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Europa, Europa
The Inspiration Behind The Golden Globe-Winning Film "An engrossing and memorable tale."-Jewish Book World
"The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief." - The Times (London) International acclaim for Solomon Perel's Europa Europa
The wrenching memoir of a young man who survived the Holocaust by concealing his Jewish identity and finding unexpected refuge as a member of the Hitler Youth.
"It is a Holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward, and quite completely bizarre, unsettling in all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt." - Glasgow Herald
"Perel bares his soul to readers in this fascinating, unusual personal narrative of the Holocaust." -Book Report
"Many of the experiences of Holocaust survivors are incredible. None is more incredible than the story of a Jewish boy, Solomon Perel, who escaped from Germany to Russia, served with the Wehrmacht in Russia, was adopted by his commanding officer, and transferred to an elite Hitler Youth school." - London Jewish News
"A most remarkable story . . . extraordinary." - The Australian
"This book will move human hearts." - Berliner Morgenpost
"The sheer emotion of telling the tale is palpable. The whole is moving, and strange beyond belief." - The Times (London) International acclaim for Solomon Perel's Europa Europa
The wrenching memoir of a young man who survived the Holocaust by concealing his Jewish identity and finding unexpected refuge as a member of the Hitler Youth.
"It is a Holocaust memoir that is moving, straightforward, and quite completely bizarre, unsettling in all kinds of assumptions about identity, responsibility, and guilt." - Glasgow Herald
"Perel bares his soul to readers in this fascinating, unusual personal narrative of the Holocaust." -Book Report
"Many of the experiences of Holocaust survivors are incredible. None is more incredible than the story of a Jewish boy, Solomon Perel, who escaped from Germany to Russia, served with the Wehrmacht in Russia, was adopted by his commanding officer, and transferred to an elite Hitler Youth school." - London Jewish News
"A most remarkable story . . . extraordinary." - The Australian
"This book will move human hearts." - Berliner Morgenpost
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 1992
60 people are currently reading
1623 people want to read
About the author
Solomon Perel
4 books7 followersSolomon Perel was an author and motivational speaker. He was born in Peine, Lower Saxony, to a German Jewish family. He escaped persecution by the Nazis by masquerading as an ethnic German. His life story is told in the 1990 film Europa, Europa based on his autobiography Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
July 5, 2018
Historians know that there were “Mischlinge” - part-Jewish according to Nazi racial laws, with only 1 (quarter-Jews) or 2 Jewish grandparents (half-Jews) - who served in Hitler’s forces. Many were conscripted at the beginning of the war. However, there were also a few cases of full Jews (at least 3 Jewish grandparents according to the Nuremberg racial laws) who concealed their Jewishness and escaped persecution by pretending to be ethnic Germans. (Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military)
The story of Solomon Perel is such an exceptional case.
Spoiler warning
Solomon (Shlomo) Perel was born in 1925 in Peine, Germany. At the age of ten, when Hitler came to power, his family moved to Lodz in Poland, assuming it would be safer for them there. After the invasion of Poland, his parents decided to send Solomon, then fourteen, and his older brother Isaac to safety to the Soviet-occupied side of Poland. Solomon was placed in a Soviet communist orphanage in Grodno. Two years later, in 1941, Hitler invaded Russia and Solomon had to flee from the orphanage with the other Jewish residents.
When he was captured by the German Wehrmacht in Minsk, he allegedly buried his identity papers and said he was Joseph Perjell, an ethnic German, whose parents were killed and his papers destroyed by the Russians. The German soldiers immediately believed him. Solomon joined the German soldiers, who used him as a translator and photographer in their Wehrmacht unit, while fighting on the front line in Russia. After about a year with the Wehrmacht, German authorities decided to send Solomon/Joseph, who was still a minor, to Germany. He was enrolled in an exclusive, elite Hitler Jugend military school in Brunswick, where he remained until the end of the war in 1945, all the while disguising his true identity - and his circumcision - from his comrades.
In 1948, Solomon joined the Haganah and emigrated to the new Jewish state of Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army and fought in Israel’s War of Independence. His two brothers, David and Isaac, survived the War too ; his parents and his only sister, didn’t survive.
Solomon Perel’s memoir deals with his identity struggle, his split personality, and with the confusion and fear caused by hiding in plain sight among his enemies. His adventures are fascinating, but completely bizarre. Solomon played his role of a young Nazi so well, he transformed into one. His new identity took on a life of its own : he eventually believed he was Joseph the German Hitler Jugend ; and Solomon the Jew was almost forgotten.
“The constant tension from my years of fighting for survival did not let up all at once, but gradually it began to fade. I couldn’t just peel off the Nazi skin in which I had lived and survived. It wasn’t that simple. It had become my own skin.”
I appreciated Solomon’s courageous honesty in admitting his perturbance, and although there’s little doubt that Solomon’s extraordinary story of survival is true (it turned out there were witnesses - former Hitler Jugend members); there were many implausible details and coincidences in the book that made me repeatedly wonder if he’s a fantasist. After all, he wrote his memoir more than 40 years after the war. And let’s not forget that he learned to survive through lying. His (presumed) exaggerations made his story more spectacular though.
The story of Solomon Perel is such an exceptional case.
Spoiler warning
Solomon (Shlomo) Perel was born in 1925 in Peine, Germany. At the age of ten, when Hitler came to power, his family moved to Lodz in Poland, assuming it would be safer for them there. After the invasion of Poland, his parents decided to send Solomon, then fourteen, and his older brother Isaac to safety to the Soviet-occupied side of Poland. Solomon was placed in a Soviet communist orphanage in Grodno. Two years later, in 1941, Hitler invaded Russia and Solomon had to flee from the orphanage with the other Jewish residents.
When he was captured by the German Wehrmacht in Minsk, he allegedly buried his identity papers and said he was Joseph Perjell, an ethnic German, whose parents were killed and his papers destroyed by the Russians. The German soldiers immediately believed him. Solomon joined the German soldiers, who used him as a translator and photographer in their Wehrmacht unit, while fighting on the front line in Russia. After about a year with the Wehrmacht, German authorities decided to send Solomon/Joseph, who was still a minor, to Germany. He was enrolled in an exclusive, elite Hitler Jugend military school in Brunswick, where he remained until the end of the war in 1945, all the while disguising his true identity - and his circumcision - from his comrades.
In 1948, Solomon joined the Haganah and emigrated to the new Jewish state of Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army and fought in Israel’s War of Independence. His two brothers, David and Isaac, survived the War too ; his parents and his only sister, didn’t survive.
Solomon Perel’s memoir deals with his identity struggle, his split personality, and with the confusion and fear caused by hiding in plain sight among his enemies. His adventures are fascinating, but completely bizarre. Solomon played his role of a young Nazi so well, he transformed into one. His new identity took on a life of its own : he eventually believed he was Joseph the German Hitler Jugend ; and Solomon the Jew was almost forgotten.
“The constant tension from my years of fighting for survival did not let up all at once, but gradually it began to fade. I couldn’t just peel off the Nazi skin in which I had lived and survived. It wasn’t that simple. It had become my own skin.”
I appreciated Solomon’s courageous honesty in admitting his perturbance, and although there’s little doubt that Solomon’s extraordinary story of survival is true (it turned out there were witnesses - former Hitler Jugend members); there were many implausible details and coincidences in the book that made me repeatedly wonder if he’s a fantasist. After all, he wrote his memoir more than 40 years after the war. And let’s not forget that he learned to survive through lying. His (presumed) exaggerations made his story more spectacular though.
September 20, 2024
Impresionante testimonio autobiográfico de Solomon Perel, un preadolescente (al final ya un hombre joven) judío que se finge un ario huérfano y le salió bien (lo que, mirando sus fotografías no deja de ser asombroso) en pleno periodo nazi. Acaba de "mascota" del ejército con algunos logros en su haber y termina en las juventudes hitlerianas con honores por sus méritos en su etapa del ejército.
Un intenso desgaste emocional por el permanente estado de terror a ser descubierto (por ejemplo, en las duchas, ya que está circuncidado) y asesinado por aquellos que ahora le sonríen, el encuentro con algunos con la que pese a todo, se acabó encariñando, los análisis en clase de pureza racial y otra larga lista de terrores que se venían a sumar al obvio de que le descubrieran, no saber qué fue de los suyos, una soledad constante entre "el enemigo" siempre a un paso de descubrirse, oír constantemente como los suyos eran difamados acusados de las cosas más horrendas... y cuando por fin termina la guerra y se ve libre de peligro, enterarse de que el horror, aún llegó más lejos de lo que sabía (que era bastante, pero le faltaba la guinda).
El encuentro con la parte de la familia que sobrevivió, el espanto por las pérdidas, y el complejo del superviviente que le acompañaría aún 40 años después de los hechos
Una historia conmovedora y un punto de vista único de uno de los episodios más vergonzosos de la historia del siglo XX.
Hay una excelente adaptación de esta novela titulada "Europa, Europa" de Agnieszka Holland, aunque ese desgaste de constante alerta, y ese complejo del superviviente resultan más intensos en este excelente libro.
Un intenso desgaste emocional por el permanente estado de terror a ser descubierto (por ejemplo, en las duchas, ya que está circuncidado) y asesinado por aquellos que ahora le sonríen, el encuentro con algunos con la que pese a todo, se acabó encariñando, los análisis en clase de pureza racial y otra larga lista de terrores que se venían a sumar al obvio de que le descubrieran, no saber qué fue de los suyos, una soledad constante entre "el enemigo" siempre a un paso de descubrirse, oír constantemente como los suyos eran difamados acusados de las cosas más horrendas... y cuando por fin termina la guerra y se ve libre de peligro, enterarse de que el horror, aún llegó más lejos de lo que sabía (que era bastante, pero le faltaba la guinda).
El encuentro con la parte de la familia que sobrevivió, el espanto por las pérdidas, y el complejo del superviviente que le acompañaría aún 40 años después de los hechos
Una historia conmovedora y un punto de vista único de uno de los episodios más vergonzosos de la historia del siglo XX.
Hay una excelente adaptación de esta novela titulada "Europa, Europa" de Agnieszka Holland, aunque ese desgaste de constante alerta, y ese complejo del superviviente resultan más intensos en este excelente libro.
December 27, 2022
Fra tutte le testimonianze che ho letto sull'Olocausto (e sono tante) questa è sicuramente la più incredibile. E dimostra quanto il clima di confusione e follia dell'epoca fosse davvero ai massimi livelli. Germania, 1935: Sally Perel, giovane ebreo, è costretto, a causa delle persecuzioni razziali, a lasciare la famiglia e e trasferirsi prima in Polonia e poi in Russia, dove viene accolto in un orfanotrofio: questo non basta a risparmiargli una retata durante la quale cade prigioniero dei nazisti. A questo punto sicuramente penserete che venga trasportato in un campo di concentramento e subisca maltrattamenti e angherie di ogni tipo come tantissimi altri...e invece no!! Sally si finge un Volksdeutscher, un orfano di guerra, un tedesco di pura razza ariana che ha perso casa, genitori e documenti in un bombardamento..e viene incredibilmente creduto! Da quel momento la sua vita prende un corso inaspettato e impensabile, totalmente diverso da quello che avrebbe preso in altre circostanze, totalmente doverso da quello preso per gli ebrei del tempo: Sally diventa la mascotte di un gruppo di soldati tedeschi partecipando ad alcune valorose azioni della campagna russa e poi viene spedito in Germania in una scuola della gioventù hitleriana, dove viene istruito a quel folle credo che sta distruggendo il suo stesso popolo. Sino alla fine della guerrà reciterà questa parte con scaltro, prontezza e molta, costante paura, riuscendo così a salvarsi la vita...e a ritornare nalla città natale come Salomon Perel l'ebreo e non come Joseph Perjell il giovane ariano.
Sapevo del film "Europa Europa" ma ignoravo l'esistenza del libro, che mi ha realmente stupita per la sua incredbile storia: quella di una persona la quale si sforza di fingere una parte che le è antagonista pur di sopravvivere, con amarezza, timore e al contempo speranza e ostinazione. E' un urlo alla voglia di vivere, un naturale istinto alla vita che porta a giustificare ogni mezzo pur di farcela. E ce la fa, portando il suo corpo alla salvezza...ma la sua anima non sarà meno distrutta di quella dei tanti sopravvissuti ai campi. Non solo per la solitudine immensa provata durante gli anni vissuti in un'identità che non gli apparteneva, col sentimeno di chi non è carne e nemmeno pesce...ma anche perchè lotterà per tutto il resto della vita con un senso di colpa, col rimorso quasi di non aver vissuto ciò che ha scampato, con quella vergogna da occhi bassi di fronte a coloro che hanno subito soprusi e sevizie. Memorabile il passaggio del libro in cui Perel si descrive come un prigioniero senza prigione, un prigioniero di se stesso, uno smarrito che annaspa: il lettore non può che ammirane la lucidità in più di una situazione, ma alla fin fine prova per lui anche una grande pena.
In conclusione, una forte testimoninza di grande intensità drammatica, discutibile e incredibile.
Sapevo del film "Europa Europa" ma ignoravo l'esistenza del libro, che mi ha realmente stupita per la sua incredbile storia: quella di una persona la quale si sforza di fingere una parte che le è antagonista pur di sopravvivere, con amarezza, timore e al contempo speranza e ostinazione. E' un urlo alla voglia di vivere, un naturale istinto alla vita che porta a giustificare ogni mezzo pur di farcela. E ce la fa, portando il suo corpo alla salvezza...ma la sua anima non sarà meno distrutta di quella dei tanti sopravvissuti ai campi. Non solo per la solitudine immensa provata durante gli anni vissuti in un'identità che non gli apparteneva, col sentimeno di chi non è carne e nemmeno pesce...ma anche perchè lotterà per tutto il resto della vita con un senso di colpa, col rimorso quasi di non aver vissuto ciò che ha scampato, con quella vergogna da occhi bassi di fronte a coloro che hanno subito soprusi e sevizie. Memorabile il passaggio del libro in cui Perel si descrive come un prigioniero senza prigione, un prigioniero di se stesso, uno smarrito che annaspa: il lettore non può che ammirane la lucidità in più di una situazione, ma alla fin fine prova per lui anche una grande pena.
In conclusione, una forte testimoninza di grande intensità drammatica, discutibile e incredibile.
April 28, 2020
„Seitdem habe ich mit vielen Menschen geredet, diskutiert und auch gestritten. Und ich werde das weiter tun, denn es ist die beste Möglichkeit, unser Gedächtnis lebendig zu halten. Und unser Gedächtnis ist das wirkungsvollste Bollwerk gegen die braune Gefahr.“
Dieses Buch in einer Zeit zu lesen, in der ein Mitglied einer der populärsten Parteien Deutschlands den Holocaust als „Vogelschiss in der Geschichte bezeichnet“, ist besonders bitter und zeigt, dass es mit dem Gedächtnis der Deutschen nicht weit her ist. Dieses Buch ist sehr eindrücklich geschrieben und als ich es schließlich durchgelesen hatte, hatte ich einen enormen Kloß im Hals. Jahrelang mit den potentiellen Mördern Seite an Seite zu leben und jeden Tag Gefahr zu laufen entdeckt zu werden und dann von einer Minute auf die andere von den eigenen Freunden umgebracht zu werden ist so schrecklich, dass ich es mir nicht vorstellen kann. Auch der Verlust des Großteils seiner Familie tat mir als Familienmenschen in der Seele weh. Sally Perel stellt in seiner Biographie die Arroganz der Nazis, die erfolgreiche Indoktrinierung der Jugend, das bereitwillige Wegsehen der Bevölkerung und die Wahnwitzigkeit der Rassenlehre sehr plastisch und dadurch umso erschreckender dar.
Dieses Buch in einer Zeit zu lesen, in der ein Mitglied einer der populärsten Parteien Deutschlands den Holocaust als „Vogelschiss in der Geschichte bezeichnet“, ist besonders bitter und zeigt, dass es mit dem Gedächtnis der Deutschen nicht weit her ist. Dieses Buch ist sehr eindrücklich geschrieben und als ich es schließlich durchgelesen hatte, hatte ich einen enormen Kloß im Hals. Jahrelang mit den potentiellen Mördern Seite an Seite zu leben und jeden Tag Gefahr zu laufen entdeckt zu werden und dann von einer Minute auf die andere von den eigenen Freunden umgebracht zu werden ist so schrecklich, dass ich es mir nicht vorstellen kann. Auch der Verlust des Großteils seiner Familie tat mir als Familienmenschen in der Seele weh. Sally Perel stellt in seiner Biographie die Arroganz der Nazis, die erfolgreiche Indoktrinierung der Jugend, das bereitwillige Wegsehen der Bevölkerung und die Wahnwitzigkeit der Rassenlehre sehr plastisch und dadurch umso erschreckender dar.
April 21, 2024
Kann man ja wohl nichts anderes geben als 5 Sterne. Ist verrückt was er erlebt hat.
Und er hat heute Geburtstag :)
Und er hat heute Geburtstag :)
December 17, 2016
Ich hatte das Glück diesen doch sehr außergewöhnlichen Mann zu treffen und seine Geschichte und seine Nachricht an uns Jugendliche aus seinem eingenen Mund zu hören.
Das Buch ist einfach spannend und so interessant, da es etwas komplett anderes ist, als man normal über die Zeit unter Hitlersherrschaft liest. Auch die Art wie Sally Perel es schaffte zu überleben und welcher innerer Kampf dieser Weg doch war, ist beeindruckend.
Es ist auf jedenfall ein Buch, dass man mal gelesen haben sollte, weil es, es schafft die Geschichte so gekonnt zu vermitteln.
Das Buch ist einfach spannend und so interessant, da es etwas komplett anderes ist, als man normal über die Zeit unter Hitlersherrschaft liest. Auch die Art wie Sally Perel es schaffte zu überleben und welcher innerer Kampf dieser Weg doch war, ist beeindruckend.
Es ist auf jedenfall ein Buch, dass man mal gelesen haben sollte, weil es, es schafft die Geschichte so gekonnt zu vermitteln.
June 26, 2025
Die beinahe unglaubliche aber wahre Geschichte des jüdischen Jungen Sally Perel, der dem Tod knapp entgeht, indem er sich als "volksdeutsches" Waisenkind ausgibt. Sein Weg führt ihn als Maskottchen einer Panzerdivision von Lodz nach Leningrad und schließlich nach Braunschweig, wo er in ein HJ-Internat kommt.
Dort überlebt er den Krieg, bei ständiger Angst, doch enttarnt zu werden. Gleichzeitig sickert die ständige Propaganda und Manipulation auch bei Sally ein. Äußerst ehrlich schreibt Perel über seine innere Zerissenheit, die Angst um seine Familie und das Grauen der Nazi-Verbrechen einerseits, den Stolz auf "die glorreiche Stärke des Dritten Reichs" andererseits.
Nach Kriegsende konfrontiert Perel einige seiner HJ-Freunde und Lehrer mit seiner wahren Identität und erhält eine sehr spannende Bandbreite an Reaktionen. Er selbst hadert lange mit der Bedeutung seiner Geschichte. Ist er genauso ein Opfer der Shoa wie diejenigen, die im Konzentrationslager waren?
Das Einzigartige an Perels Geschichte ist der Einblick in den Alltag unter dem NS-Regime aus der Sicht eines Verfolgten incognito. Insbesondere die Effektivität der Indoktrination der Kinder ist erschreckend. In einer denkwürdigen Szene geht Sally (jetzt Jupp Perjell) mit einem guten Freund spazieren. Sie kommen an einem Poster mit einer Abbildung des "ewigen Juden" vorbei. Der Freund zückt seinen Dolch und sagt: "Wenn ich jetzt nur einen Juden vor mir hätte!".
Ein sehr gut geschriebenes, bewegendes Buch, das einem auch viel zu denken mitgibt, vor allem über Propaganda und wie leicht sie die Herzen der Menschen vergiften kann.
Dort überlebt er den Krieg, bei ständiger Angst, doch enttarnt zu werden. Gleichzeitig sickert die ständige Propaganda und Manipulation auch bei Sally ein. Äußerst ehrlich schreibt Perel über seine innere Zerissenheit, die Angst um seine Familie und das Grauen der Nazi-Verbrechen einerseits, den Stolz auf "die glorreiche Stärke des Dritten Reichs" andererseits.
Nach Kriegsende konfrontiert Perel einige seiner HJ-Freunde und Lehrer mit seiner wahren Identität und erhält eine sehr spannende Bandbreite an Reaktionen. Er selbst hadert lange mit der Bedeutung seiner Geschichte. Ist er genauso ein Opfer der Shoa wie diejenigen, die im Konzentrationslager waren?
Das Einzigartige an Perels Geschichte ist der Einblick in den Alltag unter dem NS-Regime aus der Sicht eines Verfolgten incognito. Insbesondere die Effektivität der Indoktrination der Kinder ist erschreckend. In einer denkwürdigen Szene geht Sally (jetzt Jupp Perjell) mit einem guten Freund spazieren. Sie kommen an einem Poster mit einer Abbildung des "ewigen Juden" vorbei. Der Freund zückt seinen Dolch und sagt: "Wenn ich jetzt nur einen Juden vor mir hätte!".
Ein sehr gut geschriebenes, bewegendes Buch, das einem auch viel zu denken mitgibt, vor allem über Propaganda und wie leicht sie die Herzen der Menschen vergiften kann.
June 14, 2018
Definitely the most fascinating and unique WW II survival account that I have read. Though, its writing style may be found wanting at times, its story captivates. It chronicles the survival of a Jewish boy, who first hides among the Russians and is then mistaken for a brave German. He is then forced to masquerade as a Hitler Youth among the Nazi Elite's children. While being far removed from knowing the horrific fate of the average Jew, he questions his own consciousness and identity.
June 23, 2016
This is one of the few times that the movie was better than the book. There wasn't enough depth even though there was so much available for this topic. Solomon is a Jewish boy who mascarades as an Aryan to escape death. As a teenager, he is adopted by a high ranking German officer and sent to a Hitler Youth boarding school. Amazing story.
October 20, 2013
Amazing! Solomon Perel's life is like none I have ever known in that he survived by perseverance as well as extremely good luck. It is almost difficult to believe the path this boy's life took during the Holocaust. Moreover, the movie is amazing and seems in-sync with the book to a great extent.
October 7, 2015
Fantastisches Buch! Ich durfte ihn sogar persönlich treffen und sein Schicksal aus seinem eigenen Mund hören. Werde ich nie vergessen!
February 27, 2022
Ein sehr wichtiges Buch! Sally hat uns damals am Gymnasium besucht und seine Geschichte erzählt, was mir noch als sehr bewegend in Erinnerung geblieben ist. Vielen Dank, Sally!
March 16, 2025
"Calmly the teacher opens his textbook; slowly he looks around, checks attendance, makes some notes. And then the lesson begins. The dogma he is espousing-all directed against my people-makes me want to scream. I remain my seat a prisoner; I wait impatiently for the bell to ring, to liberate me....How could I have sat there among them learning about laws that were meant to drain the lifeblood from the Jewish people? How did I keep my sanity? "
That was an excerpt from Solomon Perel's memoir Europa, Europa when he was in one of his Hitler Youth classes. Did I mention Solomon Perel was Jewish?
I saw the movie many years ago and I was intrigued by the story: a Jewish boy is mistaken as an Aryan and lives amongst the Nazis. For many years, I did not read his memoir, and I don't know why. I finally read it, and it was a powerful memoir. It is incredible how he survived and that those who discovered his secret did not turn him over to the Gestapo. Every time there was danger, Solomon found a way to survive.
Solomon Perel was born in Germany. After the draconian Nuremberg Laws were passed, Solomon and his brothers go to Poland to escape the terror of the Nazi regime. As we know from history, they are not safe for long, and they flee to the Soviet Union thinking they would be safer. Of course, Germany invades the Soviet Union and Solomon is caught by the Wehrmacht. He creates a fake name, and they think he is "Aryan." He eventually returns to Germany and attends a school for the Hitler Youth where he learns Nazi ideology. I could only imagine how terrifying that must be. I would have dreaded every day out of fear of being discovered.
Solomon fortunately survives the war. One of the most interesting aspects of the book was he did not know about the gas chambers or any of the death camos despite living among the Nazis. He also mentions some of the interactions he had with some of the people during World War II afterwards. The movie does not mention what happened to some of them. For example, Solomon writes about meeting Leni, a girl he liked, years after the war. When Solomon knew her, she was a fanatic and believed in Hitler and the Nazi cause. In fact, her mother found out that Solomon was Jewish and warned her not to tell Leni. During the interaction after the war, Solomon said Leni was kind and her views on Jews had changed since she had met him.
At the end of the book Solomon mentions when he was older, he was giving a book talk. An older man approached him and said he was in the SS. He was there to ask Solomon for forgiveness. Solomon ends the book stating it is our responsibility that something like this never happens again.
A powerful memoir and it is different from other Holocaust memoirs that I have read. There are no camps. No gas chambers. No death marches. it is just a boy trying to survive a war. It is unbelievable that he experienced all of that and survived to tell his story. A definite must read.
That was an excerpt from Solomon Perel's memoir Europa, Europa when he was in one of his Hitler Youth classes. Did I mention Solomon Perel was Jewish?
I saw the movie many years ago and I was intrigued by the story: a Jewish boy is mistaken as an Aryan and lives amongst the Nazis. For many years, I did not read his memoir, and I don't know why. I finally read it, and it was a powerful memoir. It is incredible how he survived and that those who discovered his secret did not turn him over to the Gestapo. Every time there was danger, Solomon found a way to survive.
Solomon Perel was born in Germany. After the draconian Nuremberg Laws were passed, Solomon and his brothers go to Poland to escape the terror of the Nazi regime. As we know from history, they are not safe for long, and they flee to the Soviet Union thinking they would be safer. Of course, Germany invades the Soviet Union and Solomon is caught by the Wehrmacht. He creates a fake name, and they think he is "Aryan." He eventually returns to Germany and attends a school for the Hitler Youth where he learns Nazi ideology. I could only imagine how terrifying that must be. I would have dreaded every day out of fear of being discovered.
Solomon fortunately survives the war. One of the most interesting aspects of the book was he did not know about the gas chambers or any of the death camos despite living among the Nazis. He also mentions some of the interactions he had with some of the people during World War II afterwards. The movie does not mention what happened to some of them. For example, Solomon writes about meeting Leni, a girl he liked, years after the war. When Solomon knew her, she was a fanatic and believed in Hitler and the Nazi cause. In fact, her mother found out that Solomon was Jewish and warned her not to tell Leni. During the interaction after the war, Solomon said Leni was kind and her views on Jews had changed since she had met him.
At the end of the book Solomon mentions when he was older, he was giving a book talk. An older man approached him and said he was in the SS. He was there to ask Solomon for forgiveness. Solomon ends the book stating it is our responsibility that something like this never happens again.
A powerful memoir and it is different from other Holocaust memoirs that I have read. There are no camps. No gas chambers. No death marches. it is just a boy trying to survive a war. It is unbelievable that he experienced all of that and survived to tell his story. A definite must read.
Read
January 6, 2025DNF @ 28% (Chapter 3)
Will return to this when the mood is right.
Will return to this when the mood is right.
January 5, 2024
had to read for school
January 8, 2017
Eine wichtige Geschichte mit der wichtigen Botschaft eines Tatsachenberichtes. Nach einer Veranstaltung mit Sally Perel war die Lektüre natürlich Pflicht. Seine Erzählweise ist gewöhnungsbedürftig, da er nicht gerade mit einem zu großen roten Faden erzählt. Mal sehr intuitiv, lückenhaft, dann wieder detailliert und chronologisch. Dazu kommen natürlich Reflexionen und Gedankenspiele. Aber allein mit der Gewissheit, hier eine wahre Geschichte zu lesen und das mit dem Hintergrund, den Erzähler persönlich kurz kennengelernt zu haben, verdient fünf Sterne. Von der mehr als wichtigen Aussage einmal abgesehen.
November 27, 2014
This is one of the rare times that I can say that I liked the movie more than the book. It is an amazing story of survival in one of the most dangerous situations imagined. It took enormous strength and ingenuity to survive in a world where Jews were hunted mercilessly and yet he managed to outwit the Nazis. The writing style felt stilted. Perhaps that was due to the painful events that he was describing, however I didn't feel his terror and emotions in the book. The movie, on the other hand, conveyed the terror much better than the book. All in all, it still is an amazing story.
May 11, 2025
Wie kann man eine solche Geschichte beschreiben? Es ist glücklich, aber in der traurigsten Art. Hoffnungsvoll in einer hoffnungslosen Situation.
Es ist extrem interessant zum ersten Mal eine Geschichte der 2. Weltkrieg auf Deutsch zu erfahren. Einen Einblick in die Kriegszeit und Kriegsmaschine zu bekommen bringt eine neue Perspektive auf einen historischen Ereignis, den ich immer aus nur einem Blickwinkel betrachtet habe.
Es ist extrem interessant zum ersten Mal eine Geschichte der 2. Weltkrieg auf Deutsch zu erfahren. Einen Einblick in die Kriegszeit und Kriegsmaschine zu bekommen bringt eine neue Perspektive auf einen historischen Ereignis, den ich immer aus nur einem Blickwinkel betrachtet habe.
March 14, 2025
The book I finally read is called "Europa, Europa" by Solomon Perel. You will adore the book if you enjoy the film. To be quite honest, this book is far superior to the movie, although I still enjoy both. This is the second movie I’ve watched since The Diary of Anne Frank, in school. The novel, which he wrote and published in 1988, was adapted into a film in 1990. In 1925, he was born in the Germany town of Piene, which is close to Brunswick. He shared a home with his siblings. They fled Piene to Łódź, Poland, when the war began. At the moment, he fled with his brothers. At the time, there were roughly 300,000 Jews residing there. At that time, the majority of the Jews from Łódź were sent to Auschwitz. The remaining 800 Jews from Łódź survived the Holocaust at the conclusion of the war. At the Grodno, Solomon is turned into an orphanage. He pledged to live in accordance with his mother's wishes. To survive, he had to hide who he was. He became an interpreter for the soldiers while he was a member of the Nazi Youth. What I didn't realise was that the book's description was accurate, but the movie told a different, twisted tale. He eventually confronted several of the former Nazis he was with after the war and revealed his true identity to them. When they learned the truth too late, they were shocked. In order to ensure that such crimes are never carried out in Germany or in the name of the German people again, the former Nazi not only begged for his pardon but also pushed the Nazi to take a position against the neo-Nazi movement that was just emerging. As a result, what happened to the rest of people in the book? You can decide.
September 15, 2019
Más allá de la propia historia y de lo terrible que es el marco en el que se sitúan los hechos, lo que hace diferente este testimonio del Holocausto es el énfasis en el impacto en la psicología del autor, en quien se desarrollaron diferentes versiones de sí mismo que tenían que convivir y evitar el colapso de la propia personalidad. Y me parece que este aspecto, fundamental en la obra, queda obviado y casi desaparece en la adaptación cinematográfica (bastante libre en cuanto a la fidelidad a los hechos) de Agnieszka Holland.
March 26, 2022
Ein sehr interessanter und spannender Bericht von Sally Perel, der sich im 2. Weltkrieg als "Volksdeutscher" ausgegeben und seine jüdische Herkunft verschleiert hat, um zu überleben.
Der Anfang war für mich weniger flüssig zu lesen, und die Tatsache, dass es keine Kapitel gibt, haben mir nicht so gut gefallen.
Ansonsten: Klare Leseempfehlung!
Der Anfang war für mich weniger flüssig zu lesen, und die Tatsache, dass es keine Kapitel gibt, haben mir nicht so gut gefallen.
Ansonsten: Klare Leseempfehlung!
January 31, 2025
Ein erschreckender und eindringlicher Bericht. Fast schon unglaubwürdig durch die schieren Zufälle und Menschen, die beschützend ihre Hand über Sally Perel hielte - ebenso wie sein Gott.
Ein wichtiges Buch, was darlegt, wie die Jugend von Hitler radikalisiert wurde.
Gerade in der heutigen Zeit ist es umso wichtiger, Zeitzeugen zuzuhören und den Anfängen zu wehren. Nie wieder ist jetzt.
Ein wichtiges Buch, was darlegt, wie die Jugend von Hitler radikalisiert wurde.
Gerade in der heutigen Zeit ist es umso wichtiger, Zeitzeugen zuzuhören und den Anfängen zu wehren. Nie wieder ist jetzt.
July 31, 2020
Der Sally Perelli musste sich schnelli verstelli
April 25, 2021
la veritat i la mentida en una mateixa realitat. xanxanxaaaan
March 30, 2022
docetla jsem prvni knizku ČEXu mega brzo musim rict
February 14, 2023
Pflichtlektüre. Wahnsinnig berührend. Wichtig diese wahren Geschichten nie zu vergessen
December 27, 2022
Man versteht durch das Buch wie Hitler es geschafft hat die HJ-Jugend so hinters Licht zu führen.
February 3, 2023
“In meiner Akte stimmte nur das Geburtsdatum. Da konnte man nichts falsch machen. Alle Menschen werden auf dieselbe Weise geboren, ein spezifisch arisches Geburtsdatum gab es nicht.”
Noch nie hatte ich den zweiten Weltkrieg bzw. den Holocaust mit einer solchen Perspektive betrachtet. Millionen von Menschen, darunter nicht nur Juden, sondern auch Schwarzen, Homosexuelle, Zigeuner und viele Andere aus verschiedenen Ethnien und Religionen, haben für ihr Leben gekämpft.
Aber dieser Identitätskampf, den der Hitlerjunge “Jupp” Salomon hatte führen müssen, ist ja etwas ganz Einzigartiges.
Was ist denn ein Mensch, ohne eine Identität? Wie bestimmen wir, wer wir sind?
Wer bist du? Wer bin ich? Und wer sind sie? Was ist man ohne eine Identität?
Insofern kann ich nur den Autor zustimmen, indem ich wiederhole, dass sein Leben nichts anderes als „aberwitzig“ sei.
Meine Worte beende ich mit der Zusammenfassung seiner eigenen Geschichte von Sally Perel: Ist es schon schwierig, ein Jude zu sein, so ist es noch viel schwieriger zu versuchen, keiner zu sein.
Noch nie hatte ich den zweiten Weltkrieg bzw. den Holocaust mit einer solchen Perspektive betrachtet. Millionen von Menschen, darunter nicht nur Juden, sondern auch Schwarzen, Homosexuelle, Zigeuner und viele Andere aus verschiedenen Ethnien und Religionen, haben für ihr Leben gekämpft.
Aber dieser Identitätskampf, den der Hitlerjunge “Jupp” Salomon hatte führen müssen, ist ja etwas ganz Einzigartiges.
Was ist denn ein Mensch, ohne eine Identität? Wie bestimmen wir, wer wir sind?
Wer bist du? Wer bin ich? Und wer sind sie? Was ist man ohne eine Identität?
Insofern kann ich nur den Autor zustimmen, indem ich wiederhole, dass sein Leben nichts anderes als „aberwitzig“ sei.
Meine Worte beende ich mit der Zusammenfassung seiner eigenen Geschichte von Sally Perel: Ist es schon schwierig, ein Jude zu sein, so ist es noch viel schwieriger zu versuchen, keiner zu sein.
January 18, 2015
I remember seeing the movie "Europa, Europa" many years ago and enjoyed it which obviously was based on Solomon Perel's experiences during WWII. It remains one of my favorite foreign films that I've seen. I hadn't realized that there was a book in English by Perel so was pleased to come across this recently. As with the film, the book tells a remarkable story of one Jewish boy's struggle to survive the madness around him. He not only fulfilled his mother's last instruction to him to "Live!" he did so in a most unique way. I hope that Perel has had a good life since those dark days and I must confess to having an impish desire to have been a "fly on the wall" when he told everyone after the war just who and what he really was!
September 14, 2019
Excellent, excellent true story of survival at any cost. A must read for WWII buffs. It's an almost impossible tale, almost too movie-like, but 100% true. Sol's journey is as heartbreaking as it is amazing. The movie of the same name is amazing as well and stayed true to the book. Of course I like the book better though.
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