ENDPAPERS Shelfies: History

Some of my ancestors produced the Merck drugs that Hitler consumed over the final years of his life. Other forebears, born Jewish, were chased from the family home in Karlsruhe during the 19th century, in two rounds of antisemitic riots 24 years apart. My father, of Jewish descent but nonetheless drafted into the Wehrmacht, participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union--and, simply by eating lavish rations made available to him, helped implement the Nazis' genocidal "Hunger Plan" to depopulate Eastern Europe of Jews and Slavs. Implication came at me fast while I worked on ENDPAPERS, and when I placed family letters and diaries alongside these sweeping histories, by Norman Ohler, Timothy Snyder, Bryan Mark Rigg, and the late Amos Elon, the story emerged in all its unsettling but essential aspects. I thank each of these authors, and anyone dedicated to telling the stories that undergird our common humanity.
Blitzed Drugs in Nazi Germany by Norman Ohler The Pity of it All A Portrait of Jews in Germany 1743-1933 by Amos Elon Hitler's Jewish Soldiers The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military by Bryan Mark Rigg Bloodlands Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder
1 like ·   •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 17, 2021 11:38
No comments have been added yet.


ENDPAPERS Shelfies

Alexander Wolff
ENDPAPERS: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape, and Home is a book about books. And to write it I got lost in dozens and dozens of . . . wait for it . . . books! Over the coming weeks I'll share shel ...more
Follow Alexander Wolff's blog with rss.