the haunting minutiae of the family’s lives.

Daniel's father Ludwik was born in the Polish city of Lwow, now Lviv, the only child of a prosperous Jewish family. In 1939, after Hitler and Stalin carved up Poland, the family was rounded up by the communists. His grandfather Dolu was arrested and disappeared, while his 10-year-old father and grandmother were sent to Siberia, working as slave labourers on a collective farm. They somehow survived starvation and freezing winters, living in a house they built from cow dung, but always hoping to be reunited with Dolu. This is a hard book to review because it is such an emotional read. This book was interesting in that it covered the two families. It is also a huge reminder, that the Holocaust happened, and it wasn’t pretty. I always go into a nonfiction book expecting to learn one new fact, and I was able to in this one so I consider that winning. I loved how emotionally invested I was able to get about two families I’ve never once met. The holocaust was a huge tragedy, and the things that Jewish people were forced to go through was abominable. The fact that anyone survived is a miracle. I didn’t quite understand before that Stalin was so involved with the killing of all these people, but the book did a fantastic job of explaining the involvement. Despite being such a fantastic story, I felt that the middle dragged a little for me, and I think some unnecessary details that didn’t really add to the story, should have been left out. Daniel Finkelstein reads the final part of his heartrending memoir of his parents' experiences of persecution, resistance and survival during WWII, this week following his father's story at the hands of Stalin. These projects need our support. After the war, my grandfather found it hard to get support for his work, with many people openly wondering what the point was. They don’t wonder now.It is an important book and joins the contemporary Holocaust books of Philippe Sands and Jonathan Freedland. In fact there is a recording of a conversation between Daniel Finkelstein and Philippe Sands at the Hay Festival talking about the book this summer on Hayplayer. From longstanding political columnist and commentator Daniel Finkelstein, a powerful memoir exploring both his mother and his father’s devastating experiences of persecution, resistance and survival during the Second World War. One theme in Finkelstein’s work is the futility of intellectual reasoning in the face of rabid irrationality. From 1919 onwards, Finkelstein’s maternal grandfather, Alfred Wiener, worked tirelessly to use logic to combat antisemitism, writing pamphlets and speeches that, among other things, “attempted to expose the contradictions of antisemites who blamed Jews for capitalism while simultaneously characterising them as communists”. You’re made to understand how even deeply intelligent and politically attuned people were caught unawares by war and genocide

Daniel’s grandfather was a German Jewish intellectual leader who warned the holocaust was coming. He relocated his family to Amsterdam for safety where they became close with Anne Frank’s family. They were eventually separated. This story is one of ingenuity, bravery, and coincidences. Daniel's father Ludwik was born in the Polish city of Lwow, now Lviv, the only child of a prosperous Jewish family. In 1939, after Hitler and Stalin carved up Poland, the family was rounded up by the communists. His grandfather Dolu was arrested and disappeared, while his father and grandmother were sent to Siberia, working as slave labourers on a collective farm. They somehow survived starvation and freezing winters, living in a house they built from cow dung, but always hoping to be reunited with Dolu. Daniel Finkelstein continues the heartrending memoir of his parents' experiences of persecution, resistance and survival during WWII, this week focusing on the story of his father's family at the hands of Stalin. Likewise, Ludwik's journey from a prosperous Jewish family in Poland to Siberia and then Kazakhstan under Stalin's rule is heart-wrenching. The sacrifices made by his family, their struggle against freezing winters and grueling forced labor conditions, highlight the resilience of the human spirit. Both sides of the family were remarkable. His mother’s parents, Alfred and Grete Wiener, were highly educated and bookish (Grete had a PhD in economics, a rare achievement for a woman in the 20s), and ran the world’s first and foremost research centre on the Nazi party, collecting vast amounts of documents that charted its rise. Meanwhile, in Poland, Finkelstein’s father’s family had built a hugely successful iron business, and lived a settled, happy life in a peaceful multicultural city.Jwes were not getting sufficiant amount of food there,everything were countable and people were getting weak. later on what happened every one were started thinking bout food,talking about food dreamt about food,even Grete has jotted down her favourite reciepe in paper. When Grete's birthday came in March 26, 1944,and she turned 49 year old lady then one of her friends gave her three potatoes in gift. So by keeping these little things from my own life, I am merely maintaining family tradition, staying true to my inheritance.

Working on the memoir of my parents that is shortly to be published ( Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival), I have realised two things. The first is that my habit is inherited. Mirjam, as an adult and survivor, also emerges as a woman of remarkable wisdom, someone who has seen the worst of humanity and chosen to represent the best. For instance, there is an ongoing controversy over the decision taken by the leadership of the Dutch Jewish community to work with the Nazis so as to avoid immediate retribution. Her response is the correct one: it was the Nazis’ fault. There is no value in blaming the victims for making one impossible choice over another.Likewise when Justin Bieber created global outrage for commenting in the visitors’ book at Anne Frank’s house that he hoped “ she would have been a belieber”, Mirjam defends him. The whole point about Anne was her ordinariness, someone who absolutely would have been a fan of a teen idol. In a world of perpetual outrage such calm reason from someone who had every right to play the victim is a balm. Today: after a harrowing journey across the Soviet Union, Daniel's father and grandmother find themselves in the freezing Siberian wastelands, trying to survive as slave labourers on a collective farm.

Grete were expecting palsetine exchange certificate so that she can save atleast Mirjam,Eva and Ruth,one can assume how worse situation would have been there.For any parents , seeing their children grow up is an emotional moment. There is a moment in that when Ruth is getting 16 years old and there is a very poignant conversation between mother Grete and Ruth. It is important to read this book to comprehend the humanity and the feelings of parents. I came to know more about the sympathiser’s life and their circumstances in which they have bengined towards the jews,whether it will be Lados group,Camille and Hugli's local people. Today: after being reunited, Daniel's grandparents and father, still now only 12, must find a way to live and to make sense of what happened to them at the hands of the communists... This book is all about the jews family who is survivors of holocaust, its all about the journey especially the story of parents who want to survive just because to keep safe of thier heirs. it is all about the hope,dream, psychology and himanity. through out the book one can say wow or some time one can dismay.Yep,its all about living thoughts which is invisible but you can feel it.

Daniel’s father Ludwik was born in Lwów, the only child of a prosperous Jewish family. In 1939, after Hitler and Stalin carved up Poland, Ludwik’s father was arrested and sentenced to hard labour in the Gulag. Meanwhile, deported to Siberia and working as a slave labourer on a collective farm, Ludwik survived the freezing winters in a tiny house he built from cow dung. Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad is a deeply moving, personal and at times horrifying memoir about Finkelstein’s parents’ experiences at the hands of the two genocidal dictators of the twentieth century. It is a story of persecution; survival; and the consequences of totalitarianism told with the almost unimaginable bravery of two ordinary families shining through. And when you are gone, your family will want to know these things about you, to be reminded of you.

Last on

Alfred Wiener's role as a German Jewish intellectual leader who recognized the impending Holocaust and became an archivist of Nazi crimes is both inspiring and chilling. His determination to safeguard his family and relocate them to safety in Amsterdam, where they formed a connection with Anne Frank's family, is a testament to the power of hope and human connection. Danny Finkelstein has written an elegant, moving account of the history of one family, and in doing so shines light on the history of the 20th century. If you want to understand Hitler and Stalin, read this book about people whose lives were upended by both of them’ ANNE APPLEBAUM, author of Gulag: A History, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Keeping things had been his profession. The main weapon of his war against fascism had been his collection of everything that the Nazis published and a record of all they had done and said. The Wiener Holocaust Library (thriving still in Russell Square) became the world’s leading centre of documentation of the Nazis.