My Dear Ones: One Family and the Final Solution

by Jonathan Wittenberg

‘Moving – at times almost unbearably so – and fascinating’ Antonia FraserA family’s story of human tenacity, faith and a race for survival in the face of unspeakable horror and cruelty perpetrated by the Nazi regime against the Jewish people.

Growing up in the safety of Britain, Jonathan Wittenberg was deeply aware of his legacy as the child of refugees from Nazi Germany. Yet, like so many others there is much he failed to ask while those who could have answered his questions were still alive.

After burying their aunt Steffi in the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, Jonathan, now a rabbi, accompanies his cousin Michal as she begins to clear the flat in Jerusalem where the family have lived since fleeing Germany in the 1930s. Inside an old suitcase abandoned on the balcony they discover a linen bag containing a bundle of letters left untouched for decades. Jonathan’s attention is immediately captivated as he tries to decipher the faded writing on the long-forgotten letters. They eventually draw him into a profound and challenging quest to uncover the painful details of his father’s family’s history.

Through the wartime correspondence of his great-grandmother Regina and his grandmother, aunts and uncles, Jonathan weaves together the strands of an ancient rabbinical family with the history of Europe during the Second World War and the unfolding policies of the Nazis, telling the moving story of a family whose lives are as fragile as the paper on which they write, but whose faith in God remains steadfast.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, History, Holocaust

369 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2016

Reviews

[Jeanette D Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not good

Sorry if it offends people but I thought this book was boring. The actions taken against the Jews can never be marginalised in any way and that is not my intention. I just struggled to get through this book.

[Cheryl M-M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wittenberg presents the fate of his family members and friends through a series of written correspondence throughout the Nazi regime, the war and the years after WW2.

I can imagine it must have been incredibly painful and frustrating to read such loving, but often mundane letters, knowing that they were being prevented from writing the truth. Their letters were censored and towards the end more or less dictated to them by others, to give the impression they were being cared for by their captors.

At times it seems as if the author would rather accept the frivolity and pretence of the content of the letters, despite being aware of and relating the historical facts and truth. I believe this is his attempt to maintain a scholars neutrality. Never presume, and if you can, always back your facts up with evidence, which he has done in every instance. He has narrowed down the possible scenarios to the nearest provable possibility, and does not venture into what might have happened. His conclusions are based on written testimony and eyewitness reports.

The factor of the unknown is what plagued, and still plagues, the majority of the survivors and their descendants. The Nazi regime and their collaborators were meticulous record-keepers and when the time came experts at destroying said records and evidence.

You can’t erase years of well-planned mass murder. You can however change the narrative of history, which is why Holocaust deniers are so dangerous.

Wittenberg reads between the lines, as his family members have done before him, so the narrative becomes one between stark reality and wishful thinking. It is obvious that Jonathan Wittenberg has spent a lot of time searching for some wisp of memory, a physical residue or a sense of being in the locations his ancestors once walked, lived and died in.

In trying to find understanding and peace, he has also tried to find an imprint they may have made on their journey through life. Something more than just restricted handwritten letters, and although these are a priceless family heirloom, one can feel he wanted to connect with them on a more spiritual level. I feel you, I feel your pain. We are family, my blood is your blood, and we will never forget you.

Which is of course the essence of any biographical or autobiographical story about the Holocaust. To tell the world, remind the new generations of those who live on only in the memories of their loved ones, so they will be less inclined to repeat the past.

In his own way Jonathan Wittenberg, Rabbi Wittenberg has created a written testimony to keep the memories alive. To keep the truth from being extinguished, much like every inch of their existence and their lives were eradicated in an attempt to act as if they had never even existed at all.
*I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher via Edelweiss.*

[Kirsty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me at all. It sounded so interesting and important, as of course all Holocaust memoirs are, but I found the writing here too plodding, and oddly detached.

[Stephanie Carne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was really good. The author found a suitcase full of his family's correspondence during the war and pieced it all together into the narrative of their lives. The book is about the matriarch of a Jewish family with 6 children, some living in Europe and some out, and their struggle to try and get out of Europe before it became too late. Their letters show what a loving, resilient family they were and how deep their faith was. They cherished each letter written. As the war drags on the author shows what is also not written as their letters are censored.

The only part I found confusing was the story of the author's own grandfather and father.

[Linda Fallows · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking book written by a descendant of a family of Jews who were torn apart by WWII. Some fled to Jerusalem, some to the USA, and inevitably some were murdered in the concentration camps. Based on family letters and documents left by an aunt, the author painstakingly pieces together what happened to his family. Well written and researched.
A must read for anyone interested in researching the Holocaust and remembering the victims.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book takes us on a journey, one told through letters, of his family from WWII.

This book was one of resilience, determination, and the strength of a family that was doing their best to survive during the war, and the reign of terror during the war.

This was an interesting read, and while it was a hard read in parts, it was well done a great overall book. I struggled through parts of it, but persevered and finished it out.

[Barbara J. Rzepka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult to put down

The story of a man's family and the suffering they endured during the second world war. My father was a soldier in the American Army. He landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day. I only wish America had gotten involved earlier so they could have saved many of the Jews who were horribly abused by Hitler. We must not let this ever happen again!

[Bud Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wittenberg painstakingly pieces together what happened to his family, based on family letters and documents left by an aunt. The grievous and distressing account is detailed with the personal stories... but it is plodding, at times terribly sluggish. I would have given it a higher rating if the book had been cut by a third.

[Kathrin Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on meticulous research of letters and historical context, this book tells the heart-breaking stories of Jonathan Wittenberg's wider family members, most of whom perished in the the Czech Republic and Poland. At times unbearably sad, it gives an authentic voice to the victims.

[Abby Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

completely moving. What an amazing story of a family and the holocaust.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, a gritty and attentive account of the author's family through the Nazi era.