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Jews in the Nazis’ Ranks

Dennis Gura June 13, 2002

\”Hitler\’s Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and the Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military\” by Bryan Mark Rigg (University Press of Kansas, $29.95).

Bryan Mark Rigg\’s most controversial assertion is \”Hitler\’s Jewish Soldiers\’\” least relevant matter. In a complicated opening chapter, he claims that 150,000 individuals (almost exclusively male) served in the German military who were, by Nazi racial standards and laws, Jews of some quantity. By his calculations, perhaps as many as 6,000 \”full\” Jews (with four Jewish grandparents) were in the Wehrmacht — but the greater number comes, of course, from the highly assimilated, aggressively nationalistic, and thoroughly acculturated \”quarter\” and \”half\” Jews, those with one or two Jewish grandparents, respectively. (The mathematics is darkly amusing: two half-Jewish parents make up one half-Jewish child.)

The Legacy of ‘Esther’s Children’

Gina Nahai June 6, 2002

In his introduction to Esther\’s Children,\” (Jewish Publication Society, $110) editor Houman Sarshar speaks of a time when, at 6 years old and about to start elementary school, he discovered his legacy as an Iranian Jew. Over breakfast in their apartment in Tehran, Houman\’s father, a top planning commissioner in the Shah\’s Iran, notices the Star of David pendant — a recent gift from a grandmother — hanging from his son\’s neck. He reaches over and slips the necklace under Houman\’s shirt.

\”If anyone in school asks about your religion,\” he instructs his son, \”lie. Tell them you\’re Muslim.\”

The Heart and Marrow of a Century

Miriyam Glazer April 18, 2002

From the vantage point of our already traumatic new millennium, \”Old Men at Midnight,\” celebrated author Chaim Potok\’s latest collection of three novellas, requires us to look back in anguish at a wrenching picture of the 20th century.

\”This America of yours is not a country that values history,\” says the character Mr. Zapiski, a World War I soldier who has become a melancholy teacher of Torah trope in New York. \”Where I was raised, history was the heart and marrow of a person.\” That is why, as she herself moves from teenager to older woman in this collection, Ilana Davita Dinn, who first appeared in Potok\’s 1985 novel \”Davita\’s Harp,\” persists in eliciting from each of the main characters the personal story, however wrenching, of their lives.

Still Got ‘Game’

Michael Aushenker January 24, 2002

Like Budd Schulberg\’s \”What Makes Sammy Run?\” Phillip Roth\’s \”Portnoy\’s Complaint\” and other milestones of Jewish American literature, Will Eisner\’s \”Name of the Game\” explores the depths of Jewish self-loathing and assimilation. But what separates \”Name\” — a tale chronicling two immigrant families that merge through marriage for social advancement and then suffer destructive consequences — from the others, is that Eisner\’s work is a comic book.\n\n

Diamant Finds a Harbor

Naomi Pfefferman November 29, 2001

While writing \”Good Harbor,\” about the midlife friendship between two Jewish women, Anita Diamant says she suffered a bout of \”second-novelitis.\”\n\nHer 1997 debut novel, \”The Red Tent\” — a sexy spin on the biblical story of Dinah — had been a runaway best seller that\’s still on the New York Times list. Julia Roberts told Oprah magazine that \”Tent\” was one of her favorite books. The book has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the United States alone, and publishers have bought the rights in 18 countries.

Southern Scandals

Naomi Pfefferman November 29, 2001

TV writer Loraine Despres dreamed up her award-winning debut novel, "The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc," (William Morrow, $24) after a creative writing class stirred her memories of growing up Jewish in Amite, La.

The Secret History

Ruth Andrew Ellenson November 15, 2001

\”The Woman Who Laughed at God: The Untold History of the Jewish People,\” by Jonathan Kirsch (Viking Press, $14.95).

Jonathan Kirsch lives a double life that many lawyers only dream of.

Nice and Gruesome

Gaby Wenig November 15, 2001

Perhaps the most disarming thing about Jonathan Kellerman — best-selling author of gruesome crime mysteries that deal with the seedier aspects of human nature and society — is that he is nice and charming.

The pyschotherapist turned author has his 17th thriller \”Flesh and Blood,\” coming out on Nov. 20 (Random House).

Wayward Son

Naomi Pfefferman November 8, 2001

\”Shadows of Sin\” began when Orthodox mystery author Rochelle Krich was chilled by a verse in Deuteronomy after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.\n\nThe passage described the \”wayward and rebellious\” son, who is condemned to death for crimes of theft, drunkenness and gluttony.

7 Days In Arts

Solange Borna July 26, 2001

With the famous line: \”It matters nothing if one is born in a duck yard, if one has only lain in a swan\’s egg,\” Hans Christian
Andersen\’s play became a classic success.

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