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Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: A moving and eloquently told tale that moves your soul and pierces your heart. It is a haunting reminder of the horrors of Nazism framed by flashbacks to the 1930s of Hitler's Germany and then forward to the present.This book puts you there, experiencing it all, the heartbreaking anguish, life, death, and always the love which surpasses all. A wonderfully amazing read.<...
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Summary: A fascinating story, and very well written
Review: A splendid book, well-written and a remarkable story. It made me cry for the lost loves of some of the characters, and it is an amazing insight into the Nazi and post-Berlin Wall eras. The great visual descriptions leap off the pages. A great night of reading; I really recommend this book.
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Summary: A family from the Nazi era
Review: I just finished reading Last Cemetery in Berlin, after contemplating what a post-Holocaust love story might be. Indeed, the novel is in part a love story, but so much more. As for the Holocaust, it covers the first anti-Jewish actions of the Nazis in early 1933, through the horrors of Kristallnacht and the Camps, to the effects of those genocidal crimes in the present day. In reading the book, I was conscious of the ongoing efforts for justice even today, the pursuit of the few remaining war criminals, the efforts to teach our young people the lessons learned, the attempts to recover art pieces, insurance proceeds and other properties stolen by the Nazis. Last Cemetery touches all of these aspects of Holocaust history, but all within the compelling personal story of one woman�s (Lily Weitrek) struggle to learn what happened to her German Jewish family during the Nazi years. Lily�s quest could only begin in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the gradual emergence of records and documents that had been hidden or suppressed by the East German Communist regime. And what a quest it is. With the help of a German lawyer, Lily uncovers both wonderful and tragic tales about her colorful and disappeared family, a mysterious sale of a shoe factory, interactions with Josef Goebbels, harrowing escapes, and more. Much of the personal history is presented in poignant and gripping flashbacks, which are interlaced with Lily�s determined search for the truth, no matter how painful that truth proves to be. Lily also launches a fight to recover a legendary shoe factory, �aryanized� by the Nazis in the early 1930�s. The details of that fight reveal that all the lessons of the Holocaust have not yet borne fruit, as indifference and bureaucratic stonewalling still persist. To sum it all up, I loved the book. It gave me new insights into the continuing consequences of the Holocaust, all while enjoying the drama of a fast-moving and entertaining novel.
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Summary: Post-Holocaust -- a new genre?
Review: I just finished reading Last Cemetery in Berlin, after contemplating what a post-Holocaust love story might be. Indeed, the novel is in part a love story, but so much more. As for the Holocaust, it covers the first anti-Jewish actions of the Nazis in early 1933, through the horrors of Kristallnacht and the Camps, to the effects of those genocidal crimes in the present day. In reading the book, I was conscious of the ongoing efforts for justice even today, the pursuit of the few remaining war criminals, the efforts to teach our young people the lessons learned, the attempts to recover art pieces, insurance proceeds and other properties stolen by the Nazis. Last Cemetery touches all of these aspects of Holocaust history, but all within the compelling personal story of one woman's (Lily Weitrek) struggle to learn what happened to her German Jewish family during the Nazi years. Lily's quest could only begin in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the gradual emergence of records and documents that had been hidden or suppressed by the East German Communist regime. And what a quest it is. With the help of a German lawyer, Lily uncovers both wonderful and tragic tales about her colorful and disappeared family, a mysterious sale of a shoe factory, interactions with Josef Goebbels, harrowing escapes, and more. Much of the personal history is presented in poignant and gripping flashbacks, which are interlaced with Lily's determined search for the truth, no matter how painful that truth proves to be. Lily also launches a fight to recover a legendary shoe factory, 'aryanized' by the Nazis in the early 1930's. The details of that fight reveal that all the lessons of the Holocaust have not yet borne fruit, as indifference and bureaucratic stonewalling still persist. To sum it all up, I loved the book. It gave me new insights into the continuing consequences of the Holocaust, all while enjoying the drama of a fast-moving and entertaining novel.
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Summary: A family from the Nazi era
Review: The Last Cemetery in Berlin by Tania Wisbar and John Mahoney- Families ruined by the Holocaust are not new but family rediscovered by one woman's determination to fulfill her mother's dying wish is made novel in this intriguing historical fiction set in Berlin in the 1930's and early 1990's. For those of us too young or too oblivious to have experienced either, this is a must read about a wealthy Jewish family torn asunder by the war and the surviving heiress to a great fortune whose mixed heritage affords her a rare understanding of what it means to be German and Jewish.
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Summary: You'll pray for rain, so you can curl up and read this book.
Review: The Last Cemetery in Berlin by Tania Wisbar and John Mahoney- In the early 90's, when the Berlin wall was crumbling, I was shopping for wedding gowns. That's why I was so delighted to come across this novel. Knowing the importance of genealogy and family ties, I found the heroine's quest for knowledge about her family, in the context of a great fortune, very intriguing. Some important insights into the sociological difficulties of German reunification with additional fodder on German atrocities during World War II makes this a riveting historical read, giving just enough information to make you sound intelligent about German history. I'll have to conjure up my new found repertoire at the next soiree.
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