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Otto & Daria: A Wartime Journey Through No Man's Land
A poignant memoir of lives cleaved by war, Otto and Daria is the first-hand account of Eric (or Otto) Koch. As a Jewish refugee from WWII Germany, Otto first left his country for England, and later arrived in Canada, where he was for a time imprisoned in a camp. The counterpoint to Otto's recollections are the letters from his long-distance love interest, Daria Hambourg, a London girl of bohemian temperament, unusual literary talents and a distinguished, but restrictive, family background. These parallel writings tell the story of two young people caught in the grip of history, and together show what you have to give up in order to move forward.
282 pages, Hardcover
Published September 29, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 28, 2017
Fantastic!
Memoir of one of Canada's most respected television/journalism producers - born in Germany and interned in a refugee camp in Quebec, this is a lovely story of his life and a beautiful, written relationship wiht a yonug, engloish girl that spance over several decades.
Wonderful read.
Memoir of one of Canada's most respected television/journalism producers - born in Germany and interned in a refugee camp in Quebec, this is a lovely story of his life and a beautiful, written relationship wiht a yonug, engloish girl that spance over several decades.
Wonderful read.
September 8, 2017
What a great little memoir! I loved Daria!
EDIT: Here I am the next morning and I can't stop thinking about this book. And about how much things change over the decades, and how we survive things we never think we can, and how we look back years later and think "Wow, what a different time that was - socially, technologically." And how the past has a haze of somehow being simpler, better... but better for who? I think about the bigger picture that Otto/Eric shared, surviving persecution and encampment, and how dangerously close we are to repeating history. And I think about the intimate story of Daria, looking for her own purpose and overwhelmed by a world she has no control over. Their stories are both painful and uplifting.
EDIT: Here I am the next morning and I can't stop thinking about this book. And about how much things change over the decades, and how we survive things we never think we can, and how we look back years later and think "Wow, what a different time that was - socially, technologically." And how the past has a haze of somehow being simpler, better... but better for who? I think about the bigger picture that Otto/Eric shared, surviving persecution and encampment, and how dangerously close we are to repeating history. And I think about the intimate story of Daria, looking for her own purpose and overwhelmed by a world she has no control over. Their stories are both painful and uplifting.
June 11, 2018
Ugh. What could have been a compelling story about a German Jew being held in an internment camp in Canada during WWII was more about who he rubbed shoulders with in high society than a story of the heart or the relationship between Otto (Erich) and Daria.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews