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Rating: 
Summary: Blood and Banquets...
Review: I was very much looking forward to reading this book because I am very interested in the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. According to the cover summary, Bella Fromm was a Jewish journalist who moved in very exclusive Nazi circles, while in the background managed to save hundreds of non-Aryans. Again according to the summary, she is a very charming character, and once interrupted a Goering anti-Jew speech to remind him that she was Jewish, whereupon he said he would decide who was Jewish. This book is her diary, which chronicles her experiences from 1932 to 1938 in Germany. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all. The cover summary is very misleading in many respects. Although Bella Fromm was indeed a witness to the rise of Nazi power, her diary entries are very detached as a general rule. One gets no sense of Bella Fromm as a person. Her diary entries are merely a description of parties and events she has attended, with very few editorial comments. In addition, there are so many characters coming and going, that the reader can't keep track of them all. In addition, the comments regarding Goering's speech and his interactions with Fromm are completely false! Although Fromm does state that Goering did make this comment once (that he would decided who was Jewish), it had nothing to do with Bella Fromm. In addition, the claims of her savings hundreds of lives are only mentioned in passing. Only 2 or 3 sentences in the books actually refer to these claims, and give no detail at all about how they transpired. I still gave this book a 3-star rating because I feel it is important to remember what happened in the 1930's and 1940's. And there are several poignant stories in the book about the treatment of non-Aryans. However, I was rather disappointed by this book, because I had high expectations. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover....
Rating:
Summary: Blood and Banquets...
Review: I was very much looking forward to reading this book because I am very interested in the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. According to the cover summary, Bella Fromm was a Jewish journalist who moved in very exclusive Nazi circles, while in the background managed to save hundreds of non-Aryans. Again according to the summary, she is a very charming character, and once interrupted a Goering anti-Jew speech to remind him that she was Jewish, whereupon he said he would decide who was Jewish. This book is her diary, which chronicles her experiences from 1932 to 1938 in Germany. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all. The cover summary is very misleading in many respects. Although Bella Fromm was indeed a witness to the rise of Nazi power, her diary entries are very detached as a general rule. One gets no sense of Bella Fromm as a person. Her diary entries are merely a description of parties and events she has attended, with very few editorial comments. In addition, there are so many characters coming and going, that the reader can't keep track of them all. In addition, the comments regarding Goering's speech and his interactions with Fromm are completely false! Although Fromm does state that Goering did make this comment once (that he would decided who was Jewish), it had nothing to do with Bella Fromm. In addition, the claims of her savings hundreds of lives are only mentioned in passing. Only 2 or 3 sentences in the books actually refer to these claims, and give no detail at all about how they transpired. I still gave this book a 3-star rating because I feel it is important to remember what happened in the 1930's and 1940's. And there are several poignant stories in the book about the treatment of non-Aryans. However, I was rather disappointed by this book, because I had high expectations. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover....
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