And The World Closed Its Doors: The Story Of One Family Abandoned To The Holocaust

by David Clay Large

In this masterpiece of Holocaust literature, David Clay Large tells the wrenching story of Max Schohl, a German Jew who, in the midst of the Second World War, could not find a government that would allow his family to immigrate, despite wealth, education, and business and family connections. After repeated but fruitless efforts to gain entry first to the United States and then to Britain, Chile, and Brazil, Max died in Auschwitz and his wife and daughters were sent to hard labor in Wiesbaden. Much has been written about the West's unwillingness to attempt the rescue of tens of thousands of European Jews from the hands of the Nazis; now David Clay Large gives a human face to this tragedy of bureaucratic inertia and ill will. The youngest daughter of the Schohl family, today a seventy-four-year-old widow living in Charleston, South Carolina, has opened her family's records to Large: a unique collection of family letters and other documents chronicling the experiences of the Schohls and those who tried to bring them to England and America. From these papers Large has fashioned a gripping and intimate narrative of one family's efforts to escape the Holocaust in Europe and the inadequate response from abroad.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust

310 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

David Clay Large is a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and professor of history at the Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco. He has also taught at Smith College, Yale University, and Montana State University.

Reviews

[Krystal Dregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
really well structured in the way that it entangles facts of the time with the personal letters from the family and friends.

had to read this for class and it was lowkey boring and repetitive from class when reviewing history but the first hand accounts of the family really add it it.

clay large needed to stop yapping and just tell me about the actual family and show their letters like bro ik the history im in a class for it

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books I have read concerning World War II, "And the World Closed its Doors" is probably the best example of Holocaust literature. David Large has created an unforgettable depiction of the way Germany treated its Jewish citizens, while other Germans and the rest of the world closed their eyes. Large follows the life of Max Schohl and his family from his life as a decorated WWI officer, to his marriage, to his success as a chemist and a business owner to the devastation of the Holocaust. This aspect is horrifying on its own, but Large adds his own historical research concerning politics, the rise of Hitler, the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws and the extent of government tyranny. Countries including the United States limited the number of visas for those persecuted in Nazi Germany. The process became so complicated that the number of immigrants coming to the US fell far below the number allowed each year. The Schohl family would have to lose everything in order to leave Germany. Their business was confiscated, their home was destroyed, all their savings were taken by the Nazis. There is one hero who shines in this book. Max Schohl had an American cousin named Julius Hess who was a hard working man living in West Virginia. Julius was not wealthy and had never even met his German cousins. Julius worked relentlessly to help the Schohls emigrate to the US, to Great Britain, to Chile, to Brazil...only to find the door already closed. He also saved every letter from Max and those to and from all government agencies. These letters became the basis to this book. If you are interested in learning from the past in order to create a better future, I recommend this book.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Supremely frustrating to read because of the number of times you think the Schols have finally made it out of Germany, only to have circumstances change on them at the last minute. Very good and gripping book otherwise, and a telling tale of apathy and even anti-Semitism in Western nations leading up to WWII.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is sad, but well written. Besides, I'm a sucker for a good memoir.