DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

PRESENTS

has lost much of its shock value, some pub-
lishers are apparently still uncomfortable
with this oil-and-water mixture.
Amis' longtime publishers in France
and Germany rejected the manuscript for
The Zone of Interest, according to the New
York Times; Amis told the Times that his
German publisher cited "inconsistencies
in the plot" and found one Nazi officer too
sympathetic to the Nazi cause.
Other, smaller publishers in those coun-
tries, and in other parts of Europe, as well
as in Canada and Brazil, will bring out the
book in 2015.
In recent years, Holocaust humor has
come under study in university courses;
a growing number of college students are
writing theses on various aspects of how
the survivors, and victims, used humor as
a form of psychological catharsis and spiri-
tual resistance.
And it will be the subject of a forthcom-
ing 2015 documentary, The Last Laugh, by
New York filmmakers Ferne Pearlstein and
Robert Edwards.
But as the legacy of the Shoah passes
from the generation of the survivors and
their children to the survivors' grand-
children and great-grandchildren, as the
immediacy of the Final Solution fades, as
popular culture wears nothing-is-sacred
irony as a badge, the focus changes.
It has gone from the humor created by
the people who experienced the horrors
of the Holocaust to humor interpreted
by those who grew up years, or decades,
afterward.
And sometimes the interpreters, like
Amis, are not even Jewish.
In an article in the Wall Street Journal,

Amis dismisses the view that the subject is
off-limits for novelists.
`"It makes absolutely no philosophical
sense' not to write about the Holocaust" he
is quoted as saying. 'And it's slightly sanc-
timonious, I think. Slightly as if, 'I care
more than you do about it You can care a
very great deal and still write a novel"
It's the author's intent that governs
whether a satiric work about the Holocaust
crosses some imaginary line of literary
taste, said Menachem Rosensaft, son of
survivors and senior vice president of the
American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust
Survivors and Their Descendants.
"Society has changed" in the nearly 70
years since World War II and the Holocaust
ended, he said. "There is a much lighter
feel to contemporary culture than there
was 20 years ago or 50 years ago"
"It depends on the work" and on the
intent of the creator, Rosensaft added.
If humor is employed for "constructive"
reasons, "if you have respect for the topic
... there is nothing wrong with it. If the
purpose is to make light of the [Holocaust]
experience, that's different"
Rosensaft said he "didn't see any prob-
lem with the timing" of Amis' novel com-
ing out in the wake of this summer's Israeli
war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza,
which fanned anti-Semitism in many
European countries, but Daniel Levine,
owner of J. Levine Books & Judaica in
Midtown Manhattan, criticized the timing.
"The world is ready to exterminate the
Jews again" Levine said. Anti-Semites, he
said, may find ammunition in a book that
apparently downplays the severity of the
Final Solution.

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A new picture book for young readers tells
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K

athy Kacer, an award-winning
What Werner doesn't know is that
author of more than a dozen
before the war, Herr Levin was a famous
books about the Holocaust
magician known to audiences around
for young readers, brings a unique
Europe as the "Great Nivelli."
blend of history and storytelling to her
One night, Werner is awakened by
first picture book (for
prison guards yelling, order-
ages 7 and up) about the
ing Herr Levin to perform
Holocaust, The Magician
his magic. Werner's life is
of Auschwitz (Second
changed not just by Herr
Story Press).
Levin's magic but by his gift of
Based on a true story of
friendship.
l~/(~~ "icia r
hope and survival in the
The book concludes with
most hopeless of places,
car ALIC IrPal
a special "How It Happened"
wrinen by
Kathy Kacer
the book features beauti-
section, with further details
illustrated by
ful, spare illustrations in
of Werner's and the Great
Gillian Newland
a grey-brown palette that
Nivelli's lives before and after
bring to life the barren
the war. It includes photo-
barracks and grim work yards of the
graphs, including some of Werner today
Auschwitz concentration camp.
at his home in New York.
Here we find Werner, a boy completely
The Toronto-based Kacer, a former
alone, separated from his family and not
psychologist, now travels the globe
knowing if they are dead or alive. He
speaking to children and adults about
shares his bunk with a quiet, gentle man
the importance of keeping the memory
named Herr Levin.
of the Holocaust alive.

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January 1 • 2015

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