'Efraim's Book': Reminiscences of Nazi Past

"Efraim's Book" is splendid writ-
ing, excellent in its English transla-
tion and a worthy commentary on
experiences in Germany by a re-
turnee who had suffered under
Nazism. It is good narrative, splen-
did as a novel, interesting in its
view on current world affairs.

Published by Doubleday, the au-
thor of "Efraim's Book" is Alfred
Andersch. Its translator from the
German is Ralph Manheim.
This novel won the Nelly Sachs
Prize in Germany. The story re-
flects the life of the man who had
written this tale about a German
Jew, confronted by his Jewish-
ness, who returns to Germany for
renewed experiences which cause
him to begin to work on his book,
one that does not yet materialize.
Indeed, the story is an echo of
the experiences of Alfred An-
dersch, who was in Dachau for
six months and a prisoner of
war in the United States, later
turning to writing, broadcasting
and Journalism. Before winning
the Nelly Sachs Prize for
"Efraim's Book" he received the
Deutscher Kritiker-Preis in 1958.
His translator, Ralph Manheim,
also is an award winner, having
received this year the. National
Book Award for his tranlation
of "Castle to Castle," by Louis-
Ferdinand Celine.
"Efraim's Book" is about Georg
Efraim; his wife Meg, who has an
affair with Georg's employer Keir;
Anna, with whom Georg has an
affair in Berlin but who has other
paramours; and Esther, win- is
being searched for by both Keir
and Efraim. Esther is Keir's ille-
gitimate daughter who sought es-
cape in a convent when the Hitler
terror became very menacing for
Jews in Berlin.
Primarily the book is autobio-
graphical. It relates the Nazi story
although it is not history, and it
gives an account of a former Ger-
man who seeks success in jour-
nalism and then as the author of
a book. Although he had become
an English journalist, when he

starts writing his book Efraim
There is the admonition of the
must do so in German.
tragedy in Keir's remark to
The horrors of Auschwitz are re-
Efraim: "They don't kill you
corded here—the manner of throw- people as one kills enemies. They
ing a baby into the air and then
exterminate you like vermin."
shooting it; the throwing of a baby It is this that causes Efraim,
into a fire—thus Nazism again is
who at one point is tempted to
indicted in this book of reminis- go to Israel to fight, to awaken
cences.
and show real concern.
Is there also a mask on the man,
a Jew who suffered from Nazism
"Efraim's Book" has special
and turned to journalism? Both of merit. It is a powerful novel based
the women he loved, Meg and on the challenges of the time stem-
Anna, being non-Jewish, is his re- ming from experiences of a dark
turn to Berlin also part of a mys- past.
terious urge in his life?
—P. S.

New Airport for Sinai Desert to Open in '71

The airport will serve Arkia, Is-
ST. CATHERINE (ZINS) — A
new airport, neighboring the St. rael's domestic airlihe, which han-

Catherine Monastery in the Sinai
Desert and capable of accommo-
dating small aircraft and helicop-
ters, will begin to operate in Feb-
ruary, according to a spokesman of
Israel's labor ministry.

Friday, October 23, 1970-23

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

For the
Most Elegant
Bar Mitzva
Suits in Town
with the
Finest Fit

Classics, Poetry in Paperbacks

Paperbacks continue to enrich
the libraries and private book-
shelves.
Random House is issuing many
Vintage Books, among them not-
able classics and popular studies
affecting current experiences.
Among the important reprints
just issued as a paperback by Ran.
dom House is the series of essays
in political economics, "Between
Capitalism and Socialism," by
Robert L. Heilbroner.
• • •
Lovers of poetry and interpre-
tive writing will be delighted with
those of Paul Goodman in "Home-
spun of Oatmeal Gray," paper-
backed as a Vintage Book by Ran-
dom House.
There is scriptural influence,
the "zeh Hayom," in this selected
one from Paul Goodman's gems:
My Bible text when I grew
Old enough to be a Jew,
Was Lech Icha, "Go away!"
God to Abraham did my.

dles most of the air traffic, for
tourists visiting the Sinai Desert
and the Suez Canal Zone.
It was also announced that a
new hotel is planned for the St.
Catherine region that will accom-
modate up to 350 guests.

Random House Vintage paperback,
by Patricia Cayo Sexton, is an-
other challenging work.
It deals with "Classrooms, White
Collars and the Decline of Manli-
ness."
It exposes male misfits and
deals with masculinity, its adver-
saries, a score of related issues,
bringing on the scene as witness-
es parents, teachers, students.
• • •
"Sisterhood is Powerful," the
anthology containing writings on
the women's liberation movement,
edited by Robin Morgan, already
published by Random House as a
hard ccver book, has been issued
by Random as a Vintage paper-
back.
Supplemented by illustrations,
filled with pems, essays, expres-
sions of views by noted women
spokesmen on the liberation move-
ment, this volume-is a strong en-
dorsement of the new demand for
the suffrage for the female "mi-
nority" that forms a majority in
I was thrilled, being a boy.
our population.
At this portentous destiny,
• • •
But to me You did not give
Among the most fascinating
A hundred fifty years to live.
works on noted poets is the bi-
This is a day the Lord bath made, lingual "Poets on Street Corners"
("Russkaya Poezia") by Olga
Rejoice in it and be glad.
Because we have been real to them, Carlisle.
In this fascinating collection
Our friends from foreign coun-
tries come.
Miss Carlisle presents portraits
•
of 15 Russian , p oets and adapta-
"The Feminized Male," another
tions of their works. The poems
of the 15 appear in their original
Russian with translations on
parallel pages.
The poems include works of
Boris Pasternak, Yevgeny Yevtu-
vault, safe from even the fear- shenko, Joseph Brodsky, Osip
and other well known
some powers of Washington's Mandelstam
poets, and the adaptations
bureaucrats, the proof that this Russian
are
by
scholars
skilled in trans-
country is being taken over by lating and interpreting.
"Poets on
a conspiracy — not of Commu- Street Corners" is a noteworthy
nists, my friends, but an insidi- Random Vintage paperback.
ous combination of black power
o * •
and Jewish money. A conspiracy
Eminent activists participate in
whose objective is to bring revo- contributing to the collected essays
lution, chaos and the complete in the Random paperback "Pro-
destruction of our Christian cul- phetic Voices—Ideas and Works
ture. I have the proof. I have the on Revolution," edited by Ned
names.'
O'Gorman.
And the immoral man of preju-
Reprinted as a Random paper-
dice who betrays even his mistress back is "My Lai 4—A Report on
—his secretary who becomes one the Massacre and Its Aftermath"
of the victims of his cruelty— by Seymour M. Hersh.
offers a lesson to decent-minded
Philip Green and Sanford Levin-
people not to permit race and son edited "Power and Commu-
other hatred to permit the country. nity: Dissenting Essays in Politi-
through intolerance, to fall prey to cal Science," also a Random paper-
fascism.
back.
This man of hate "attacked Ne-
The paperback issued by Random
groes and Jews without restraint House entitled "The Confusion on
and whipped himself and the mass Realms," by Richard Gilman, com-
of people before him into a burn- ments on the works of Norman
Mailer, Marshall McLuhan, Susan
ing anger.
The entire campaign and the Sontag and various ideas that pre-
manipulations in political ranks, dominate in this era.
the helplessness of the decent ele-
ments. the refusal of the President
to yield to blackmail and to con-
tenance bigotry and his failure
because the mass hysteria had
given the upper hand to hate and
haters—these are splendidly por-
trayed as a warning of what can
happen so easily in a country di-
vided by strife and by race hatred
and rioting. In a sense Markman's
-"The Election" is a powerful po-
litical and social study and Is an
evaluation of what can happen in
a democracy if the extremists are
permitted to sway the masses.
Sherwin Markman, who was
President Johnson's aide for three

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Markman's 'The Election' Portrays

Bigotry's Role in Swaying Voters

Recollections of the concern that
was expressed in 1968 that the
presidential election may be
thrown into the House of Repre-
sentatives gives special status to
the novel by Sherwin Markman,
"The Election," published by Ran-
dom House.
A very powerful work, a story
that will hold the reader's atten-
tion with great suspense, this work
has a serious lesson for every gen-
eration, and especially one in
which the racial tensions and the
alleged revolutionary spirit assert
themselves.
It is the story of a President
who is about to end his official
term. He is anxious to retain a
balance for the country, to prevent
intolerance from gaining ground.
to assist in the election of a liberal
who could continue policies of hon-
or and decency in the land. But
he fails!

What happens here is that
there are three candidates, a
Senator who is the President's
favorite, the governor of Penn-
sylvania and the Florida fresh-
man senator who is the hater,
the rabble-rouser., who hates
Jews. Catholics, blacks, Reds,
foreigners, students, northerners
and democracy itself.
The manipulations in the cam-
paign, the despair, the fright, the
riots that ensue and that contribute
towards the fears in the land all
lead to the election of the bigot
after the matter reaches the
House of Representatives.
It is the rioting, the race issue,
- the hatreds that give the Florida
bigot the chance to advocate strin-
gency, to call for violent action,
that leads to the ultimate results.

There is no hiding of fact or of
sentiments. The bigot who even-
tually gains the presidency keeps
blasting:. :1.1Inve Jacked. In' a

Buy tomorrow
Today

years, has served as a member of
Adlai Stevenson's staff, a deputy
director of AID and Senator

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