Germany Books

Glen Yeadon, author of Nazi Hydra in America, had this to say about The Transfer Agreement:

I found it very boring--it was steeped with internal Jewish politics and very little about the actual negotiations with the Nazis or the actual deal and its results. It is geared to Jewish historians and only vaguely to the war and the Nazis... I liked IBM and the War against the Weak - both were good and I bought this one on the strength of the other two. It tried to remain neutral rather than to place the blame on the Zionists. For example, there was no mention of the Zionist who helped load the trains in Hungary to Auschwitz, who was hanged in Israel in the 50s. That type of material was neatly sanitized by omission.

This was an area of World History that I had no clue about prior to reading this book. This is indeed a tragic story of the plight of Jews in Europe during Hitler's regime. This book was so suspenseful I simply could not put it down. Black does an excellent job of engaging the reader and does not reveal the details of unfolding events until the last moment. Simply WOW!

As person who is not Jewish I think it is important for everybody to learn the lessons of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. However, equally important is that there were greedy and ideology zealots that contributed to the growth of the Third Reich via the Transfer Agreement, i.e., Sam Cohen and even Hoffien and Landauer. The Transfer Agreement was just that a business arrangement to transfer German Jews to Palestine in return German exports would be bought through Zionist entities to ensure the economic growth and wealth of Palestine. Moreover, what was incredibly stunning was the ability of the 18th Zionist Congress to go against the international boycott movement by suppressing the Revisionists- strong arming them into abandoning their ideology.

This makes me wonder what would have happened if the boycott prevailed and the Third Reich "cracked"? Would there still be a Germany today? Would we even have had the Holocaust? I know it may sound harsh and I am sure I will be labeled an anti-Semite because of this, but the reality is according to Black, the Zionists contributed significantly to the rise of the economic and military might of the Third Reich.

This book is simply a phenomenon in and of itself. It completely forces one to reshape how they view events during that time period. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about a different dimension of relationships between the Third Reich, German Jews, and Zionists. This will definitely throw you off and have you thinking for days. Definitely one of my top 10 books of all time.

Readers of this book must be going out of their way to avoid its nightmarish implications; even the author sidesteps them. Indeed, the book is mis-titled. It should properly have been called 'The Great Boycott and its Tragic Abandonment.' The transfer agreement was simply the rationale for the staggering historic blunder whereby Jewish organizations in the diaspora allowed themselves to be persuaded by Zionist forces to puncture the spontaneous and swelling worldwide Jewish boycott of German goods taking place in 1933, a movement with enormous and growing non-Jewish support as well, which, had it been supported rather than undercut by major Jewish organizations, could very well have toppled Hitler from power by the spring of 1934. Not only would this have spared 5-6 million Jewish lives, it would have spared another 45 million or so non-Jewish lives lost in the Nazi holocaust. I once believed like many that the Holocaust led to the fulfillment of Zionism; this book shows rather that it was the fulfillment of Zionism which led to the Holocaust. And it was all for nought. Israel would still have come into being and moreover would have had several million extra potential immigrants to draw from. This book is all about a simply horrific wordwide catastrophe that resulted from an incredibly BAD choice based on ethnic nationalism, and it is made instead to appear as merely a somewhat sordid chapter re. a road to nationhood that featured a few nasty bumps along the way. Mind-boggling!

I cannot praise the author, his research, his explanations and his writing enough for this singular tome. Like other reviewers have said, the reader goes into this book, whether Jewish or not, with their mouth open at the incredibility of this occurence. It's easy enough in hindsight to make judgement calls about what the the leaders of the Jewish community world-wide should have done about Hitler's rise to power. However, given the economic situation of the time and the Reich's strategems to place all blame for Germany's economic hardships on the Jews throughout Europe, it's hard to determine that even had the massive boycotts been organized and on schedule, would they have work? And even more important, if Hitler was ousted due to the economic stranglehold on Germany,who or what would have taken his place? And would that have been any less devastating for the Jews in Europe.

There are few obvious heros and anti-heros in this book, except for the Nazis as being the ultimate in villains. One man paid dearly for his attempts to save European Jewry...with his life. It was not conclusive as to whome the assassins were and who put out the price on his head. It's all too easy to blame the reactionary groups, but there are obvious questions about whether his death was one of convenience so that blame could be placed by the leading group of Mapai at the door of the reactionary Jewish groups.

Sam Cohen was a businessman through and through. His reasoning to press The Transfer agreement was purely motivated by money, and not the need to either save European Jewry or to establish Israel as a separate state. It is this 'selling' of the agreement by so many that is so mind-boggling. So many were willing to take the wealth of German Jewry (and later the funds that were supposed to be used to save the lives of Jews who had no homes or businesses to return to) and use it to set up a home in Palestine...it's beyond my ability to pass judgement on these men as to their motivation, yet I am not certain I could possibly decide to shake the hands of these men. The fact that there was a need to set up a Jewish state, and that there was all this money to fund its establishment is beside the fact. At no other time, was any other method even considered to rescue the millions of Jews trapped, even the children...this is so reprehensible as to curdle anyone's blood.

And though this happened, our countries, including the U.S. and Britain were equally at fault for closing immigration quotas, even though they knew what was going on in Germany. It was easier to merely close their eyes and ignore The Holocaust, until it became obvious that no one was safe from Hilter and his cronies.

This story is just so incredible that I wish there was some way to make it into a movie that does the story justice. I don't suppose that is a possibility. But it is a tremendous story that needs to be included in European history, as it's impact was great. Edwin Black did a fantastic job. (...)

Researchers have recently unearthed `directives' sent from Heinrich Himmler to Dachau, and Mauthausen concentration camps to the effect that all inmates were to be bathed in showers providing insecticides, their heads cleared of hair, their heavy garments that bore Wool Collars were to be burned outright. The reason for such directives was to prevent lice, and leprosy from spreading among all other inmate prisoners.

Gypsies, Polish, Slavs, Soviets (Christians and Jews) who had been incarcerated during the war and routed into the five main Concentration Camps, {which had been established throughout the years 1933 to 1939}, were in their majority suffering lice parasite, notably on youngsters. Himmler ruled "they should be showered in insecticides twice per week in order to remove the nits attached to their hair - difficult to remove without specialized products."

Many inmates were homosexuals' prisoners of war, suffering from venereal diseases - transmissible. This parasite was widely spreading at the time Germany was lacking enough doctors to take care of the prevention process or even to guard against casual means of transmission.

Most doctors were preoccupied with war related engagements; on their priority list was first and foremost to take care of injuries from battles, research, and the last was to worry about concentration camps per se, unless in absolute emergencies like `fear that certain virus might not be contained and would be causing widespread damage'.

In very few pages of this book did the author speak of Concentration Camps - dispersed on ten pages? Even there he did it casually in the context that ""workers were rushed to construct a mysterious political concentration camp at a pastoral village called Dachau...."" """Every train entering Denmark was crowded with German Jewish refugees..""" indicative that the `Transfer' from Germany to Palestine (in transit through neutral Europe - France had fallen by then) gives credence to this book.

Perhaps written books on the `Pogrom' will soon be revisited and be traced back with more up to date material on these most fateful human tragedies of WWII.

Setting aside the technical aspects of the research and the depth of this book, it alters how you feel about the German Jewish experience. Even though most of us will never experience the kind of wealth and privilege that accompany the Warburg family - it is expertly portrayed in this book - you're feelings about the German Jewish experience will change. The book is about a family and their achievements and tragedies that are dramatically effected by the events of the 20th century. For everyone interested in connecting with the feelings of your ancestry and understanding a piece of the financial history of modern America, this is a compelling book. It will help you take on depth, compassion, understanding and an abiding sense of sadness and tragedy at what happened to the Jewish families in Germany. It also leaves you with a sense of wonder at the durability of this family and their accomplishments.

This great novel-like biography makes one almost feel like a member of the Warburg family (which Chernow correctly determined was a family worth reading about). On the side, this book also provides a nice history of Zionism and gives a seemingly accurate flavor of the early twentieth century experience of German Jews (and more generally of accomplished immigrants to America around the turn to that century). Chernow's verbal precision makes his writing a pleasure to read, but also limits the pace - so set aside a lot of time and enjoy!

They were minor Court Jews. Money-lending was created by anti-semitic barriers. Court Jews identified with authority figures. Ancestors moved to Altona, an area under Danish rule. It was near Hamburg. In 1773 a Warburg moved to Hamburg.

The Warburgs were nearly incestuous in an attempt to keep the banking riches in the family. They suffered from manic-depression and schizophrenia. The Warburgs engaged in empire building by courtship. The Hamburg ethos was sombre and middle class. The Warburgs and Schiffs made a matrimonial alliance in 1895. The Warburgs were strategic, as it turned out, but they did not engage in arranged marriages.

Paul Warburg, the husband of Nina Loeb, was never at home on Wall Street. He became a great theoretician of central banking. Felix Warburg, to the consternation of his father-in-law, Jacob Schiff, built a Gothic mansion on Fifth Avenue. Lillian Wald's settlement house on Henry Street was founded by the Schiffs and the Loebs.

Aby Warburg of Hamburg, a private scholar, established the Warburg Library. Aby was a pioneer of interdisciplinary study. Paul Warburg, located in America, worked after the crash of 1907 for banking reform with Nelson Aldrich. The Aldrich Plan of 1911 called for a National Reserve scheme. Many of the ideas survived in the Federal Reserve Act. In 1914 Paul Warburg began to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. Felix Warburg headed the Joint Distribution Committee for Jewish charities.

After the First World War Aby experienced periods of madness and luciditiy. Max Warburg traveled to America to meet with government leaders to explain the need for the reduction of reparations and the hyper-inflation troubling Germany. Erwin Panofsky and Ernst Cassirer were professors at the university in Hamburg that Aby and his brothers helped to found. Aby was treated at the clinic of Ludwig Binswanger. Freud took a personal interest in Aby's case. Aby left Kreuzlingen, the clinic, for good in 1924. His breakdown had dated from 1918. Aby died in 1929. His associates Gertrud Bing and Fritz Saxl brought out the first two volumes of his collected writings in 1932. Kenneth Clark has stressed his importance to art scholarship.

Felix supported Jewish farm settlements in Soviet Russia until they were taken over by the state in 1930. Paul Warburg had never believed in perpetual prosperity. Paul's advice had cushioned the Warburgs in the crash, (they had moved out of stocks). Paul issued public warnings in March 1929 foreseeing the crash and the Depression.

In Germany Max, in Hamburg, treated the fortunes of Felix and Paul as bank reserves. Paul lost his fortune upholding the Warburg honor. Max had been tempted to overextend by his imaginary safety net. THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY published Jimmy Warburg's poetry. He was Paul's son. Paul had tended to be straitlaced. Paul died in 1932. The Warburgs did not believe they would be driven from Hamburg. In 1933 the Warburg Library was moved to England. Kristallnacht ending Max's stay in Germany. He and his family ended up in the United States. His brother Fritz was detained and his passport was revoked. Finally he and his wife were permitted to leave for Sweden. Max's daughter Lola was one of the people in England devising the Kinder Transport program.

Eric Warburg, Max's son, saw Hamburg again in 1945. It had been half destroyed by saturation bombing. Eric and his son Max did resume banking careers in Hamburg. Unconnected institutions under the influence of other members of the Warburg family existed in London and New York. The book is fabulous. It is a family saga describing an array of interesting and very brave people.

This was a great book to read and a very interesting story about one of banking's oldest and greatest families. It was wonderfully written and has numerous insights on what it takes to be a success. Ron Chernow seems to have an eye for picking out the important little details as well as giving the reader a great sense of the big picture. Also some great history lessons about WWII. It gave me a view of the war which I hadn't seen before from Jews who were at the top of the economic scale. The history lesson was worth the entry fee. Highly recomended!

I didn't think a book about the Warburg Dynasty could be all that interesting: How wrong I was! I enjoyed every page by this delightful author who can turn the most mundane item into juicy reading material. I savored every page. Excellent; may I also recommend "Titan" by Ron Chernow? It, too is an amazing biography filled with insight and powerful revelations about the world's richest man.

I happen to know that Terry Tillman was there before the Wall fell down and was a contributor to the peace process that undermined it and all the other "walls" that divide humanity.

This book is both a record of suffering and joy and a metaphor to inspire all of us in de-walling!

I kept this book in my living room for the last 3 years. This book is one of the things that connects me to the power of humanity, the natural order of the Universe and freedom.

This is my favorite Cold War book--Simple, powerful, great photos surrounded by great quotes from great people and the personal observations of a guy who was clearly moved by seeing the Wall come down.

The book The Writings on the Wall" by Terry Tillman was purchased in multiple quantity, and given to co-workers and friends. All enjoyed the "story" being told, AND shared by the writer. I highly recommend it.

I found this to be an absolutely beautiful book. The photographs are amazing and truley moving.

This is one of many Remarque's books, I have read. A friend of mine recommended him as a writer years ago, and I have been hooked. Oddly enough in High school in the US, only recently have I heard of his books as required reading and then only "All Quiet on the Western Front". I consider his work superior to Hemingway. To me his books are a genuine recreation of that time. (No, I don't really know, but he makes you feel like you are there).

DRINKING AND SMOKING ARE MAJOR SYMBOLS IN THIS AND IN MOST OF REMARQUE'S BOOK
One thing that struck me in this book and many others of Remarque's is how much drinking and smoking plays a part of the symbolism. They are props for the characters, in much as they were in real life at the time; drinking and the requisite cigarette to think with. To most American's, born in the last 50 years, this is the major anachronism in the book, the incredible role drinking and smoking play in people's lives. To people I know from Europe, this would not be as much of a surprise. The US non-smoking and drinking in moderation have not yet reached Europe yet. The drinking and smoking by any means, do not detract from the main story. This is a mature romance that captures your imagination none-the-less. I wonder what the props for this century will be; Maybe our cell phones and laptops?

MAIN CHARACTERS ARE ALL REFUGEES IN FRANCE
The main character is a refugee from Germany, a former well-known surgeon, forbidden to operate in France due to his questionable residency status. He moonlights by doing another surgeon's work. He is a haunted man, by both his past persecution in Germany and his unstable status in France. Hardly is this a good basis for a romantic situation that leads beyond living for the day.

RELATIONSHIP WAS NOT SO MUCH PURSUED BUT ONE OF OPPORTUNITY
He meets and helps the woman he is to fall in love with, under peculiar circumstances. He helps her with no intention to see her again. Time passes and he runs into her again. They fall into a peculiar relationship that uses "Calvados" an apple brandy as its symbol. For some reason this drink is frequently mentioned in books of the time. If it were now, I would say it was paid advertising.

ONE ODD TWIST
Only one twist and it is a major one in the story makes no sense to me, why it is included. I might be missing something, but the discovery and fate of the German officer, seems tacked on, added as an afterthought. If you read this story, let me know what you think. I don't see it is so much as part of the same thread, unless it is one of relationships concluded.

BASIC STORY
So as not to ruin the story, I will allude to the fact that the relationship develops and the hostilities of the times, intrude, both outside France and within. These events affect the relationship and the way it changes illustrates the characters of the people involved. The main character you follow with his observation of the things and people around him. You see his girl friend through his eyes and his Russian friend's eyes only. This is enough they are shrewd observers. It is apparent from this observation from day one that the events that eventually unfold were bound to happen.

As usual Remarque weaves a compelling and complete story.

An old favorite of mine.

A friend asked me to recommend a Remarque novel. We discussed 'All Quiet...'. My reply follows: 'Sure, in fact one of my favorites of Remarque's books is a thinly veiled portrait of Marlene Dietrich; or rather the intertwining of her life with his in Paris at the eve the period up to war in Europe, the year before the WW2 broke out.---
The English title is 'Arch of Triumph'. Like with all Remarque's books, the title is full of irony, and undercurrents of double meanings. Naturally, the book is not officially about Marlene, but she is hard to miss. Rather the book is personal,and has a good amount of autobiographical flavor. Yet, it is a captivating and suspenseful novel.

Like the two protagonists in the novel, Remarque and Dietrich were themselves at a desparate point in their lives in 1939.

Side comment: I am afraid that a lot is lost in the translation of Remarque's books. He only wrote in German, even when he lived in the US.

In any case, Remarque is a master of a suspenseful openings, in his novels. This one does not disapoint! Lots of his books are about refugee life of sorts. Another of Remarque's novels I often return to is 'Night in Lisbon', and it is again about escape from a Europe at high noon, just as Europe is going up in flames before WW2.' Review by Palle Jorgensen, September 2004.

I saw the movie with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, and found it incredibly dull. I thought maybe the book would be better. I was right, it was better, but it didn't thrill me or really move me the way All Quiet on the Western Front did. I am not sure if this is partly due to the fact that I read it when I was a bit tired.

I don't really have a lot to say. It's not a book that I can enthusiastically applaud, but I won't say it was horrible. I would advise you to just read it for yourself and decide whether you like it or not! : )

A piercing sorrow that momentary happiness drags on to an individual, an experience that would make everyday boredom look happy and idle, a passion that would never be quenched, someone's tears...

"I'd pretend that I'm a normal housewife... and that you are not in exile, you have a good passport and don't need to hide... and that I cry if you are not home, if only one night, and that we are always madly love in and jealous of each other even when we are old..."

It pounds your heart, and the charm that each individual shines like a precious gem, is never, never to be found by browsing through the superficial plot line. READ READ READ!!! The best book ever. (Perhaps surpassed only by Bronte sisters and Hesse.)

"Arch of Triumph" by Erich Maria Remarque is a wartime love story. This is the classic love story and anyone who reads it, will never forget it for the rest of her or his life. Snip: (...)

I did like the narrative and it gave me a glimpse into what went on inside the Bismarck and her crew. Many of the photograhs were a first for me. I especially liked Appendix D, "The Rudder Damage: Were all Possibilities of Repair Exhausted?". Apparently the Bismarck was doomed from the start, but this may have been hindsight on the part of the author.

As for Appendix F "A Break in the Code", the tome was written before information was released indicating that the British were indeed monitoring most, if not all, communications of the Kriegsmarine. I refer to the two volumes of "Hitler's U-Boat War" by Clay Blair. The Americans were also monitoring the movements of the Bismarck, possibly in violation of international law.

The only reason I gave the book 4 stars is because the author related his opinions on the politics and his superiors possibly after the war. I wonder how he thought during the war. Too many apologies for the Nazi regime for my taste. I agree that the regime was inefficient. This may have been common among many authors who were involved on the German side looking back.

I would recommend this book in addition to the several books that have been written on the Bismarck in the last few decades.

V. Mullenheim-Rechberg executes brilliantly where others have failed. This is one memoir where the author maintains a confident balance between his own personal history and the larger event in which he took part.

Make no mistake--this is his story, yet one where the ship and its crew reamin the focus. An understanding that he was but one, small aspect of each seems to guide his writing throughout. Moreover, he is careful to call out what he can only qualify as recollection and what he has culled from the established historical record. The result is a practically seamless recounting that should satisfy readers who seek personal insights into the short operational history of the Bismarck and those who crave details on the ship's construction, crew composition, and blow-by-blow accounts of Dennmark Strait and the final attack that lead to its ultimate fate.

His chapter describing the last minutes as the crew abandoned ship take on a downright cinematic feel. The clarity there is of moments he could not shake and of people he would not forget. It's deeply personal, yet he provides both himself and the reader emotional breathing space by weaving in views of the operational action around the ship itself. This intensifies every personally-infused vignette that he presents and ensures that none are lost in the wash of mass human loss.

The author makes particularly handy work of his footnotes, sometimes using them to personally answer some of what he believes are significant misnomers about the ship's history--and his own. The footnotes are clearly -his- space, and he does not hesitate to answer some of what he feels are personal attacks that various other authors have made on his character and conduct. Still, he shies away from pettiness and cheap indignancy here. His tone is measured throughout, and he exactingly cites the sources that fuel his commentary--leaving the reader a chance to further explore the issues. After all, he was a lawyer and diplomat after the war. It shows.

Recommended highly for those who enjoy their history presented in a narrative fashion.

The author, and one time adjutant to Captain Lindermann, the commanding officer of the Bismarck, reveals the real mission of the battleship which is a new concept to most. It was very exciting to read the details from the beginning of the battleship including the sailors and officers, the training, and sailing to the Atlantic. Although it would have been nice if even more details could have been included, but perhaps space and memory prevented it. The author did mention that most of his experiences and service had to be written from memory since he was prevented from recording classified and secret information. Particularly interesting is his description and feelings of being a POW inside the POW camps; his repatriation, a person returning to his defeated homeland, once a proud nation, and how a former POW can fit into the new and recovering society. Lacking many technical details that we would liked to have read about, this is still an excellent book. To be able to read about the battleship from the German side of the ship and war, is invaluable. Excellent book and highly recommended.

FIRST THOUGHTS: EMOTIONAL WAR DRAMA OF LEGENDARY STATUS

The Bismarck, like the Titanic before her, went down on her maiden voyage in the North Atlantic with a great loss of life. Though both ships went on to become legends, the Bismarck was one that went down via the concerted effort of a large portion of the British fleet. Due to its being the flagship of the third reich and symbol of its 'superior' achievement the mission to destroy the Bismarck was a vital necessity to the British and a desperate race for survival for its German crew. In the end, there is little to feel good about the sinking of a vessel with over two thousand men aboard, only 115 whom were saved. Worse still, this tragedy followed the sinking of the Hood by the Bismarck just several days earlier with just a handful of survivors from the Hood. All in all a very nasty business, but an epic piece of real human history.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story (Bluejacket Books)
by Burkard Baron Von Mullenheim-Rechberg, is another fine 'Naval Institute Press Publication' and a terrific account of the Bismarck's short life. The author, Burkard Baron Von Mullenheim-Rechberg was first, Captain Lindemann's adjutant and later the gunnery officer in charge of the aft range-finder. His rank was 'Oberleutnant zur See', or the equivalent of Lieutenant, in the US Navy. Von Mullenheim-Rechberg was on board before the beginning and was there after the end to become a prisoner-of-war. Both before and after are included in his expanded accounts in this "THE NEW AND EXPANDED EDITION - 1990".

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT:

Von Mullenheim-Rechberg takes us on-board the Bismarck as he is introduced to his new commanding officer, Captain Lindemann. It is 1940 and he is the Captain's adjutant as fitting out and trials get under way for the newly launched super-dreadnought. These prelimary maneuvers are included in detail. Von Mullenheim-Rechberg does give us insights into his Captain, Lindemann, Admiral Lutjens [fleet commander] and something about Adolf Hitler who did visit the ship. All three men will play an important role in the story that unfolds.

BUT THE STORY DOESN'T END THERE -

A lot happened to the Bismarck its crew, the Hood, and the world in less than a week, and much of it is covered within this volume, first hand.

The author, and one time adjutant to Captain Lindermann, the commanding officer of the Bismarck, reveals the real mission of the battleship which is a new concept to most. It was very exciting to read the details from the beginning of the battleship including the sailors and officers, the training, and sailing to the Atlantic. Although it would have been nice if even more details could have been included, but perhaps space and memory prevented it. The author did mention that most of his experiences and service had to be written from memory since he was prevented from recording classified and secret information. Particularly interesting is his description and feelings of being a POW inside the POW camps; his repatriation, a person returning to his defeated homeland, once a proud nation, and how a former POW can fit into the new and recovering society. Lacking many technical details that we would liked to have read about, this is still an excellent book. To be able to read about the battleship from the German side of the ship and war, is invaluable. Excellent book and highly recommended.

I hadn't expected this book to be as interesting as it was. I had difficulty putting it down. It is the story of a young Jewish woman in occupied France during WW II. Her efforts during the war to save her family and spy for the French resistance are thrilling and awe inspiring. It is amazing how ordinary people can do extraordinary things when faced with life threatening challenges. Her courage was so admirable.

I became aware of Marthe's story when told I was going to interview her for an article. I found the writing smooth, and the book a quick and educating read. As other reviewers have written, it is filled with events that are intense, suspenseful, sad and hopeful. This is an amazing true story that I'm glad Marthe decided to share.

I saw Marthe Cohn on Book TV and was inspired to buy the book. She appears to be a very tiny white haired woman, no wonder her family and friends were shocked to find out that she had been a spy for the free French and a genuine hero. She is blessed with a very sharp mind and a remarkable memory. Her story is so well written that it had me on the edge of my seat, in spite of knowing that she did indeed survive.

The most telling part of the book is where she describes the paralyzing fear she felt as she was about to cross into Nazi Germany. She somehow found the courage and made the crossing many times. Petite, blond and speaking impeccable German, she was easily accepted as "Aryan", even by one Nazi officer who was sure he could "smell a Jew". She was thus able to get much vital information and saved many lives.

This is a great book for anyone who likes adventure stories. The fact that it is true makes it all the more appealing. I couldn't wait to share this book.

On October 7 and 8, 2006, C-SPAN 2 featured this book and author on Book TV. The author, now in her mid 90s, spoke in impeccable English for about one hour without notes. Because she used the active voice, her adventures were easy to follow. It was a tour de force.

Her parents lived in Alsace when it was part of Germany. But she and her five older siblings grew up in Alsace after WWI when it was part of France. As a result, she became fluent in German because that was the language spoken in her home, and she became fluent in French because that was the language she learned in school. Despite her youth, her fluency in both languages made a perfect spy for the French resistance and French Army.

The book is about her amazing adventures as a spy and agent of the Free French. Despite her modesty, her actions reveal a woman of incredible physical and moral courage. This book and author should be the subject of movie or miniseries that would inspire young women to use their talents for great causes.

This is a story of great personal courage in the midst of horrible tragedy. It is the story of Marthe Cohn who was born in the city of Metz, raised in a devout German- speaking Jewish religious household. Circumstances including the loss of her fiance led her to become a fighter in the French Resistance. Courageously she worked behind enemy lines to provide vital intelligence for the Allies.
In this book she tells her own story but while doing so tells that of tens of others with whom she shared a struggle and a world. At the end of the book she discloses what has become of many of them with the passing of the years.
For her courageous actions she was awarded the Highest French Military Medal of Distinction.
She comments at the end of the book that her maiden name translates as "Hope and 'Goodness'. Her life and actions certainly were an exemplification of her name, and evidence of the greatness of the human spirit in times of darkness and adversity.

I liked the book because I am a history major but some parts are hard to get through. It is a classic however and is a great stepping stone to use when reviewing ancient history

Cornelius Tacitus knows perfectly what the cardinal human characteristic is: `From time immemorial, man has had an instinctive love of power.' And, `the reward for virtue was inevitable death.'
His book is a mighty illustration of the ruthless fight for the top spot: emperor. The ambitious and the wealthy fight one another without mercy. `The truth is that revolution and strife put tremendous power into the hands of evil men.' The vanquished are brutally slain.
For Tacitus, the most important factors in the power struggle are money (`money was the sinews of civil war') and control of the military (`the lesson that an army can create an emperor'). If you could `reward` your soldiers, you could win. However, the legions were not interested in war itself only in looting, plundering, raping and enslaving. `The men wanted campaign and set battles, as the prizes here were more attractive than their normal pay.' The victims were innocent peasants, women and children.
Overall, `Italy found it hard to put up with such hordes of infantry and cavalry, and with violence, financial loss and acts of lawlessness.'

While the `Annals' contain more human touch, the `Histories' are nearly completely centered on military, diplomatic and tactical manoeuvres, followed by terrifying and merciless violence after the battles (`the fury of the soldiers').

This for mankind severe and pessimistic book is a must read for all those interested in the lessons of history and for lovers of great classical literature.

Every now and then a pivotal moment in history is witnessed and recorded by a master communicator. The mid-first century of Rome was such a time and Tacitus was such a communicator. The Histories will forever be a benchmark of good history with its observations on human nature and behaviour along with their impact on history. The historian will do well to read Tacitus not just for the historical lessons but for his approach to history as a record of human activity. While observing and commenting on the human element in history, Tacitus avoids making moral judgements and remains as objective as possible in the midst of turmoil, wars, and rumors of wars. His beloved nation and people were suffering under the barbarity of fratricidal war yet he remains above the madness and records the events with passion tempered with objectivity. His example is one that has remained difficult for others to follow.

A word on this translation in particular - I found Mr. Wellesley's translation very readable and poetic. He seems to have captured the literature value of the text as well as the content. Well done.

Tacitus Histories deals with the turbulent year 69AD the year of four emperors. Tacitus eye for detail which allows us to understand the personalities of Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespatian and their motivations and ambitions in this trully chaotic time in Rome's history. The sinister role of the Praetorians in these events is faithfully accounted. I found I could not put it down! Very readable compared to the Annals. The translation is first rate. The work is also supported by numerous foot notes and maps. Anyone interested in this period of Roman history must read this book.

Reading Tacitus' Annals I oft remembered Thucydides' account of the Peleponnesian wars. An important theme of the latter work was the corrupting effects of prolonged war on the morals and intellect of the Athenian people, who were ultimately degraded so much that they voted the destruction of the people of a small island just because they had chosen to remain neutral. Tacitus, on the other hand, seems to have dedicated himself in this work to examining the corrupting effects of absolutism on the Roman people after the fall of the Republic. He shows how absolute power brought out the worst traits in the character of rulers like Tiberius and Nero, who grew more and more tyrannical with every year on the throne, and how members of the illustruous Roman senate and other sections of the Roman political society turned into a horde of spineless sycophants, informers and debauches. There were still a few honourable individuals, but as Tacitus shows in an endless series of judicial and non-judicial murders, most of these paid the price of sticking to the ancient traditions of liberty and honour with their lives. Tacitus also deals at length with the relations of the Romans with the subject peo-ples. I may be wrong here, but it seems to me that in such passages Tacitus draws a parallels between the fate of these enslaved peoples and that of the enslaved Roman people -the first a slave to the Romans, the second a slave to the emperor and his bureaucracy made up of ex-slaves. Many subject peoples rebelled and some like the Cherusci under Arminius (towards whom he does not seem averse at all) could successfully preserve their liberty against the in-trusion of the Romans. Those Romans who dared defy the tyrant on the other hand, and especially those who could wisely remain independent and yet stay alive, were far fewer, Tacitus seems to imply. Insofar as it demonstrates how closely liberty (including liberty of thought) and morals are intertwined, this work is still relevant today as a central work of liberal humanism.

The Eleventh Hour (Secret of the Rose #1)an excellent historical coverage of before the second world war in Germany, giving an account of a true German family loyal to their God and country, involving a young couple whose love revolves around a rose and a rose garden.

I so enjoyed this book...It started a little slow, but then it was wonderful. The history, christian thoughts, and characters are so very real...The pleasure I got from reading this book was wonderful.

I am a fan of Michael Phillips and his talent for taking historical facts and weaving faith building stories around them. He had done another wonder with this story of WWII and I have loaned my copy out several times.

A first step in the journey of a deeper understanding of the Father's love.

A must "read" for those who enjoy historical fiction from a Godly perspective.

Just finished the last of the Secret of the Rose series..."Dawn of Liberty."
A lot of spiritural digestion to do. Will stay with me forever.

Love, Obedience, Forgiveness and more Love = all action words.

I read this series a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it - my husband was fascinated as well and he usually doesn't read fiction at all. It is fascinating how the author combines history, fiction and christian values. Myself I was deeply touched and moved by the different characters - I lived right with them. Since reading these books roses are even more special to me. After finishing one book I couldn't wait to start with the next one!

Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections

Pushing Up the Sky



I was buying some books on Amazon.com with an article I had to write at the back of my mind, and a parent Guide I was editing for EMK Press (www.emkpress.com) by Terra Trevor (author of Pushing Up the Sky) at the forefront. I was ordering on automatic pilot, while thinking about the articles I was editing... suddenly my choice of books had an Amazon.com suggestion staring up at me.

It was of course Karin Finell's searing, sensitive book Good-bye to the Mermaids. It documents `a childhood lost in Hitler's Berlin'. My brain clicked into gear as I read the brief blurb. Serendipity! I was writing an article for adoptive parents of kids adopted internationally. The remit? How we adoptive parents help our adopted kids feel pride in birth cultures prejudiced by e.g. civil war, lack of human rights, family planning practices that seem draconian, societies where the ethos of `family' is lost to poverty and the baggage of substance abuse which that brings.

I bought Good-bye to the Mermaids, and devoured it in three late night sittings. And I realised as I read that this book is a must read for anyone who has survived... or helped another survive.. the onslaught of horror and terror which was imposed not sought, where the survivor has been helped to find another safe haven, an anchorage in which to grow.

But the book shows that no-one who survives can leave behind the memories. Even if they move to another country where things are meant to be better...

What a message for adopted children and their parents! EMK Press (where I am Senior Editor) publishes books and offers free Parent Guides for adoptive kids and their families. Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections, our publication for adoptive parents, has a wonderful section JOURNEY which deals with where adoptees travel as adults in making sense of adoption. To add to this chapter in our groundbreaking book, I would recommend that adoptive parents and folk now adult who were adopted internationally read Karin Finell's book on how to survive knowing you were part but NOT part of a culture that made family life impossible.

After reading this remarkable book I concluded it was not only informative as to historical content but also a masterpiece of writing. It is an important addition to a series of books by a variety of people, who lived through the horrors at the end of WWII in Berlin - I have read most of them, including the one by Anonymous. Their stories reflect all of the terror and awful conditions of those months and years as does Karin Finell's book. The framework Finell uses, the very detailed personal memories enriched by her reconstruction of actual verbal exchanges is unique, as is the perspective of a child growing up and experiencing the change from a privileged early childhood to the frightening reality of what followed - and then the slow and gradual recovery. And also, the special relationship with her Oma, which I thought is a centerpiece of Finell's book. Apart from the very human side, the American raised Oma also brought the U.S. close to Karin Finell as a child and prepared her for her immigration. The book is a tribute to the women who had to cope and did cope so valiantly with the conditions thrust upon them by a war which many supported, and a few loathed from the beginning, as they loathed and continued loathing the Nazi government. Finell's book also made me aware again how little we citizen can do when politicians go amok as did Hitler and all of the Nazis.

If you read all these reviews of Karin's book, you will still have many surprises as you read Goodbye to the Mermaids. The strength of Karin's narration is that she recounts the precise moments when her attitudes toward war change--and those moments shock because war mutilates reality. None of the events in this book conform to normalcy. To buy bread, for example, meant dodging bullets and bombs in occupied Berlin. Putting on a dress meant risking your life.

Karin recounts the contrasts between her family's needs and desires with the realities of war, and she does this in a subtle, detailed way. Karin wasn't just a child in the war, she was a maturing young woman whose sensibilities grow within the context of her story. She makes her reader feel the deprivation and humiliation of war. This book is one of the best I've read in a long time. It's an extraordinary work by a woman who sacrificed much of her life to war and the repercussions of it. She deserves our respect, and I feel honored to know her.

"Karin Finell's memoir affected me tremendously. It widened and deepened my understanding of a young child's character growing up under extraordinary (and many times extraordinarily difficult) circumstances. Finell, in her narrative, recreated so vividly the world of her youth, the places she lived in and the people she lived with, as well as her own thoughts, feelings, insights, and observations. It was as if I could hear the voice of the child Karin telling each story. Using the device of a series of "stories," by the way, seems exactly the right way to develop such ar narrative.
This is a first-rate book, beautifully written and beautifully produced by the Missouri Press. Anyone interested in the WW 2 period will be the richer for having read it, as am I. "

A heart-wrenching story lovingly told by Karin Finell. She relates what was for her a normal part of growing up while participating in activities of the Hitler youth, watching friends disappear, and daring to question.



Good-bye to the Mermaids is beautifully written, with gorgeously remembered details, providing a deep, rich look into life in wartime Germany that we have not seen before.

My favorite biography of my favorite philosopher. Previous favorite was the Walter Kaufmann. One can only wonder what intimate details might be uncovered by a Ray Monk treatment but I suspect we aren't likely to get one. Ever. It puzzles me why Peter Singer's little book might be thought of interest to any but those who don't want to read any Hegel.

Two of my favorite Hegel comments are gone thanks to this book. The death bed quote and another item that I can't think of at the moment but I am sure will come to me the next time I go to use it. I suppose another issue is the whole way to approach the dialectic. As many times as the issue comes up it still seems in a short summary class there seems no better way to present it along with the comment that it is a misrepresentation of the process. Which last is always such a marvelously clear thing to point out to people! "Here, let me misrepresent something important for you...."

Can you picture the lightning storm breaking up the birthday party in Tivoli? Ah yes! Just thought of the other thing I have been wrong about - death by stomach complaint and not by plague.

Absolutely good ending.

I won't belabor the kudos here. This is an impressive work of scholarship and well worth the read.

While you are unlikely to approach Hegel aa a novice, all the same, if you were and did, this is a remarkably well written, clear presentation of Hegel's life and thinking, as well as a thoughtful setting of the philosophical questions of his time. It was a time when thinking still mattered to the spirit of a people. Pinkard has written a great account of a life of a man who sought his own voice after so many disappointments. His friendship with Holderlin, his relationship with his illegitamate son, his rancourous rapport with his nephew, the slights suffered working for philistines or in the shadows of lesser minds were the sand in his soul that ground a pearl. Pinkard details them all with a truly 21st Century American voice, and in so doing makes the drama of Hegel's life present to today.
Pinkard is another great Georgetown Hegelian in the line of Wilfrid Desan, and in so doing weaves the dynamics of Hegel's life into the dialectics of his thinking. Pinkard presents a terrifically concise and to the point analysis of the immediate momentums initiated by Kant, Fichte, Schelling and others, casts them in as true a light as possible, and so opens an entire tradition, well regarded for its complexity for consideration by those trained in this tradition as well as by those wondering what all the fuss was about. Hegel was not an Ivory Tower elitist. His life formed the ground of his philosophy, and while he was also not an everyman, he is one in whom thinking took hold at any early age and kept calling him out into its light. Hegel meant that his writings have an impact. He was not interested in building flights of fancy that had no repercussions for culture, politics, spirituality. He distanced himself from traditions that would have ensnared him, compromised his boldness, and left him in a tradition, instead of clearing new ground.
Pinkard clearly shows how and why you have to deal with Hegel in Western Philosophy, just as much as you have to confront Plato, Aristotle, Kant. Nothing was the same after Hegel. History, psychoanalysis, culture, politics were all forever changed. His was an original voice, and the call, once heard, altered everything.
I keep returning to the point that this is a great read. And it is! So novice or enthusiast, you'll find this a book you'll return to often. This should be mandatory reading for anyone pursuing a higher education. The lessons of the life as well as the philosophy produced deserve thoughtful consideration.

It would be difficult to justify a biography of a philosophy as being essential: if you want to understand a philosopher you should read their works instead. But Pinkard manages to wage an astonishingly battle on two fronts: first, elaborating on his philosophical development with a view towards prominent influences and second, foisting off common misconceptions about Hegel.

So, for part one. Hegel is difficult. It was, as I learned, his distinguishing mark in early years: "more obscure than Fichte!" was something like a slogan. Pinkard does a marvellous job of showing the diversity and complexity of Hegel's experience (the chapters on his university friendship with Schelling and Hoderlin are especially absorbing) and pulling out some of the more unexpected sources of his thought. (Adam Smith and Gibbon and the New Testament, for example.) Ever since Dilthey more attention has been payed to Hegel's early work and for good reason. Moving from this account Pinkard gives excellent insights into the genesis and exposition of Hegel's notoriously difficult "system." Having been absoloutely dumbfounded by Hegel in the past I think this book is the best possible introduction to what Hegel is up to in his Philosophical work. Pinkard in addition to being keen has some serious philosophical chops so he brings out some aspects of Hegel that get overlooked.

As for the second front Pinkard does a great job of countering some of the more cartoonish and absurd pictures of Hegel: the pioneer of German nationalism, the doddering obscurantist, the proto-fascist conservative. Pinkard does a good job showing how the most common images of hegel are thorough characters whose longevity has more to do with the fact that few people actually read or know much about Hegel. I particularly liked the way Hegel's complex political commitments were mapped out and how the more intimate aspects of Hegel the person (his addiction to whist, his love of coffee) were brought out.

I am given to understand that Hegel scholarship is experiencing something of a revival these days, and by my account Pinkard's biography should be at the forefront of any movement. He deserves a great deal of credit for producing a skillfull, well-written and insightful work on an extremely difficult thinker.

This monumental work has 665 pages of text, followed by 115 pages of notes, sources, and index. Ten of its fifteen chapters deal primarily with Hegel's life and with the social, cultural and political climate within which he worked. These chapters are very accessible, though marred by a style which is sprinkled with colloquialisms and even slang - I have lost count of the number of times Pinkard uses the phrase "a bit", as in "a bit worried" or "a bit of scepticism". The editorial staff ought to have eliminated these; not only that, but the proof-reading of the book is quite the worst I have ever come across and is a disgrace to an academic publisher.

The technical discussion of Hegel's philosophy is mercifully put into five separate chapters, which I have found almost impenetrable. A reader who would like the read an outline of Hegel's philosophy would do much better to read Peter Singer's little book in the Oxford University Press (1983). But Pinkard is scornful of much that has been written about the philosopher previously. In his Preface he leads the reader to expect a demolition of some of the ideas generally held about Hegel's teaching. The notion of thesis - antithesis - synthesis which was attributed to Hegel in a popular book (not listed in Pinkard's bibliography) by one Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus in the middle of the 19th century and was then perpetuated by Marx was never held by Hegel; and it is true that he used these terms only "seldom" (Coplestone. Pinkard says "never".) But even Pinkard shows how often Hegel explained the development of a new idea arising out of the clash between contradictions.

Extraordinarily, Pinkard never mentions the notorious phrases which Hegel applied to the State: "The State is the Divine Idea as it exists on earth"; "we must therefore worship the State as the manifestation of the Divine on Earth"; "the State exists for its own sake" etc. All these are quoted and sourced by Karl Popper in his famous attack on Hegel, The Open Society and its Enemies (Vol.II, pp. 31 and 305); but Popper does not figure in Pinkard's bibliography either. So these quotations are not confronted: instead Pinkard (p.494) simply uses a sentence from Hegel's Philosophy of World History to convey the opposite impression: "The universal spirit or world spirit is not the same thing as God".

Pinkard does bring out the development of Hegel's thought: like every great philosopher, he changed some of his ideas in the course of his life. Moreover, he was capable of perplexing his contemporaries by what appeared to them to be contradictions in his behaviour. The strength of this biography is to show how Hegel could combine sympathy for the early phases of the French Revolution and then for Napoleon with acting, at the very end of his life, as a government commissar to supervise the University of Berlin and therefore responsible for seeing that the University did not fall foul of the repressive Carlsbad decrees to which the Prussian government subscribed. He approved of the dismissal of a colleague, de Wette, for radicalism, but then urged that he should continue to receive his salary and, when the university refused, contributed to a secret annual fund to support him. He had great sympathy for those of his students who got into trouble for liberalism, and was yet very hostile to liberalism himself. No wonder that even in his life-time, the Reformers, with whom Hegel identified himself in many respects, thought he had sold out to the conservatives. Pinkard generally defends him against this charge. As Hegel himself pointed out to Heine, his famous sentence that "the Real is the Rational and the Rational is the Real" consisted of two statements; and whilst the first of them has a conservative bend, the second has a radical one: if a situation is not or is no longer rational, it loses the claim to be real. After Hegel's death, the Young Hegelians (also called Left Hegelians) would use the second part of the sentence as their lodestar, and would restore to the Dialectic the dynamism which is built into it and with which conservatism was really very ill-matched.

Certainly Hegel was constantly opposed by the reactionaries in the Prussian government and always felt in danger of being denounced as a "demagogue" (i.e. subversive) or an atheist, either of which would have been a cause for his dismissal. He survived because of the patronage of the Education Minister, von Altenstein.

One of the most interesting themes of the book is the immense importance the reformers attached to the universities as the motor of enlightenment, reform and modernization; and within the universities, the principal task of promoting Bildung (culture based on independent thought) should fall upon the departments of philosophy. Hegel had his first academic appointment at Jena (1801 to 1808). His identification with the ideas of the reformers secured him appointments to professorships, first in Heidelberg (1816 to 1818) and then in Berlin (1818 to his death in 1831). Unfortunately, as Pinkard points out, whenever Hegel took up a university position, the cause for which he stood happened to be in retreat: at Jena the reforming philosophers were leaving just as he arrived and the university was subsequently devastated by the French bombardment during the Battle of Jena (1806); at Heidelberg the traditionalists (who there included most of the students) were fighting back; and at Berlin the Carslbad Decrees of 1819 also put the reformers on the defensive.

Pinkard is also interesting on Hegel's personality. Extremely sociable and convivial in private life, he was dry, ponderous and nervous as a lecturer; and yet he gradually attracted very large and loyal student audiences, who took his pauses, hesitations and repetitions as signs that he was arguing with himself while speaking, appearing, as it were, to put the dialectic into operation even while he was thinking. The contradictions which infuse his theories are also present in his life.