Last Dance at the Hotel Kempinski: Creating a Life in the Shadow of History [Hardcover]

Robin Hirsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

A remarkable memoir of the legacy of the German-Jewish diaspora.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Actor and writer Hirsch was born in London in 1942, the son of German Jewish refugees who had fled to England in 1938. Parts of his book first appeared in various journals, and he has presented some of the material in a series of dramatic readings in New York libraries and in a Greenwich Village cafe he owns. He offers a sweeping family history, beginning with the meeting of his parents in prewar Berlin--his mother a bohemian of sorts, his father an ardent Zionist. He tells of an aunt and uncle who left Germany in the 1930s and settled in Amsterdam but were sent to Auschwitz along with the author's paternal grandmother in 1944. His aunt and uncle survived, his grandmother was killed. He relates the somewhat amusing story of his own first marriage in a West Virginia synagogue and his father's decision to boycott the ceremony by running off to Yugoslavia. Hirsch describes many encounters with friends and family members in disparate corners of the world. He also deals with his coming-of-age in a turbulent household and his life at Oxford University. There is sadness, of course, in Hirsch's Holocaust-related narrative, but the book is filled with humor and insight; it's a delight to read. George Cohen

From the Publisher

6 x 9 trim. LC 94-48725 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: UPNE; 1ST edition (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874517133
• ISBN-13: 978-0874517132
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,061,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars touching and hilarious memoir, November 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Last Dance at the Hotel Kempinski: Creating a Life in the Shadow of History (Paperback)

Hirsch's account of growing up German Jewish in England is wonderful - while his story is often laugh out loud funny, it remains a thoughtful exploration of the repercussions of the Holocaust and the pain in growing up with a difficult father. After Hirsch sets out on adulthood, his own story is not as compelling, but his encounters with elderly Holocaust survivors, as well as his attempts to come to terms with his father, are still fascinating.