Confronting The Past
ANY Yom HaShoah Reads
In his wildest dreams, author Lev Raphael
never thought he'd travel to the country
he blamed for his family's pain.
secrets but obviously of a very differ-
ent kind:"
Raphael, raised in New York and
relocated to accept a teaching position
ev Raphael's 19th book,
at Michigan State University, has been
intended to memorialize his
mother, turned out to focus on writing nonfiction and fiction about
children of Holocaust survivors for
his own life-altering experiences.
Raphael, whose parents were
three decades. His first article with a
Jewish theme appeared in the Detroit
Holocaust survivors, grew up hating
the Germany discussed by one or the
Jewish News.
other but more often kept secret by
"My Germany is a memoir, trav-
elogue, account of
them.
European Jewish history
Although the author
and commentary on
thought he never could
contemporary Germany,"
have positive feelings
says Raphael, whose pre-
about anything repre-
vious books include The
senting the country that
German Money, Writing
caused so much pain, his
a Jewish Life and Dancing
outlook changed dur-
on Tisha B'Av.
ing book-signing tours
"This nonfiction work
arranged by the German
Lev Raphae I: The bar-
really is the capstone
publisher of his previous
riers came tumbling
to everything I've been
books and recalled in his
down.
doing. It addresses the
latest, My Germany: A
past, present and future."
Jewish Writer Returns to
Raphael, brought up without much
the World His Parents Escaped (Terrace
religious observance, recalls how he
Books; $26.95).
found Jewish identity on his own,
"There were things I discovered that
changed his first name to reflect his
were surprising and wonderful, not
least of all the fact that I could have a
commitment and is now a member of
Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy.
good time in Germany," says Raphael,
He also discusses, in a separate
54, who will read from his book 1
identity realization, coming out as a
p.m. Sunday, April 26, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing.
gay man and establishing a life with
"When I talked to Germans whose
his partner, Gershen Kaufman.
parents were perpetrators, they told
As Raphael approached the book,
he tried to learn about the parts of his
of also growing up with silence and
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
L
.1 •1noide, friar
1:,44
ill. Paton., 1,4p d
R
ecently released books with Holocaust
themes:
The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life
in Holocaust's Shadow (St. Martin's; $24.95),
mother's life
she never
revealed. He My Germany is "a
interviewed memoir, travelogue,
many people account of European
and searched Jewish history and
commentary on con-
archival
temporary Germany."
materials.
There were
many ques-
tions surrounding her name, different
from the one on Holocaust records.
"The book in some ways became a
mystery hunt as I tried to piece together
what my parents' lives were before, dur-
ing and just after the war," Raphael says.
"As a mystery author, I found myself
pursuing clues all over the country and
all over the world. I'm a pretty dogged
investigator because I've also written
seven mysteries:"
Raphael gave up teaching in 1988 to
become a full-time writer.
"Many years ago, I never thought I'd
be able to watch German movies, but I
do that all the time now," Raphael says.
"I'm actually taking a German class:"
Lev Raphael will do a read-
ing from My Germany 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 26, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, 1924 Coolidge
Road, in East Lansing. (517) 351-
3570.
by Krystyna Chiger with Daniel Paisner, is told
from the perspective of a child, whose grand-
mother knit a sweater she wore during the 14
months spent in hiding, along with her family
and others, in the sewers of Lvov, Poland.
The Journal of Helene Berr (Weinstein
Books; $24.95), translated by David Bellos and
published earlier this year in France, where it
became a No.1 best-seller, was begun in the
spring of 1942, when Berr, age 21 and a recent
graduate of the Sorbonne, began to describe
everyday life in Paris under German occupa-
tion; the author was arrested in March 1944 and
taken to Bergen-Belsen, where she died five
days before the liberation of the camp (Anne
Frank died there a month earlier).
Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival
(Ecco; $25.99), by Clara Kramer, re-creates in
vivid detail how she and her family survived
the Holocaust in a dug out bunker in a small
town in Poland, under the home of a known
anti-Semite who with his wife (and Clara's fam-
ily's former housekeeper), nevertheless, took
in 18 Jews and became their saviors.
Flight From the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-
1946 (Norton; $35), by Deborah Dwork and
Robert Jan van Pelt (authors of Holocaust: A
History and Auschwitz, winner of the National
Jewish Book Award), is a wholly new account
of the Jews who sought to escape Europe after
Hitler came to power.
We Remember with Reverence and Love:
American Jews and the Myth of Silence
After the Holocaust, 1945-1962 (NYU Press;
$29.95), by Hasia R. Diner, dismantles the idea
of American Jewish "forgetfulness" about the
Shoah in the post-war years.
- compiled by Arts Editor Gail Zimmerman
w s
I
to beautify her town. Knope has
an ally in local nurse Ann Logan,
played by Rashida Jones, 33,
recently seen on the big screen as
TV Premieres
Paul Rudd's love interest in I Love
Parks and Recreation, a new sitcom
starring Amy Poehler of Saturday
You, Man.
0) Night Live fame, debuted
Fun fact about Jones,
who is the daughter of Mod
last week. It airs 8 p.m.
Squad actress Peggy Lipton
Thursdays on NBC and is
and musician Quincy Jones:
filmed in mock documen-
Rashida was once engaged
tary style. Cameras follow
to top music producer Mark
Leslie Knope (Poehler), a
Ronson, 34. Mark's sis-
mid-level parks depart-
ter, disc jockey Samantha
ment bureaucrat in a small
Mark Ro nson
Ronson, has been romanti-
Indiana city, as she tries
Omni
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
0 1 0
C4
Aprii16 2009
cally linked with actress Lindsay
Lohan, although the couple report-
edly recently broke up.
Also premiering last week was the
police series The Unusuals, which
airs 10 p.m. Wednesdays
on ABC. It features a large
cast playing New York
City homicide detectives.
Adam Goldberg (Saving
Private Ryan, The Hebrew
Hammer),38, plays an
emotionally disturbed
detective who is trying to
Adam
get killed in the line of duty. Goldber g
Debuting 8 p.m. Sunday, April
19, is the new FOX animated series
Sit Down, Shut Up. Based on an
Australian series, the American ver-
sion is produced by Mitch Hurwitz,
who also created Arrested
Development. His new venture
is a sharp social satire about
the dysfunctional staff and
faculty of a high school in a
small Florida fishing town.
Henry Winkler, 63, co-
stars as the voice of Willard
Deutschebog, described as a
"suicidal German teacher."