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Hitlerite Corruptions, Tragedy of Weakness
Experienced During Nazi Regime Related in
Richard Condon's Novel, 'Infinity of Mirrors'
Richard Condon, whose earlier
works are based on experiences
gathered during worldwide travels,
exposes the Nazi terror in fiction.
in the sentence emphasizing
their love: - He felt that he and
Paule were like figures facing
and reflecting each other in an
infinity of mirrors, which were
His newest novel, "An Infinity
the past and the futUre." Front it
of Mirrors," published by Random
we derive the title, "An Infinity
House, is a powerful story about
of Mirrors."
an intermarriage between a Ger-
Veelee, however. was a loyal
man army officer and a French
Jewess. the tragedies that pursued German. He was loyal to the party
them. the horrors that were visited in power—until he began to real-
ize, together with other promin-
Upon Jews and others. the intrig-
ent German army men, that Hitler
ues among the Germany army
was a menace to their country.
elite. the attempt on Hitler's life.
that he was losing the war for
The heroine is Paule Bern- them. that the Germans were em-
helm. daughter of a French erging as the cruel of the earth,
actor who had made a fortune and they began to plot • Hitler's
and thereby provided financial death.
security for his daughter, and
In the course of his recapitula-
h ot constantly. on Friday nights tion of the events that led to the
f4;pecially, .related Jewish folk- inner revolt, to the attempt on
lore to her. thereby implanting Hitler's life that ended in failure
in her a Jewish loyalty. She fell and caused Hitler to believe that
in love with a German army of- fate was always on his side, Con-
ficer. Wilhelm von Rhode- don brings into the plot many
Veelee—with whom she goes to names that actually are found in
Germany, there to learn about the history of the Nazi regime.
the extent of the Nazi brutalities The generals who plotted. Col.
and personally to experience Gen, Karl Heinrich von Stuelp-
them.
nagel who gave order for the re-
Paule could have left Germany lease of Paul-Alain just before his
earlier, but it was only when a tragic death. and a number of
Nazi general attempted to attack others of the German generals—in
her that she fled back to France addition to the major Nazi leaders
with her infant son. Paul-Alain, who pass in revieW, in this excit-
who had begun to imbibe the ing novel. thus giving reality to
same Jewish traditional tales from the story.
'Condon not only exposes the
his mother that she had heard
crimes: he gives accounts of many
from her father.
But the brutal Nazi who tried occurences which corresponded to
to molest her, at whom she fired the actual recorded events that took
her pistol before fleeing from place during the Nazi reign of
Berlin. turned up alive in Paris. terror.
Among the most revealing
again he:zan to pursue her. and to
facts about the Hitlerite cruelt-
accomplish his purpose abducted
ies is' the manner in which war
the young boy together with other
was waged on Jews of all ages.
Jews who were to be shipped to
When, during the search for
Auschwitz. Veelee. in the •mean-
Paul-Alain,
Stuelpnagel was told
time, after beiri.! seriously wound-
by a Nazi official that "over
ed. losing an arm and an eye, also
four thousand children were
was transferred to Pat - is on an
taken in the raids," the anti-
army assignment. but both par-
Hitler general said "in a crack-
ents were away for a few days
during Paul-Alain's abduction, and - ing voice: 'Four thousand chil-
dren. That is how we make war
they returned in time to • have
now'."
him rescued. But he had become
During her first weeks in Ber-
seriousily ill during the tragic few
days of his separation from his lin. Paule, when she took her
mother and he died after greeting walks, "watched the fear on the
Jewish faces . . . Paule, the new
his parents.
.Jew in a new world of Jewish-
Thus there began a chase of
ness, became more sensitive to
vengeance which they exacted
everything which had not yet hap-
from the brutal general whom they
pened. Only horses and dogs in
first mutilated and then threw into
Berlin seemed to be well-adjusted
a wagon-load of people whi were
and happy. She watched storm
being sent to Auschwitz.
troopers and SS men fondle large.
Paule and Veelee are deeply jolly dogs in the Schlossgarten
in kve and remain together across the square from her house.
after the tragedy, and the title They would rub their dogs, play
of the book is explained, long with them, croon to them, and
before the loss of •their son, gaze down at them with tenderness
while the dogs urinated against
Israel Plays Big Role• lamposts. No German dogs were
nervous. and the horses were happy
at Atoms for Peace Parley —but not the children, not the
GENEVA (.TTA)—Israel is play- people, and not the Jews."
Soon the terror increased and
ing a prominent role at the third
international , . Conference on the Paule began to warn Veelee that
Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, "Paul-Main is a dirty little Jew."
which was convened here Tuesday He resented it. He learned the
by the United Nations, in coopera- truth too late.
When the brute Drayst finally
tion with•the International Atomic
was shoved into the mass of peo-
Energy 'Agency.
ple doomed to go to their death in
Fifteen Israeli scientists and ex-
Paule
aule tried to save
perts are -attending the conference:.
and Israelis will present a total of him because she would not be a
11 papers at the conference, which party to the inhumane Hitler
is to run until Wednesday. Both methods, and Veelee sad "We have
the size of Israel's delegation and killed a monster." But her own
the number . of papers by Israelis comment was: "We have become
is considered significant, since few the monster."
Explaining how he had turn-
countries of ,Israel's size have rec-
ed to his theme in writing "An
ognition from the conference.
Infinity of Mirrors," Condon
One of the major Israeli papers'
said that since the end of World
will deal with the feasibility of
War II he had taken a deep in-
nuclear power for desalination of
terest in "the story of Hitler's!
sea water—a subject in which
nihilism — destruction for the
Israel is graded among the top
sake of destruction—and the in-
countries regarding expertise.
congruity -of Nazis occupying
Three Israeli scientists collabo-'
Paris—the Beast of the City. of
rated on that paper. They are
Beauty."
Prof. Shimon Yiftah, head of the
He became interested in the
nuclear science department of weaklings who filled Paris —
Technion, hte Israeli Institute of "weaklings who could have exting-1
Technology at Haifa; and Prof. F.
Aschner and Pinhas Glueckstern, THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
both of the Israeli. Electric Corp.
16 Friday, September 4, 1964
uished Hitler's light in any hour
between 1933 and 1945 if they had
not been so utterly corrupted by
him."
He spent five years doing re-
search. gathering the facts for this
impressive novel, and he states:
"The more evidence I found—
which was augumented for me by
four researchers working in five
countries—the more I became con-
vinced that it was not merely Hit-
ler's genius for murder and des-
truction which made him the equal
in evil to any figure in history;
what marked him particularly was
his unquenchable lust for the cor-
ruption of everyone who did not
actively oppose him: Because my
two loving protagonists, who at
the beginning of the novel are in-
herently decent people, did not
seek to .drive this monster from
the world, they lost their hope,
they cried out for vengeance .
against that loss, and they were
corrupted utterly. What I wanted
to say was that when evil con-
fronts us in any form, it is not.
enough to flee it or to pretend
that it is happening to somebody
else. But . though evil must be stop-
ped, when it is fought with evil's
ways it must ultimately corrupt
and strangle the opposer."
The result is a strong novel.
with a theme filled with historical
data, that holds the reader's at-
tention and teaches a great lesson
against the inhumanities that have
been experienced by a generation
that almost was completely bank-
rupted by Hitlerism.
Israel Population Hits 2.5 Million
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
JERUSALEM—A statistical ab-
stract published Wednesday re-
ported that Israel's population was
now 2,500,000 and that 38.8 per
cent of Israelis were native born.
Life expectancy in 1963 was re-
ported as '70.9 for men and 73 for
women, among the highest rates in
the world.
Jewish women in Israel average
3.4 children each, while Arabs
average '7.8 during their fertility
periods of life. Fifty-nine per cent
of Israeli families own their awn
homes.
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