Overview

The Inspiration Behind The Golden Globe --Winning Film ""An engrossing and memorable tale.""Jewish Book World ""The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief."" --The Times (London) International acclaim for Solomon Perel's Europa Europa ""The wrenching memoir of a young man who survived the Holocaust by concealing his Jewish identity and finding unexpected refuge as a member of the Hitler Youth. ""It is a Holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward, and quite completely bizarre, unsettling in all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt."" --Glasgow Herald ""Perel bares his soul to readers in this fascinating, unusual personal narrative of the Holocaust."" --Book Report ""Many of the experiences of Holocaust survivors are incredible. None is more incredible than the story of a Jewish boy, Solomon Perel, who escaped from Germany to Russia, served with the Wehrmacht in Russia, was adopted by his commanding officer, and transferred to an elite Hitler Youth school."" --London Jewish News ""A most remarkable story ...extraordinary."" --The Australian ""This book will move human hearts."" --Berliner Morgenpost

Full Product Details

9780471172185

Table of Contents

Reviews

The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief. --The Times (London)<br> <br> It is a holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward and quite completely bizarre, unsettling all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt. --Glasgow Herald<br> <br> An engrossing and memorable tale. --Jewish Book World<br> <br> This book will move human hearts. --Berliner Morgenpost

The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief. --The Times (London)<br><br> It is a holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward and quite completely bizarre, unsettling all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt. --Glasgow Herald<br><br> An engrossing and memorable tale. --Jewish Book World<br><br> This book will move human hearts. --Berliner Morgenpost

"""The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief.""--The Times (London) ""It is a holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward and quite completely bizarre, unsettling all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt.""--Glasgow Herald ""An engrossing and memorable tale.""--Jewish Book World ""This book will move human hearts.""--Berliner Morgenpost"

A standout wartime memoir, and the inspiration of the Golden Globe - winning film of the same title. Perel, now an Israeli businessman, survived the Holocaust in a most improbable way. Facility with German and Russian allowed the teenage Solly, separated from his family, to be given shelter first at a Soviet orphanage and later, incredibly, in Germany's premier Hitler Youth institution. On the perilous way from one ideological extreme to another, Perel was rounded up by attacking Wehrmacht troops, passed himself off as an ethnic German, and was adopted as the mascot of a mechanized unit. The exquisite psychological drama of being a Jew in Nazi clothing intensifies when he is shipped back to Germany. The lonely boy, who took the name Jupp, found himself bonding with Nazi friends and learning - even teaching - loathsome Nazi propaganda about Jews. He was shaken from any confidence in his lucky angel whenever his circumcision or absent birth records came to the fore. But he risked all to visit the Lodz ghetto to search for his parents during his Christmas vacation. In a suicidal break from his usual self-control, he unburdened himself of his terrible secret to a couple of Germans. His parents died in a concentration camp, but with the help of two surviving brothers, Perel finally got to establish his true identity in the newborn state of Israel. As narrator, Perel constantly points out poignant ironies and flashes forward to postwar visits with the principal characters. We get to see many Nazis and Jews react after the war with disbelief when they discover that Solly/Jupp was, indeed, Jewish. An epilogue touches on Perel's cathartic, present-day encounters with Jews and Nazis (he now lectures about fascism), but the weight of this memorable psychological thriller lies in the interior drama. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

SOLOMON PEREL is, today, a businessman who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available