Customer Reviews

Wartime Lies

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This affecting autobiographical novel chronicles the life of a little Jewish boy and his family during World War II Poland. It is narrated by the now grown boy, who begins by reflecting on his adult life and his attachment to the Aeneid, whose eponymous character likewise escaped the destruction of the world he knew. But unlike Aeneas, who survived to found the city of Rome, Begley's narrator finds no new home for himself--all he had and, even all he was, was ripped away by the lies that allowed him to survive.

Maciek, the little boy the narrator once was, is a Jewish child who grows up cosseted and loved by his family. The outbreak of the war changes all that, as the family's survival depends on moving from one place to another, always hiding their Jewish identity and blending in with the general population. One by one, most of his family die or vanish. Maciek and his Aunt Tania somehow survive, cautiously maintaining a fearful distance from those around them in order to keep from being discovered. But survival takes its toll--after the war is over, the lies have become protective coloration and aren't so easily disposed of. The little boy Maciek was is no longer.

"Wartime Lies" has its moments of suspense, but those aren't what linger at the end. The true impact of the book comes from the child's matter-of-fact narration. Many of the situations in the book should be emotionally charged, but the flatness of the narrative doesn't reflect this. It's as if the adult narrator is talking about a different person, and in many ways he is. The distance between child and adult reflects the true tragedy of the story. In order to survive physically, the child's psyche has been irreparably damaged.

All told, "Wartime Lies" is a stunning book, quietly moving. It is one of the best Holocaust novels that I have read.

Louis Begley is able to convincingly write of survival as seen through the innocence and straightforwardness of a young Jewish boy. A boy whose life gradually becomes a web of lies and inward and outward loss. Loss which he will ultimately not be able to ever recover from. This is a short book with appeal to adults and young adults given the young protagonist and appropriate content.

Louis Begley's Wartime Lies is stark description of one family's fight to survive in Nazi occupied Poland. It is told through the eyes of a young boy, Maciek. He is the youngest in his family and he tells with an innocent voice the story of his family and their struggle. His youthful perception of the Nazi occupation provides the reader with an innovative view of what life was really like. He describes the terror of a family slowly breaking apart, a life where death preferred over captivity, and a world where no one can be trusted.
Maciek and his aunt, Tania find themselves alone in a world at war, with only each other to depend on. The story traces their struggle to survive as the lies they tell in order to survive become more and more complex. Maciek learns that lying is sometimes a necessity to live but as a child he struggles with the idea of right lying and wrong lying. Maciek manages to escape from the war but not unscathed. He continues to struggle with the idea of who he is and where he belongs years after the war has ended.
The reader of this novel has the opportunity to learn from Maciek and Tania's lives. The most important lesson that this novel teaches is the risk a person takes when they hide their true selves. Through Maciek's example, the reader sees that the longer you pretend to be someone you're not, the harder it is to escape from the fantasy. When person pretending finds difficulty in distinguishing their true self from their pretend self is the point when they are lost to themselves. Maciek is lost by the end of the novel and Begley is trying to teach the reader to find who they are before that part of them is lost forever.

It's heartbreak to realize that the late great filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick, came very close to turning this book into a movie in the early-to-mid 1990's that was to be called "Aryan Papers." And then along came Speilberg's "Schindler's List" and he dropped the project. If you are a Kubrick fan, you should read this book just to see what might have been. The ending is very "Kubrikian" indeed.

Begley's book is a gripping, stark tale of a Jewish child and his young aunt struggling, and I do mean, struggling to survive and hide from the Nazis and unsympathetic Poles in Poland during WWII. Although there are many, many stories about this dark period in our history, rare is the one written in this book's unnerving style. Sparse, riveting and fluidly crafted, Begley's tale is told from the viewpoint of child with absolutely NO dialogue - just the child's probing inner thoughts and frightening depictions of the crumbling and menancing world around him. The lies and fabrications the young boy and his aunt weave to hide from persecution at every turn are unbelievably fragile, thereby creating a kinetic tension throughout the novel which gives the reader no hint of the outcome - is it tragedy or triumph? One must read to find out the truth behind these wartime lies

Louis Begley's novel, Wartime Lies, is set during the German invasion of Poland in World War II. After the Nazis take over their town and send them to a ghetto, Maciek-a young Jewish boy-and his family must to take on new identities in order to survive the German occupation. The family is forced to separate and only Maciek and his aunt Tania are left together, posing as a widowed mother and her son while they travel through Poland looking for refuge.

I don't tend to dwell much on my ethnic background. I'm an American. I was born in America, as were my parents and my parent's parents. Still, if you ask me what nationalities I am, I'll tell you. I'm half Polish, with the other half being mostly Irish, with some English, and Welsh. I don't look stereotypically Polish or Irish, and both my families come from Christian backgrounds, so I don't look Jewish. I've never been to any of these countries, I don't speak their languages, and I'm not particularly well versed in their histories. I'm just your average American, with a very Polish last name, Zakrzewski. My family simplified the pronunciation to "Za-crew-ski," though it sounds quite different in Polish. I'd like to know more about my family's background and what brought both branches here to America. I could ask my Grandmothers and I know they'd tell me, but it just isn't something that we seem to talk about in my family. Out of the two countries, I probably know the least about Poland. If my last named started with "Mc" or "Mac" maybe I wouldn't care as much, but since I'll always be identified first as Polish, I have some deep, unfulfilled interest in this nation.

It's not everyday I read about Poland. I've learned about World War II, and the atrocities of the Holocaust. I know about Germany's invasion of Poland and of Auschwitz, but it's all textbook knowledge and documentaries from the Discovery Channel. Most of the information I know is cold and sterile. As someone who wasn't born until 1981, the closest thing I can get to a first hand experience is usually from a survivor of a concentration camp. Rarely does myself-or anyone for that matter-get a fist hand look at what it was to live during these times, outside the nazi camps and Jewish ghettos. Bagley does a fine job in showing us what it meant to be a Jew in Poland during World War II from a perspective greatly different from those poor souls who ended up in Hitler's death camps.

Like Dante's pseudo-self in his Divine Comedy, Maciek-the hero of Bagley's tale-wanders around his own hell with his aunt Tania as a protector and guide. Just like Dante, Maciek is immune to the actual terrors of the German invasion, due to his forged documents stating he is of Aryan decent, and must travel through his ravished homeland as an outsider observing the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Since Maciek is only one person, the purpose of his journey isn't to change his homeland. His task is to inform the rest of his country, and the world, of what actually occurred in Poland, so that it can hopefully never happen again. He is merely a tool used to relate these horrors.

As I've already said, I know very little about Poland and its people. Most of what I do know centers around the county's tendency to be conquered by other nations, but probably the most widely known chapter in Poland's history occurred during the Nazi Holocaust. Bagley's novel is the first time I've every encountered these events related from an objective view. This book has given me a better understanding of what actually transpired during the German occupation then any other source I've ever encountered. Wartime Lies not only gives us a chronological history of events, but also an emotional history of a person who lived through them. This marriage of history and personal exploration paints a more vivid picture then any textbook or documentary could.

Even after the war, Maciek and the remains of his family still lived under false pretenses, fearing what still might occur if their Jewish heritage were discovered. While I have no fear of others knowing I'm Polish, in some ways I understand the feeling of not being true to ones background. While I don't attempt to hide my ethnic background, I make no strides in exposing it either. If anything, Bagley has not only kindled in me a desire to learn more about my own family and nationality, but his book has also given me a new perspective on events that I thought I knew all to well.

In a different turn of events, I am spending a year in a library book discussion club that concentrates solely on the Holocaust theme. We generally study several works by the same author in one session. "Wartime Lies" is the fourth session, and I judge this to be the best of all the works thus far. Primarily, because we find that the Aunt and the Nephew are scrapping to survive. A question that asks itself is whether it is less difficult for two to slip away than a whole village? Nevertheless, Tania exhibits traits of cunning and deviousness that serve her cause well. Protecting Maciek provides the drive that she needs, and she does it well. Also, the two of them are intent in reaching his Grandfather, which is another inspirational segment of the story. The telling of the non-Jewish Poles turning against the Jewish Poles is even more frightening; in our discussion group we have one member whose husband is a survivor of the Holocaust, and he has told her that exact situation. When he returned to Poland, he then had to escape again, from his own countrymen! Other questions that I wondered about; how was Tania able to keep valuables safely hidden away from the other starving people with whom they had to live? Especially once their Nazi protector was found out and killed. Later, as the group was being sent/driven toward Auschwitz, her confrontation at the train depot with the German officer, was high drama. Except for the much higher stakes in Tania's case, it could be a portrayal of any determined person going toe-to-toe with someone in a superior position, seeking redress in a stressful situation. Author Begley is clever by insinuating other figures, i.e., Dante, Ovid, Virgil, into a parallel discussion of the immediate story line. At the end, a reader supposes that Maciek has chosen to completely blank out any memories of who he was born, and has completely obliterated all connections to his Jewish heritage. How will he reconcile himself to that abandonment?

Louis Begley's Wartime Lies paints a vivid picture of the life of a nine-year-old boy, Maciek, and his aunt, Tania, during World War II. The novel snares the reader from the very first page. Maciek is representative of most pre-pubescent boys until the Germans begin to take control of his home. This novel unfolds like an adventure story, containing violence, suspense, and drama; however, the reader must remind himself that, although the characters are fictitious, the story remains similar to that of many victims of the Holocaust. The terror that plagues the hearts of the characters is almost palpable. Since Maciek narrates the story, the war is seen through the eyes of this young boy. He recounts the "wartime lies" he and his aunt had to fabricate in order to live and all the while confesses his guilt of being a liar and hypocrite. His innocence is both touching and heart-wrenching. "She and I had to get used to the idea that we were quite alone: Tania and Maciek against the world. This was not an easy lesson to learn, but probably the world would beat it into our heads." And the world did. The voice of an adult Maciek concludes the novel. This man bears no resemblance to the child he once was. He is unable to speak of his childhood; rather, he prefers to keep it buried amidst the rubble of a past that he no longer acknowledges. Upon reading this powerful conclusion, the reader can't help feeling a mix of emotions. Maciek has survived the war, but what has his survival brought him? Wartime Lies should be read to not only teach about the Holocaust, but also to allow the reader to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel the Holocaust.

"Thus came about the yearning for an 'eliminationist' solution - a forerunner of the Final Solution - that would expel from the German 'volk' a dangerously polluting agent. Goldhagen cites reams of hallucinatory antiSemitic literature from the 19th and 20th centuries, which demonized Jews through scurrilous libel and caricature - as well as the progressive acceptance of the view of Jews as the ultimate enemy, until it became for Germans 'common sense.' For Goldhagen, anti-Semitism never disappeared in Germany; at best, until the '30s, it was latent."(Begley M2)
The preceding excerpt from an article ("Society of Hate - Why Ordinary Germans Carried Out the Holocaust") written by Louis Begley-the author of Wartime Lies-captures perfectly the theme of the novel, in which lies are displayed as a necessary part of survival for the Jews. (Begley's article is a review of "Hitler's Willing Executioner's" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, and assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University, published on April 14, 1996 in the Seattle Times, copyrighted 1996 by The Seattle Times Company.) From the time of the beginning of the novel to the end, the narrator-Makiek-transforms along with his few surviving family from an undeniable young "Yid" to a perjuring Aryan. The lies necessary for such a transformation thoroughly destroy any link that he once had with his culture; thus, the exterminated Jews and other untouchables are not the solitary victims of the Holocaust, but the tip of the iceberg. The surviving Jews were forced to live in mourning and fear, and the entire human "race" was victimized by the ugliness of the existence of Hate.
Wartime Lies is not utterly depressing, however. Permeated throughout the novel is also the theme of survival, whatever the cost, life as the most important reality. Tania, Makiek's aunt/surrogate mother, is framed with strength and ingenuity. She learns and teaches Makiek how to lie for survival. In their quest of evasion and deceit, Tania and Makiek find themselves traveling from their hometown of T., to Lwow, to Warsaw, and fi-nally to the rural, non-"civilized" Piasowe. They stay wherever they can remain discreet and leave when this fails.
Through this extensive moving around, much of Poland's different cultures are revealed, as well as their involvement in the extermination of the Jews. This fiction/fact account of the Jewish struggle claims its power from this multifaceted plot. We see many wavelengths of the spectrum, so to speak. Begley's purpose, it seems, is to show the horror of the holocaust through the eyes of a maturing young Jew, while simultaneously circling around some sort of understanding of the sheer virility, dauntlessness, and cunning evil of the Reich and it's Final Solution and the citizens of Europe that made it possible.
Though the novel is straightforward, is written from an intriguing point of view, and cunningly compiles a coming-of-age story with a historical human devastation, it lacks a certain element of originality that would give it its flair. It reads like other novels that I've read about the time period, which I was hoping not to find. The novel has its sophistication, and is worth a read-if only for its brevity-but is not a classic.

Well, writing a questioning response to this book, especially this late in the game, isn't likely to make me very popular. Let me make this clear: the Holocaust was as real and as bad as you've (hopefully) heard, and there's no excuse for it.

Still, the current image of the plight of Jews amongst Poles during WWII has reached such a point of apparent consensus, that few dare wonder aloud whether the situation in Poland was a lot more complicated than generally portrayed. The general population seems remarkably ignorant of many basic facts about Poland's occupation during WWII. First of all, according to the Nazis, it wasn't actually "occupied Poland" to begin with. That's because the Nazi Germans simply annexed western Poland into Germany right from the start. On the other hand, central Poland, which includes most of what people usually think of as Poland, was deemed the "General Government," and this government was all Germany's; it wasn't supposed to be Poland at all. For Poles from those western areas, the Nazis immediately began either putting them into forced labor, or deporting them to the General Government.

The Nazis weren't shy about stating what the GG was for: the staging grounds for the complete destruction of the Polish nation and its culture, the establishment of a vast pool of slave labor to serve the Germans, and the ultimate elimination of every single Polish person from that soil, so as to make way for the German immigrants. Of course, all of the Jews (the largest Jewish community in Europe), would be exterminated, as would much of the Polish intelligentsia. Poles in general, being Slavs, were deemed an inferior race, and valuable only as slave stock for the Reich and the German people. A relatively small portion of them, probably those considered to have at least some Germanic heritage, would be allowed to assimilate, whereas the others would eventually be removed in some way. The Nazis were more vague about just what that meant, talking publicly about eventually deporting the inhabitants to Russia beyond the Ural mountains. But in practice, when deporting unwanted people, the Nazis never "resettled" people anywhere. They either put them into forced labor, or exterminated them. Furthermore, there is plenty of good reason to suspect that those East Europeans forced into labor had really been given a very calculated slow death sentence via overwork and starvation. None of this should be surprising, really. Hitler laid out the foundation for this in "Mein Kampf." "Lebensraum" was not only all about settling Germans in the East, but completely eliminating the Slavic natives. The assumption, and excuse, for all of this, was that they were supposedly inferior.

There is no doubt there is and has been anti-Semitism in Poland, often virulent. But it wasn't always that way. At first, Poles were "notorious" for being unwilling to buy the hateful propaganda that some factions of the Roman Catholic Church in the West were trying to propagate in their country. In the wake of the great waves of the plague in the West, in which Jews were very cruelly persecuted, most of the survivors settled in Poland (and its partner, Lithuania), at the invitation of the kings. The anti-semitism would develop as a result of religious influences, of course, as well as ultranationalist feelings. Furthermore, Jews were often employed as tax collectors, which especially helped make them unpopular in Ukrainian areas.There should also be no doubt that some Poles, particularly in rural areas in eastern Poland and beyond, not only wouldn't help Jews, but actively persecuted them themselves. One factor not generally discussed: these atrocities were most often perpetrated in areas that had been under Tsarist Russian control just a few decades earlier. The Tsarist police forces were notorious in Eastern Europe for concocting ant-Semitic propaganda and rumors amongst the peasantry, which was generally very poor and isolated and had little or no education.

But what about accusations that Poles should have rose up and liberated the death camps and do more to fight the Nazis? This is more evidence that a lot of people, especially in the West, are poorly informed. First of all, the Poles fought with tooth and nail against the Germans during the invasion. They essentially had no choice but to surrender after a couple of, weeks, because not only did this poor nation not have anywhere near the military capability of Germany (and what they did have was now largely destroyed), continuing to fight would only have meant the Nazis stepping up the rate of attacks on civilians, which had already been at a shocking level. Surrendering might at least buy them some time until their alleged allies the British and the French would finally arrive. They didn't. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union did liberate Auschwitz in the later years, but clearly had no intentions of helping at first; in fact, they had invaded Poland themselves. If the Soviet Union hadn't ultimately in turn been invaded by Germany, what are the chances that Stalin would have lifted a finger? Probably zero. He had made a deal with Hitler, after all, and was simply shocked that the Nazis broke it.

So, with all this mind, they were somehow supposed to liberate the death camps, even though the camps were not only heavily armed and protected under an omnipresent evil regime that controlled absolutely everything? Oh, and where were the Poles supposed to get the weapons to fight these insurrections? Are you kidding? Arming ethnic minorities -- let alone majorities -- hostile to their regime is the very last thing the Nazis would have wanted, and indeed weapons for Poles were almost impossible to come by -- unless they improvised their own crude versions. Several villages were razed by the Nazis (and the inhabitants conscripted into forced labor) in order to build Birkenau, the largest part of Auschwitz, which was now politically located in Germany (not even the General Government), for what it's worth. Even if some of the remaining Poles could liberate some prisoners, where were they supposed to hide? It's all good to wax on about escaped Jews surviving in the forests in the East, but most of Poland was not well-suited to gorilla warfare and hiding, as it was mainly flat and cleared for farm land. There were Polish households that concealed Jews, but it came at tremendous risk: occupied Poland was the only place under the Nazi hegemony where harboring Jews meant the entire host family (along with the Jews) would be shot on the spot if this was discovered. This actually happened, too. And most perplexingly, it somehow escapes the observation of the finger-pointers that, for reasons mentioned above, the Poles were not able even to save themselves. In fact, until the Soviets marched in late in the war, no one else came into Poland to liberate Jews (or anyone else), either. This latter point seems to have been lost amongst self-righteous accusers elsewhere, including all those evangelical Christians who, belatedly, have declared themselves the most strident defenders of Israel, and Jews in general.

Meanwhile, Poles in large numbers fought heartily in allied armed forces, especially for Britain, though they haven't always received a lot of credit for it. A significant number of them even fought with the Red Army, even though Stalin had earlier massacred many thousands of Polish officers and annihilated the intelligentsia, in addition to invading and grabbing Poland's eastern territories.

But even considering the horrors Louis Begley undoubtably endured, and alludes to in this book, I still find it maddening that he says posing as a Polish Catholic implies one has "Aryan papers." He is far from being the only one to refer to Poles as "Aryans," but this characterization is absurd. Certainly, posing as a Pole (as opposed to a Jew) would have increased his chances of surviving, and who could blame him for that? But the Nazis themselves made it very clear that the Poles were far from being Aryans, and they were treated accordingly. Denying this well-documented fact is just another perpetration of WWII revisionism, even if he was there.