***Rated one of "Best Books of 2011" by KIRKUS REVIEWS. ***Anders's remarkable reminiscences show that in the morass of the "Bloodlands" there were honest, helpful people of Latvian, German, Slavic descent, illustrating the utter absurdity of the "collective guilt" concept. -FRANK GORDON, journalist, Tel-Aviv. ***Surviving the Holocaust by a hair, Anders became a brilliant scientist. Upon retirement, he turned to Holocaust studies. Part I is a memoir of his youth, including the Soviet and German occupations of Latvia. Part II discusses, with objectivity and precision, Latvian conduct during WWII. -ANDREW EZERGAILIS, Professor of History, Ithaca, NY. ***Anders survived by an outright lie (invented by his father) that his mother was a German foundling raised by a Jewish couple. His father was soon executed, but Edward and his mother bluffed their way through the nightmarish years of the German occupation (1941-1945), helped by the good will of the non-Jews among whom they were living. -MORRIS HALLE, Institute Professor of Linguistics, MIT, Cambridge, MA. ***Much has been argued about whether Soviet and Nazi terrors are comparable. Anders, a Latvian Jew who savored and survived both, presents a compelling personal story and a dispassionate analysis of the events surrounding victims and victimizers as they were drawn into the most tragic episodes of recent European history.--PĒTERIS BOLŠAITIS, Board Chairman, Occupation MuseumAssociation, Riga.
{"itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":15.32,"ASIN":"9984993183","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":15.35,"ASIN":"0810117290","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":16.16,"ASIN":"1605945692","isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"9984993183::grinRLbUVujTVynpriLeEr5PUeTp0T9LOHsqjLSflcBCvplid1tXbQwWH54on48lVvFYwdLIp98iDjlYGXi%2BymQJhvOt3sNyqspzwyUWXvr%2FIzql8df5kQ%3D%3D,0810117290::%2BqJU03CSPoaK4zOAWICXCvRTu%2BfcybD5KM2uULl1yl5Ebkzvq4ss3IKR4rbNmwzV0DvdkeogK5DhgUtMNJ6H2Gefo9FfZsms6r413weKxlU%3D,1605945692::OlRIF%2B%2BHLzsM%2B9mjnqA19bavt5DkA5WYIIMes9gpUcKsmIHd9EkMp05sqJs3xY1zCpXuF8IRaQICnEinvMNYWN2R58uWNHXaY9hMHMIIoT9I5hvi78LfXw%3D%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"currenyCode":"USD","shippingDetails":{"xz":"availability","yz":"same","xy":"availability","xyz":"availability"},"tags":["x","y","z"],"strings":{"showDetails":"Show details","differentAvailabilityAll":"Some of these items ship sooner than the others.","addToWishlist":["add to wishlist","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List"],"shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","differentAvailability":"One of these items ships sooner than the other.","preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price for both:","Price for all three:"],"hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","hideDetails":"Hide details"}}
"A nerve-wracking saga in which life and death depend on a capricious fate...absorbing lucidity...vivid portraits...simple moral vision that resonates--'I met enough decent, brave, and noble Germans and Latvians during the war to be immunized against prejudice'. A testament of remarkable clarity and humanity...." Kirkus Reviews
From the Author
When Stalin brutally seized Latvia--my country--in June 1940, I was one of many Latvian patriots alarmed at this perfidious aggression. I narrowly escaped deportation to the USSR on 14 June 1941. But a few days later, when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union and swiftly drove the Red Army out of Latvia, I became one of 90,000 Latvian Jews who suddenly faced death. The Holocaust began at once. Jews were shot by tens, hundreds, and thousands. Only 2% survived the Nazi occupation.
My father invented an audacious bluff to save his wife and sons--though not himself. My mother was to claim that she was a German foundling raised by Jewish parents. At best this bluff would last a few months, as too many people in our town (Liepāja, pop. 57,000) knew our family. Against all odds, we managed to stretch it out for nearly 2 years, followed by a few years in legal limbo when my mother and I "slipped through cracks in the Holocaust", though my father, brother, and 24 other relatives perished. When the Red Army reentered Latvia in 1944, we fled to Germany with 100,000 others who also thought that one year under Stalin was enough.
This book covers only my years in Europe (1926-1949), prior to my emigration to the US. Part I is my survival story. Part II is my attempt as a scientist to give a dispassionate objective analysis of Latvian conduct during the German occupation. I show that most Latvians deplored the German-led Holocaust murders in which a few thousand Latvians participated.
This book is also available in Latvian and Russian translations by Jumava Publishers, Riga, Latvia (ISBN 978-9984-38-915-8 and 978-9984-38-916-5).
~~When Stalin brutally seized Latvia--my country--in June 1940, I was one of many Latvian patriots alarmed at this perfidious aggression. I narrowly escaped deportation to the USSR on 14 June 1941. But a few days later when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union and swiftly drove the Red Army out of Latvia, I became one of 90,000 Latvian Jews who suddenly faced death. The Holocaust began at once. Jews were shot by tens, hundreds, and thousands. Only 2% survived the Nazi occupation. ~~ My father invented an audacious bluff to save his wife and sons--though not himself. My mother was to claim that she was a German foundling raised by Jewish parents. At best this bluff would last a few months, as too many people in our town (Liepāja, pop. 57,000) knew our family. Against all odds, we managed to stretch it out for nearly 2 years, followed by a few years in legal limbo when my mother and I "slipped through cracks in the Holocaust", though my father, brother, and 24 other relatives perished. When the Red Army reentered Latvia in 1944, we fled to Germany with 100,000 others who thought that one year under Stalin was enough. ~~Not having been in ghettos or camps, I evaded the horrendous suffering of most other survivors and was able to watch events from a unique vantage point. Living and working among ordinary people, I saw their responses to the war, the Nazi occupation, and the Holocaust. I saw shades of gray where some others--and the Moscow propaganda machine--see only pitch black. ~~This book covers only my years in Europe (1926-1949), prior to my emigration to the US. Part I is my survival story. Part II is my attempt as a scientist to give a dispassionate, objective analysis of Latvian conduct during the German occupation. There I show that the ugly stereotypes about them are based on a badly distorted reading of the historical record. Most Latvians deplored the German-led Holocaust murders in which a few thousand Latvians participated. The Latvian Legion, often confused with these murder units, did not even exist at the time of these murders, being formed by conscription only in 1943 to keep the Red Army out of Latvia. It fought not for Hitler but against Stalin.
This book is a true story that reads, nevertheless, much like a novel. It is the story of a Latvian Jewish family, only two members of which - a mother and son - were able to escape the Holocaust by a combination of boldness, the incredible acting ability of the mother, and sheer luck. I say that it reads like a novel for there were many cliff-hanging moments when it seemed that all was going to be lost. The many zig-zags between and around bureaucratic officials afforded the son (the author) a unique perspective on the actions of the occupiers and the civilians who were being occupied. It presents a nuanced view of the kinds of individuals, good, bad and indifferent among the occupiers and the occupied. This differs from the retrospective view, mainly from outsiders, that within this occupied country only victims and evil individuals existed. It is an amazing story of resourcefulness under shifting circumstances - and a whole lot of luck.
Much fiction pales by comparison to this true account of life in, and escape from, the Latvian Holocaust. The author, who did finally escape with his mother, tells an even-handed story of heroes and villains, good and evil, and the survival of people against all odds. The often unbelievably heroic efforts of ordinary Latvians to help Jews to survive the Russian and German occupations are a fascinating part of this engrossing book.
Amidst Latvians During the Holocaust by Edward Anders is weightier than it's outward appearance inviting much consideration.
The book is of biographical reflection, of Mr. Anders' birth and life in Latvia and subsequent exile and emigration to the United States. It highlights a frank and frontal discourse regarding the murder of Jews in Latvia during the second world war and the author's subsequent efforts to not only memorialize those lost but bring their murderers to justice. Truly commendable work.
Though the historical overview was revealing, it lacked the visceral grasp that living "amidst" misses and that only an upbringing and immersion in true Latvian ethnic culture can provide.
The Latvian historical record is replete with self preservation against invaders seeking her warm water ports. From Viking raids to Teutonic Knights to Napoleon to Germans, Russians, Poles and even Swedes. All subjected Latvians to centuries of cultural and territorial subjugation under the thumbs of succeeding overlords. Jewish inhabitants since the late middle ages, due to their God given talents and abilities in artisanship, merchantilism and finance thrived and often rose to prominence among the ruling class. What was salient to Latvia's serfs was not their overlord's ethnicity nor religion but rather the slave-like treatment the locals were being subjected to. The vestiges of such abuse at the hand of Mr. Ander's own family even as late as the second world war confused and troubled the author.
Spurred by the class struggles of others in their midst as France and Russia, the Latvian commoners threw off the yoke of their subjugation and declared independence during the first world war.... The country blossomed in nationalistic fervor and a re-emergence of their abraded ethnic culture. The elite's prospects could have been dour, potentially facing portable guillotines and firing squads, but as Mr. Anders honestly reveals, treatment of the past ruling cadre was beyond fair even during the latter Ulmanis' nationalistic dictatorship. Foreign national's cultures and religions were protected and their schools and churches publicly funded. Industrial enterprises nationalized under Latvian rule were fairly compensated and owners were put in charge of and salaried well. Mr. Anders' family and others of his peers thrived and, by his own admission, were rich compared to the average Latvian.
Those foreign nationals who over time had assimilated to reap the benefits of their birthright had chosen in name, spirit and allegiance to become true Latvians. Others by their own hand chose to linger in their self imposed enclaves yearning for higher aspirations through their continued tethers to foreign allegiances. With the return of the second world war's wave of German and subsequent Russia carnage, these same rose to welcome and assist the return of their particular allies as an anticipated re-establishment to their former colonialistic glories. Understandably, indigenous Latvians saw such attempts as traitorous for they had no wish to return to past subservience. It was these continuing tethers exploited by invading powers that fomented the continuing hatreds and led to much of the internecine bloodshed. Latvian borne Russians and Latvian borne Germans slaughtering each other in a civil war for rule of the nation with the unaligned trying to outrun the butchery Mr. Anders describes.
Throughout his book, the author's quandary with his ethnic Hebrew roots over his birth-right re-emerges, of being a Jew rather than a Latvian Hebrew. The author reveals his introspections of the broader search of nomadic Jewry for firmament in it's own ethnicity at a time particularly ripe due to the reemergence of Israel. His sense of having been isolated from Latvians misses the realities of Jewry's religious preferences manifesting in self-encloisterment through choices of dress, appearance and activities. Others of his heritage, as he reveals, chose different paths, living and dying as Latvians.
One suspects that Mr. Ander's musings are the weighing of his varied allegiances tempered by the crucible of the horrific conflagration he found himself in. His lineage from Russian ethnicity, to living under German tongue in an enclave disdainful of Latvians whom he personally saw as some of his best friends, speaks volumes.
I value this book and author highly for it's and his courageous first hand, very honest and particularly insightful revelations of a Jewish Latvian's perspective during what was a barbaric time and a horrific piece of inhumanity with the common element being death and the common victims being Latvians, no matter their religion.Read more ›
Easy-to-read, very interesting, very informative, well-documented, objective and an affordable read by an intelligent author with significant real-life experiences. Personally, I highly recommend it.
Invaluable experience of a Jewish family in Latvia during the German occupation there. Recommend for anyone interested in Eastern European Jewish experience.
I have read many books including a number of bios of these times in Latvia. This is a very good book that I recommend to others who are interested in those times. I woldn't have minded if it had been a few pages longer with a bit more detail.
