Part of my original vision in tackling this list of books was to approach it in units, as opposed to books completely separate from each other. But as much as that was my goal, up till recently, I seemed to just be picking out the books that drew my attention.
As I was looking through my list of books that I want to read, that includes books not on Rory's list, I decided it was time to do one of these units. There are still a few more to read at this point, but I wanted to write my thoughts so far before I dive into the next books.
From Rory's list, I have recently read Night, by Elie Wiesel and The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews and Built a Village in the Forest by Peter Duffy. I also read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. This book is not on Rory's list, but another book by Larson is, and my enjoyment of that book is what got his Berlin book on my list of books that I want to read.
All of these are non-fiction accounts of life during the time of the Nazi's and the extreme persecution of the Jews. Wiesel's book is his own memoir as a Jew who survived, and is the most powerful of the group, but all of them paint a bleak picture of that slice of history.
Larson's book mostly struck me in terms of politics, and how ready the German citizens were to welcome Hitler's rise to power, even as he was strongly against certain groups. They were drawn to his promises of a better Germany, a brighter future and a way to fix the things they saw wrong in their country, and he convinced them that his way would do that. It was also really interesting to see how some people did see, and did try to prevent travesties before they happened, but the population's and government's general naivety that it wasn't possible for things to get too bad stopped anything real from being prevented.
Wiesel and Duffy's book showed on a very personal, real level the magnitude of the Holocaust. From the account in the camp to the few Jews who survived in the forests, you still walk away feeling that there should have been so many more.
The Bielski book has much more hope than the Wiesel one, but it is hard to celebrate the saving of 1,200 Jews in a book that describes the thousands upon thousands executed with no reason except for their ancestry. I did enjoy the mental image of the village, working together, everyone contributing something, keeping at least a portion of the Jews safe. The few non-Jewish people who helped the brothers also were a good reminder that not all the civilians in the area around the Jews turned heartless blind eyes to their struggling.
The Song of Names, as a fictional account of a couple of boys who lived through the times, was in interesting break, and what I found most appealing about it was seeing a Jew who didn't personally suffer needing to come to terms with the sufferings of his people. Very interesting fast read with an ending I didn't see coming.
Another non-Rory book I read in this "unit" was The Zookeeper's Wife which I loved as well. Most interesting in her story was the moment where she told someone she would not be giving over a necklace (I think), and even with language barriers, she was able to get her point across, and he listened.
My biggest take-away of this whole unit was that fear of others is nothing new, and that there are always people who are going to try to deal with their fears with violence. But at the same time, there will always be citizens who can look past the fear to the individuals, and know that you don't have to write off a complete group of people because of the actions of some of the individuals. This applies to Muslims, blacks, gays, police and any other group that will come under attack in my lifetime.
Please, learn the lessons of the past, and give people a chance to be viewed for this own choices, not the malicious choices of their group.
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