Overview

Our Only Hope is based on correspondence between Eddie Weisz, a German Jew who emigrated to the U.S. in 1938, and his family (father, mother, and brother) who remained behind, first in Berlin and then Prague. Like many German Jewish families, Eddie's parents sent their eldest child to America hoping that he could pave the way for the rest of the family to follow. The story is a deeply personal account of how the Nazi phenomenon affected a single family. It gives voice to victims of the Holocaust, people whose experiences are typically told through the eyes of survivors and perpetrators. Through this narrative, Our Only Hope illuminates an ironic and tragic dualism: the steady deterioration of life's circumstances for the Weisz family that is left behind, countered by the transformation of Eddie Weisz into an independent adult and American citizen.

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9780761839200

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Like many who lost relatives in the Holocaust, German Jew Adolph Eddie Weisz, who emigrated to the US in 1938, did not openly discuss his past or that of his parents. In this oral history by his uncle Keith Pickus, drawn on extensive interviews and letters, his story of despair at losing one family and hope in establishing another is finally presented. * Research Book News, August 2009 *

Like many who lost relatives in the Holocaust, German Jew Adolph Eddie Weisz, who emigrated to the US in 1938, did not openly discuss his past or that of his parents. In this oral history by his uncle Keith Pickus, drawn on extensive interviews and letters, his story of despair at losing one family and hope in establishing another is finally presented. Research Book News, August 2009

Author Information

Keith H. Pickus is the Associate Provost at Wichita State University and an Associate Professor of German and Jewish history. He has published Constructing Modern Identities: Jewish University Students in Germany, 1815–1914 (Wayne State University Press, 1999), essays on Jewish identity, and a series of articles on Jewish and Catholic communities in 19th century Germany.

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