16 Friday, May 16, 1980 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Historical Novel Reviews Jewish Life Germany During War SPECIAL LOW PRICE By ALAN HERBACH Innovation in kitchen appliances to make food processing quick and easy! • Pulse Action for instant on/off control • Large capacity container with handle •3 stainless steel processing attachments to slice, chop, grate, shred, grind, blend, puree and a plastic mixing blade! t. •Convenient feed tube • Food Pusher with 1 cup measure • Complete Fibcipe Book included! SEIKO QUARTZ WATCHES 40% OFF Sugg. List Good until June 30th BIG DISCOUNTS TELEPHONE ANSWERING MACHINES SMITH-CORONA ELECTRIC TYPEWRITERS OSCAR BRAUN' EUREKA VAC'S FARBERWARE RADIOS-TOASTER OVENS TAPE RECORDERS 3406 W. 12 Mile 8 Blocks E. of Greenfield Mon. thru Sat. 10 am to 4:30 pm 0-Light ONE STEP PLUS World's simplest instant camera complete with ELECTRONIC FLASH! r aystep PRONTO SONAR An instant camera with Sonar auto- matic focusing. 12SX70 SONAR 'NPolaroid's finest automatic focusing camera. helves! photo 6698 Orchard Lk. Rd. In The West Bloomfield Plaza Though "The Missing Years" (Little, Brown) is his first novel, Walter Laqueur writes like a man who is comfortable with his words. Justifiably, so, because he is one of the most prolific aca- demics and modern histo- rians. "The Missing Years" is the story of Dr. Richard Lasson and his family's sur- vival in Germany through the end of the Second World War. What makes this story fascinating is that Lasson was one of a handful of Jews permitted to remain in Be- rlin during the Nazi's fanat- ical drive for a final solu- tion. This work, an historical novel, is much more than a piece of fiction. It is not only the story of a man who re- mained in Germany as a "privileged Jew" married to an Aryan. Nor, is it simply the enticing, if not particu- larly exciting, story of his children's escape to Switzer- land. Using the medium of fiction, Laqueur suc- cessfully presents the emotional sense of the era. The work is unham- pered by the detached objectivity required of the historian but uncom- fortable to the reader of the novel. Throughout this book. the reader forgets he is reading a novel. The historical set- ting and events take prece- dence over the story of the individual. There is no sus- pense and a minimum of ex- citement. It is a sober, yet dramatic, account of events from a retrospective point of view. There is no question as to Dr. Lasson's survival and though a substantial por- tion of the book is devoted to * * Master VISA Diners his sons' escape to Switzer- land, we know from the onset that they will survive. Instead the book's value is from its realistic insight into the lives of people very few of us know existed. The author makes no pre- tense as to why he has cho- sen the medium of fiction. In this case, fiction seemed to be the best way to capture the feeling of the era. "There is a basic difference between the historian and the writer of historical novels," according to the narrator. "We novelists study human relationships, portray living characters, try to show that each human being is somehow unique. We need a plot where everyone and every- thing is accorded a certain role so as to make the whole picture convincing." This fiction is more historical in- terpretation than the writer's imagination. One easily becomes engrossed in the feeling and sense of the era. The culture and accultura- tion of German Jewry, the suffering, and the human drama are all in- cluded in an unpretenti- ous way. Where the writ- ing is not exciting, the story and detail is com- pelling. Historical anecdotes like the escape of animals from Berlin's Teirgarten follow- ing a bombing raid and the constant tie-ins with events of the era make this book even more appealing. Historical and moral questions are tackled through the lives of the characters. Is it one's duty to go to death to share the fact of other victims, or can one survive and escape to pay tribute to those who have perished? There is the injustice of the period: the fear, the in- formers and the ridiculous- ness of the anti-Jewish laws. There is also innate justice as groups of remain- ing Jewish youth, and in- deed Lasson himself, choose to identify as Jews under conditions in which they did not have to, and when it may have been in their interest not to. All the char- acters have a deep sense of history as they relate their situation to that of other times and places. Perhaps most appeal- ing about this book, how- ever, is its revelation of the human nature within us all. We are provided an understanding of how so many waited to react to the rising anti-Semitism and how so many contin- ued to believe that this German racism was not authentic. "For after all," Lasson looks back at the first signs of the catas- trophe to come, the (First World) War years had been untypical years of enormous economic strain; and just as indi- viduals are not judged by what they would say or do in a state of intoxica- tion, it was widely be- lieved that there was no reason for despair, that in normal circumstances people would behave differently, and that in any case civilization would gradually reassert itself." Lasson's generation had been raised to believe in the rule of law. There were limits to the extent wh -1^ even the authorities c overstep. His survival waz a result of circumstances more than any specific ac- tion. The generation of Las- son's children, however, learned that in order to sur- vive, history had to be taken into one's own hands. Thus we find the Lasson children concealing from even their parents their participation in the Zionist underground. For all that has happened, you are not left with a sense of anger at what the Nazis have done. In the end the feeling is melancholy, of loss and of bewilderment. Two years ago, Gerald Green was quite successful with the story of the Holocaust, written in novel form. In this volume, histo- rian Walter Laqueur has composed a work of compar- able interest and value. Book Offers New Insight to Golem Legend The continuation of a story that dates back some 400 years, "The Golem of Prague" by Gershon Wink- ler (Judaica Press), provides interesting reading for adults and children alike. In the spring of 1580, Yehuda Ben-Bezalel, the rabbi of Prague, created a man out of clay in order to protect the Jews from perse- cution. The legend of the Golem has captivated both Jews and Christians ever since. This contemporary ver- sion of Golem stories is prefaced by a comprehen- sive overview of kabala, a traditional Jewish perspec- tive of the occult and a look at other golems in Jewish history. "The Golem of Prague" is the first serious attempt to portray the golem epic fr-- --1 a non-legendary viewpc The book includes illustra-- tions by Yochanan Jones. . New Settlemen JERUSALEM (JTA) — A new Gush Emunim settle- ment, Tel Hadasha, was es- tablished on the West Bank just north of Jerusalem by the World Zionist Organiza- tion's settlement depart- ment. The settlement, located on land purchased by Jews, was approved several months ago by the Cabinet's Ministerial Settlement Committee. It is the 44th Jewish settlement on the West Bank.