Customer Reviews

Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust: A Mother-Daughter Journey to Reclaim the Past

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Once you begin this book, you will not be able to put it down until you finish it. Chapman grabs the reader on many fronts: with a compelling story; with beautiful writing full of creative imagery and insight; and with lots of food for thought. Motherland holds appeal for many different types of readers. It is simultaneously a book about the Holocaust, the intricacies of mother-daughter relationships, and most importantly, the effects the past can have on the present and future.

I laughed and cried many times as I read this exquisitely-constructed book. And now that I have finished it, I continue to think about it. Motherland is very easy to read, but there is nothing light about it. I know it will stick with me for a long time to come.

"Motherland," Fern Schumer Chapman's extraordinary memoir of her mother's pre and post-Holocaust experiences, sheds an important light on a special type of victim -- the escapee. The author's mother, Edith Westerfeld, was but twelve when her parents, successful and seemingly honored German citizens of the small, rural town of Stockstadt, sent her to America. This abrupt removal, one which was depicted with incredible emotional detail by Chapman, had catastrophic impact on the child Edith, a corrosive and numbing sense of shame and guilt which lasted a lifetime until a heroic decision by Edith to return to Germany in 1990 permitted her to understand her assiduously barricaded childhood, the town which was her motherland, and the one loving figure who emerges, nearly fifty years after the Holocaust, as the genuine heroine of the memoir. Chapman poses no easy questions in this painful memoir; her answers and observations, though steeped with hope and a yearning for both roots and family coherence, resound with the horrors of the Holocaust as manifested through her mother.

Chapman, in graceful language, describes her mother as an "escapee," and the author postulates that escapees may have a more profound burden than actual survivors. Edith's life is suffused with guilt and the horrific burden of denying memory. "When she was only twelve, she lost everything but life itself: her home, her family, her language, her loyalties, her identity...Like a member of an endangered species ripped from its habitat to avoid certain extinction, she was left alone to bear her imprisoning memory, the unresolvable grief, and the full pain of surviving. The author is fully aware of the unique burdens this has placed on her. Using the metaphor of Russian Matrushka dolls, Edith had lost the larger doll (her mother); for years she was alone, but when Fern was born, once again there were two dolls. But "the relative sizes were reversed -- the daughter held and protected the mother. I became her mother because she needed one more than I did." Fern attains maturity in a household cut off from its own history; she becomes the means to "restoration, restitution, resurrection. I am a replacement for her lost family."

Fern and Edith's journey to Germany in 1990 brings the latter face to face with her past and the former face to face with her mother. A class reunion, stilted and nerve-wracking, brings little comfort to Edith, and a profoundly shaken and guilt-racked man eventually provides companionship and an inkling to the ease at which the "good Germans" of Stockstadt became active participants or silent collaborators with the Nazis. It is Edith's former caretaker, Mina, however, who emerges as the luminescent figure in this memoir. The product of a poor family, Mina attained employment as a caretaker-companion to the Westerfeld family and quickly forged a loving relationship with Edith. Now shunned by her former community and living in a dilapidated remote rural home, Mina's life is consumed with memory. She exists as a negative image of Edith. The two are fused in their polarities. While Edith cannot bear to learn of the past, Mina cannot let it go. While Edith has repressed all memory of her pre-Holocaust life and has continued to live, Mina covets her hoard of the truth and resents anyone who would seek to pacify the present at the cost of washing away the horrific complicities of the past.

You need to understand that Mina is a moral giant. She continuously, at great personal risk, refused to capitulate to Nazi aggression against the Westerfelds specifically or Jews generally. As she eloquently and passionately proclaims in 1938, "I will never howl with those wolves." Fern, deeply struck by this simple, pure devotion to justice, inquires as to how and why Mina never relinquished her dedication to principle. Mina shrugs off any suggestion that she is different than any other German, "You cannot behave like this to another man. You just can't."

And, so, Mina is filled with a quiet rage against the quiescent, stable people of Stockstadt, some fifty years later. When her beloved Edith quietly suggests she let the past go, Mina recounts, with excruciating detail, the damage and depradations the Nazis and the town deliberately enacted on her, up to and including refusing her permission to marry. "If you were here and saw what they did, you would be less forgiving."

It is important to emphasize that this memoir is not about forgiveness as much as it is about understanding, and how understanding can ease the anguish of a submerged past and provide the possibilities for a genuine link between mother and daughter. Edith eventually confronts her guilt; she finally is able to comprehend, from an adult point of view, what shattered her heart as a twelve year old. "If my mother had been a survivor, maybe she would be grateful, and could have felt each day as a gift, every year as a mission. But as an escapee, she feels she doesn't deserve to live. For that matter, she's not sure she wants to...not without her parents."

The moral and personal epiphanies in this magnificent memoir are hard earned and soaked with tears. Fern Schumer Chapman does not dare generalize from her mother's experiences or pontificate about the value of forgiving and forgetting, of getting on with life, or putting the past in its proper place. To both Edith and Fern, the past is too profound, too precious, too precarious. Yet, by memoir's end, they and we realize that without the past, there is no hope for the future.

After meeting Fern Chapman at a reading of her book, I purchased the book & read it almost non-stop. I was deeply touched by it, as I was by meeting the author, who is embued with warmth & kindness, which allowed me to share with her, a total stranger then, but no more, some of my profound & deep hurt.

Though Fern Chapman & I have written our respective books separately (My book: "Erinnern ist nicht genug, an autobiography" {Remembering is not enough}, published in German by UNRAST Verlag in Muenster, Germany, ISBN 3-928300-86-5), not knowing each other, or about each other, in two instances the author and/or her mother & I used almost identical words. The mother, describing her departure from Germany & separation from her parents, is quoted "...I watched them (her parents) become dots..." In my book I describe my leaving Germany on a Kindertransport (children's transport)& how "...my parents ran along the train as it pulled out of the railroad station in Frankfurt. I watched them get smaller & smaller, & finally they were just two dots & then they were gone...."

Elsewhere Chapman writes "...In a way, her parents gave birth twice to the same child..." I wrote "...I did not realize it then, but my parents gave me life a second time by sending me away..."

"Motherland" is beautifully written, full of sensitive insights. I hope writing it has helped the author & her mother to reach a new & deeper understanding of each other & of themselves as individuals.

To read "Motherland" is to experience a whole different side of the Holocaust and its far-reaching implications. Lovingly told in vivid accounting and imagery, this story of a daughter's search to uncover her mother's past, and therefore fill in her own family history, will have a powerful impact on readers regardless of their religion. You don't have to be Jewish, a mother or a daughter to appreciate the beauty and truths Chapman displays. "Motherland" touches the spirit as well as the mind.

This unusual, beautiful book was absolutely fascinating to read, and impossible to put down. What really set this book apart for me was how often I was completely surprised, horrified and then saddened by the wreckage left by this war. The mother-daughter visit to Germany, from where Edith was sent during the Holocaust, never proceeds as expected. The local newspaper heralds her return with the headline, "The Jew Edith Westerfeld Visits Stockstadt." I found myself checking and rechecking the dates of the visit (1990). Equally amazing was the gradual revelation that Edith, whose Nazi-hatred seemed lukewarm at times, had never reconciled herself to her parents sending her away. Her escape simultaneously freed her and imprisoned her in a 12-year old's mindset. Chapman doesn't put a foot wrong in this book. She provides a deftly -crafted window into mother-daughter relationships. It is an important book for those wishing to understand more about the holocaust and its effect on generations. It is truly an incredible journey.

A Deeply moving and insightful memoir about mother/daughter relations, the effects of trauma on the human spirit, and the choices we all make that change our lives.

Beautiful literary style with a stunning use of metaphors.

A Wonderful Book!
Beautifully written. So much to talk about!

A mother daughter story of understanding and forgiveness.
The author, Fern, grew up in a home where the past was not discussed. Not until she was an adult, and pregnant with her third child, was her mother, Edith, willing to discuss her childhood. Fern and her mother travelled back to Germany together to see where Edith grew up, as one of two Jewish families in a small town where her family had lived for over 200 years. Edith's parents sent her out of Germany, to live in safety with relatives in Chicago, just before Kristallnacht.
Whether this was the ultimate act of unselfish parental love, or whether it was cruel makes riveting conversation between Fern and her mother.

This book is wonderful for book club discussions.
It is a memoir that reads like fiction.
Beautifully written, a good read, but not difficult.
Many topics to discuss - mother/daughter relationships on many levels, the sacrifices we make for our children, what we pass on to them intentionally and unintentionally. Survivor guilt versus escapee guilt. The burdens - positive and negative- that we carry from our past.

Vivid characters, stunning descriptions, can't put it down dialog. I can't wait for her to write another book!

I was concerned that it might be holocaust heavy, but it is not.
I have recomended Motherland to readers of all ages and religions, and everyone has loved it. It has quickly become the hot book club book in the Chicago area. So many book clubs around here have discussed it, and are raving about it. Stores can't keep it on the shelves.

It appeals to all of us, who are mothers and daughters.

For background, see the discussion guide, or go to the author's website.

Don't miss Motherland as an outstanding book club choice.

This book knocked me out! The tale it describes is almost ordinary, involving people we know and might live next door to. And it is told smoothly, flawlessly by Chapman, a journalist. But the story adds up to an emotional roller-coaster, ending with a confrontation between our friends next door and the greatest brutalities of 20th Century history. With tears in your eyes, you are amazed to find out -- our friends win! While the book centers on one woman's search for the truth about her mother, it is surely to be gripping and ultimately joyful for anyone with a heart.

I recently purchased your book and happened to glance at the back cover. From that point on I could not put your book down until I had read it from cover to cover. I was memorized! I AM YOUR MOTHER!
I'm a Vietnam combat veteran and used the same ploy as your mother - denial and never talk about it. My wife and three sons bore the brunt of my walled memories. And, unfortunately, in order to bury Vietnam I also buried most of my youth.
I recently retired and the unexpected free time has caused my walls to crumble and my nights are filled with nightmares. Part of my counseling is to write about my trauma. You have inspired me to take these outpourings, organize them and get them published. I intend to "look fear in the face" and share my burden with others who may face the same hardships I do. Like your mom, I want to "be here now."

It is very rare indeed when a book can take your breath away and make you weep. When a book can transport you to a time and place you have never been. Well, this book does that and much more. It is beatifully written and full of very relevant insights. It truely is a perfect book and one that you will not be able to put down. It really helps you to understand the utter horror of what was going on in Germany in the late 1930's. I really cannot say enough about this book, please read it, it is a very important piece of work. I feel honored to have read it.