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Summary: A profoundly interesting and original Holocaust memoir
Review: Each memoir is important in adding to the historical record of this terrible period, and this book adds a considerable dimension with the authors shared as well as separate memories and their astute and insightful analyses of every aspect of their experiences. By the time I finished reading this book, I felt I knew both authors well and also many of the people who surrounded them over the years. I hope the book is widely read and given a place of honor in Holocaust literature. It deserves deep attention by scholars and general readers and seems eerily prescient, too, in light of September 11th, and its concern for the horrors our species can inflict on its victims. If I were still writing book reviews, this book would be a prime choice for me. It deserves all the notice in print it can get.
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Summary: Captivating narrative of history and friendship
Review: Fritz Tubach's account of the parallels and perils of his and Bernie Rosner's youth are enriched through a unique and captivating perspective. Tubach, a native of Nazi Germany must narrate the story of Rosner's holocaust survival in his own words. The challenge and contradiction of communicating such an opposing experience is resolved through the evident strength of the two men's adult friendship and their profound level of empathy and understanding. This book is a facinating read, and illustrates the horrors of the holocaust while resonating with the evidence of man's better nature: human compassion and cultural tolerance.
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Summary: for a better world
Review: I read this wonderful new book with both tears and enthusiasm. I think it is a tremendous contribution to the healing process of all the so-called evil periods in history. I personally believe that most of the evil in this world is purely imagined, and that people are still innocent deep-down, even if they do horrible things sometimes. If we use our imagination to step outside our own shoes and take the perspective of someone else, this truth becomes inevitable. Learning to speak another language also helps us realize this very quickly and profoundly. The honesty of this book may well change the course of human history for the better.
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Summary: A vey moving historical book that everyone should read
Review: I was very impressed with this book; for such a difficult subject it was beautifully written. I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Israel, and though the documentation there is quite graphic and disturbing, the voice of the child in Bernie, and the voice of the child on the other side in Fritz, completes a picture that is enlightening, but reveals a picture that no one wants to believe. It seems to me that is often the way people have dealt with this very terrible time, and the authors are very brave to tell this story. I think this book should be required reading for all college students.
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Summary: From a distant relative of Fritz Tubach
Review: In a world with a lot of open wounds in need of healing, "An Uncommon Friendship" helps bridge former sins and ongoing roots of bitterness to establish a world pregnant with new beginnings--every day. This book shows that other options are possible beyond the labels of cultural bigotry. When properly understood and appropriated, understanding and forgiveness are seldom far apart in life-giving relationships. Recently we came in contact with a person who has such a high disregard for Germans. If only they knew and understood the rich heritage German culture has also given as a gift to the New World of new beginnings.
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Summary: From a distant relative of Fritz Tubach
Review: In a world with a lot of open wounds in need of healing, "An Uncommon Friendship" helps bridge former sins and ongoing roots of bitterness to establish a world pregnant with new beginnings--every day. This book shows that other options are possible beyond the labels of cultural bigotry. When properly understood and appropriated, understanding and forgiveness are seldom far apart in life-giving relationships. Recently we came in contact with a person who has such a high disregard for Germans. If only they knew and understood the rich heritage German culture has also given as a gift to the New World of new beginnings.
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Summary: Becoming a Lifelong Survivor
Review: In the past few years there have been many new books written about the Holocaust. Some of these I've read, but none affected me as much as did "An Uncommon Friendship". I was so impressed that I read the book three times, - the first reading was difficult because at many points I had tears in my eyes because of the many horrors to which Bernie Rosner, a teenage Hundarian boy was subjected by the Nazis. The second reading was emotionally easier and I began to realize the strong character that Bernie had to develope to endure the mental and physical tortures to which he was subjected. I now realize that this period of Bernies life was the clay that molded him into a SURVIVOR, preparing him for future difficult periods of his life. The sadness of the concentration camp joyfully offset by the tender and loving relationship of the family that sponsored him in the United States. This love and support was the foundation that led him to eventually become a noted lawyer and respected business man.
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Summary: An Uncommon Friendship/An Uncommon Book
Review: Just when we think we've read all the Holocaust books that we can, Bernie Rosner and Fritz Tubach come up with a book that almost defies definition. It certainly is about the Holocaust, but it is so much more. It is a short book and in its way, an almost quiet book. Mostly it is a story about living in spite of death's remarkable odds. How does a young lad from Hungary live beyond the deaths of his family members and the memory of the death camps? How does a young man who was a member of the Hitler Youth, and who admits to stealing a candle from a Jewish home just days after Kristallnacht, find his way out of such darkness? The story of the paths taken and how they eventually cross is told for both men in the voice of Tubach. A chance meeting between their wives brought the men together in the relaxed setting of suburban northern California. The two men shared a love of music, art and literature and what developed was a friendship steeped in respect and admiration. They had been friends for many years when, after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Bernie knew he needed to tell his story, and who better to tell it to than his friend, Fritz. As Bernie reached backward to his most painful memories, Fritz, too, revealed the texture of his own youth from the opposite side of the same years. This is a book about the bridge these two men built out of their friendship. They built it with the mortar of their friendship and their shared hope for a civilized world. It is a bridge built to span one of humankind's worst divides and it is a book that asks the reader to cross that bridge with them.
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Summary: I go to the school mentioned in the book!
Review: The two authors of the book just visited my school today, and told me and the other students their stories. Bernat Rosner went to my school, Thomas Jefferson School, and he even mentions and has pictures of it in the book. I've yet to read it, but I'm eagerly anticipating it. Their stories are so touching, and I feel so honored to have met these two men. Also to have had a man as interesting as Bernie Rosner go to my school in 1950, it's just so amazing. They are very interesting people, and there's just so much more I could say, but this review would unfortunately become boring. I strongly suggest that everyone should read this book, the authors have two great stories to tell.
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Summary: An Uncommon Friendship; an uncommon reading experience.
Review: There are dozens of books about the Holocaust - and other horrible tragedies man has perpetrated on his fellow man before and since. Where many of these dehumanize the victims by focusing on the specifics of the crimes, this book is alive and all human. That these two men, Bernat and Fritz, were able to overcome their past and become friends is as moving a story as any you'll find. More than anything, I came away feeling that it is possible to move beyond our historic differences and hatreds. Its a warm, human, and hopeful message. Perhaps there's hope for Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Rwanda...and for all of us.
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