Review
For a long time in all cases, the small town chroniclers have interested themselves in the history of the rural Jews. Their bulky reports die in the archives. Now an American has written a book in regard to the history of the Jewish community in Mhringen: it is interestingly described, well done, readable, and exciting. No, the Nazis dont arrive. But dont let yourself be put off. The end product is pleasant. You are not invited to a snobbish family history in book form. The family trees are not important and the substance does not wear you out as the readers in scientific as well as amateur presentations experience. The Americans are good describers in fiction and in popular science, and Ms. Rose has prepared clearly and excitingly 150 years of forgotten town history, she presents an example full study of the rural Jews in Germany. -- Horber Chronik, Germany
It is a stroke of luck for the historical researchers in the area because Emily Rose has not sifted through the material about the Jewish annihilation in the Third Reich through a victim focus and also not through an offender perspective, but with a - with all personal involvement - rather realistic ethnographic perspective. In this way she can describe the exclusion and also integration of the rural Jews in the 17th, 18th and 19th century in an unbiased manner. Her non-fiction book reads moreover like a novel - what German historians could take this confident approach with the theme? -- Eckart Frahm, SWR 2, Kultur im Land, Radio Show, Oct. 6, 1999
The ... powerful book which is published by Konrad Theiss is dedicated to the daily life of people "it brings together small and big matters" that controlled the life of the rural German Jews between the end of the 17th century and the emigration of her ancestors [1857]. Rose abstains from the academic writing of the historian. She prefers the descriptive presentation that she makes in support with the reprinting of documents and illustrations. The result is an informative and entertaining book about a previously scarcely examined part of ...German history. It shows as an example from Rose's family how the German Jews and Christians had lived together; it documents the ebb and flow between exclusion and common interest. -- Stuttgarter Zeitung, Oct. 7, 1999
It is a stroke of luck for the historical researchers in the area because Emily Rose has not sifted through the material about the Jewish annihilation in the Third Reich through a victim focus and also not through an offender perspective, but with a - with all personal involvement - rather realistic ethnographic perspective. In this way she can describe the exclusion and also integration of the rural Jews in the 17th, 18th and 19th century in an unbiased manner. Her non-fiction book reads moreover like a novel - what German historians could take this confident approach with the theme? -- Eckart Frahm, SWR 2, Kultur im Land, Radio Show, Oct. 6, 1999
The ... powerful book which is published by Konrad Theiss is dedicated to the daily life of people "it brings together small and big matters" that controlled the life of the rural German Jews between the end of the 17th century and the emigration of her ancestors [1857]. Rose abstains from the academic writing of the historian. She prefers the descriptive presentation that she makes in support with the reprinting of documents and illustrations. The result is an informative and entertaining book about a previously scarcely examined part of ...German history. It shows as an example from Rose's family how the German Jews and Christians had lived together; it documents the ebb and flow between exclusion and common interest. -- Stuttgarter Zeitung, Oct. 7, 1999
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German
Original Language: German
