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Fredy Hirsch und die Kinder des Holocaust
Alfred (Fredy) Hirsch, 1916 als Sohn eines Lebensmittelgroßhändlers in Aachen geboren, ist Jude und homosexuell. Nach dem Machtantritt Hitlers 1933 beginnen die Schwierigkeiten und der Kampf um das Überleben. Denn niemand ist gefährdeter als er. Hirsch flieht nach Prag, schließt sich der zionistischen Jugendbewegung an, wird bald zu einer zentralen Figur für die jüdischen Kinder, organisiert für sie große Sportfeste. Als die Deutschen in Prag einmarschieren und jüdische Kinder keine Parks, Freizeitstätten und Sportanlagen mehr besuchen dürfen, hilft Fredy Hirsch, so viele Kinder wie möglich außer Landes zu bringen oder nach Palästina auswandern zu lassen.
Er selbst schafft es jedoch nicht mehr Tschechien noch zu verlassen. Er kümmert sich nun umso mehr um diejenigen, die, wie er selbst, zurückbleiben mussten: zunächst im KZ Theresienstadt, wo er sich als Funktionär um Unterbringung sowie um das psychische und physische Wohl der jüngsten Häftlinge kümmert, später in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Bis zu dem Tag, an dem fest steht, dass „seine“ Kinder in den Gaskammern sterben werden. Als er aufgefordert wird, einen Aufstand verzweifelten KZ-Insassen anzuführen, ist ihm bewusst, dass er selbst als einziger am Leben bleiben könnte.
(http://ofv.ch/sachbuch/detail/fredy-h...)
Er selbst schafft es jedoch nicht mehr Tschechien noch zu verlassen. Er kümmert sich nun umso mehr um diejenigen, die, wie er selbst, zurückbleiben mussten: zunächst im KZ Theresienstadt, wo er sich als Funktionär um Unterbringung sowie um das psychische und physische Wohl der jüngsten Häftlinge kümmert, später in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Bis zu dem Tag, an dem fest steht, dass „seine“ Kinder in den Gaskammern sterben werden. Als er aufgefordert wird, einen Aufstand verzweifelten KZ-Insassen anzuführen, ist ihm bewusst, dass er selbst als einziger am Leben bleiben könnte.
(http://ofv.ch/sachbuch/detail/fredy-h...)
255 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2015
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Dirk Kämper
2 booksDirk Kämper, geboren 1963, studierte Architekturgeschichte, Germanistik und Geschichte. Er ist Journalist und Drehbuchautor für ARD und ZDF und wechselt zwischen den Bereichen Wissenschaft, Geschichte und Krimi (Tatort, Polizeiruf 110 u. v. a. m.) immer wieder das Genre. Er lebt mit Frau und Tochter in der Eifel an der belgischen Grenze.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 23, 2019
I was partially disappointed by this book and after reading an earlier one dealing with Fredy Hirsch and his story, I can't say with honesty, that this book is worth reading unless you only have this one available. There aren't many books or material in general on this person as he has only rarely been the topic of research and to be honest, had he not been Jewish in addition to being homosexual and had such a position in Theresienstadt and the family camp in Birkenau, I doubt there would have been any interest in him. As not only does this book here not provide more information than one written more than 12 years earlier, but I found new information afterwards in newspaper articles.
But enough of that and let’s get to the book in question. I had hoped that this book would address why his story was basically forgotten over time, as it's not as if he was a nobody at the time and sadly the author completely omitted that. In fact, this books is very clearly fiction in huge parts and I am not a fan of that when it comes to historical books that are supposed to be non-fiction. As such it switches back and forth constantly between providing factual information (e.g. insights into the politics of pre-war German Jews and the role sports had in German society) and having entire chapters being nothing but historical fiction as there was no way the author could have known what Hirsch was thinking. In addition the fictional parts start in Birkenau already while the non-fiction sections start shortly before his birth, making this possibly confusing.
There are also other problems with this author's take on the subject. Not only did he grossly generalize in several cases, like claiming that in December 1931 everyone knew what the Nazis had planned with the Jews because of what was written in one of the newspapers of theirs that was only published in the region Cologne-Aachen. That made me groan. Take such sweeping generalizations and combine that with the author's constant romantization of Zionism and you get a book that sometimes comes close to problematic territory.
In fact, I think that the author made even be afraid to actually tackle the issue of navigating through Birkenau and so chooses the statements and conclusions that feel the most comfortable to him, which is probably why he states it to be absurd that Mengele might wish that Hirsch could understand him. Sorry, but Mengele was still human and not a robot so he most likely did wish for company and understanding, this happens with most humans. This could explain why he only states that Jiu-Jitsu was popular among German Jews and either omits or is ignorant of the fact that Hitler liked it too, even recommended it in Mein Kampf.
Also, I suspect that he may have seen Fredy Hirsch primarily as a Jew and not primarily as a person when he wrote this book. You see, he states that the rising persecution of homosexuals in 1935 by the Nazis may have been a factor too in Fredy going into Czech exile. What does he mean with “may”? He wrote himself here that for gays after the usual imprisonment death penalty and concentration camp were assured. Which was not happening to you back then simply for being Jewish. So I would say being gay was the more likely reason for flight than being Jewish.
And I also wonder how he defines being Jewish, whether he is even aware of the difference between orthodox Judaism and Zionism. He constantly contrasts Zionists with assimilated Jews and then seems to equate Zionists with Jewish culture. But Zionism is mostly an ideology and quite opposite to the culture of Jews in the diaspora. And I was not surprised at all that he did not realize how much Zionism thrives on anti-Semitism. He seems to buy into the sanitized definition of emancipation and self-government, ignoring its colonial and arguably slightly anti-Semitic aspects, as many Zionists then and now basically despise "diasporic" Jews and their cultures.
And in addition to romantization of Zionism, the author also seemed to have a tendency to do that with Hirsch himself. As character flaws were rarely mentioned and he was constantly portrayed as a noble protector without using the respective adjectives. I bet he never realized how much Hirsch's arguments about sports resembled those of the German right at the time or the colonialist nature of the Zionist movement back then.
In general he seems to be the most cautious, for some reason, when it came to any activities of Hirsch that were due to him being gay. He is not as cautious with other topics as he is with the claim that Fredy's contacts with Germans was purely of a homosexual nature. I mean he outright stated that many homosexual Germans sought out Jews as partners because they would not report them to the gestapo.
And while I was glad that Hirsch apparently switched from Zionism to humanism later, I did wonder where the author had the information from of which he was so sure.
And apart from the fact that Fredy sometimes makes me think of Dumbledore, the author seems to make people (here elderly Jews from Germany and Austria) nothing but victims who fall for everything and robs them of their agency. Interestingly, he does this when Fredy is shown to have some negative character traits.
At the end I also I couldn't decide whether these notes in the book were more informative or more annoying.
And the biggest fuck you came towards the end. Of course, he mentions the revolt of the Sonderkommando in Oct1944 but not the two in the gypsy camp earlier that year. And by the time this book was written at least the first one, that can be considered successful, was widely known. Also, he claims the revolt of the Sonderkommando was the only concerted resistance of inmates in Birkenau... WHAT!? How exactly does this person define "concerted resistance" if the one in May1944 in the gypsy camp does not count? Did the guy not know or not care? His sources suggest that he may have no idea, but that only shows his ignorance even more.
So in the end, I can say that at its best this book manages an OK, but that is it. The mixture of fiction and non-fiction is definitely a drawback and his romantization, generalizations and omissions are not outweighed by its information on Hirsch and the world he lived in.
I am standing with my earlier assertion: Only read this book if you have no other alternative.
But enough of that and let’s get to the book in question. I had hoped that this book would address why his story was basically forgotten over time, as it's not as if he was a nobody at the time and sadly the author completely omitted that. In fact, this books is very clearly fiction in huge parts and I am not a fan of that when it comes to historical books that are supposed to be non-fiction. As such it switches back and forth constantly between providing factual information (e.g. insights into the politics of pre-war German Jews and the role sports had in German society) and having entire chapters being nothing but historical fiction as there was no way the author could have known what Hirsch was thinking. In addition the fictional parts start in Birkenau already while the non-fiction sections start shortly before his birth, making this possibly confusing.
There are also other problems with this author's take on the subject. Not only did he grossly generalize in several cases, like claiming that in December 1931 everyone knew what the Nazis had planned with the Jews because of what was written in one of the newspapers of theirs that was only published in the region Cologne-Aachen. That made me groan. Take such sweeping generalizations and combine that with the author's constant romantization of Zionism and you get a book that sometimes comes close to problematic territory.
In fact, I think that the author made even be afraid to actually tackle the issue of navigating through Birkenau and so chooses the statements and conclusions that feel the most comfortable to him, which is probably why he states it to be absurd that Mengele might wish that Hirsch could understand him. Sorry, but Mengele was still human and not a robot so he most likely did wish for company and understanding, this happens with most humans. This could explain why he only states that Jiu-Jitsu was popular among German Jews and either omits or is ignorant of the fact that Hitler liked it too, even recommended it in Mein Kampf.
Also, I suspect that he may have seen Fredy Hirsch primarily as a Jew and not primarily as a person when he wrote this book. You see, he states that the rising persecution of homosexuals in 1935 by the Nazis may have been a factor too in Fredy going into Czech exile. What does he mean with “may”? He wrote himself here that for gays after the usual imprisonment death penalty and concentration camp were assured. Which was not happening to you back then simply for being Jewish. So I would say being gay was the more likely reason for flight than being Jewish.
And I also wonder how he defines being Jewish, whether he is even aware of the difference between orthodox Judaism and Zionism. He constantly contrasts Zionists with assimilated Jews and then seems to equate Zionists with Jewish culture. But Zionism is mostly an ideology and quite opposite to the culture of Jews in the diaspora. And I was not surprised at all that he did not realize how much Zionism thrives on anti-Semitism. He seems to buy into the sanitized definition of emancipation and self-government, ignoring its colonial and arguably slightly anti-Semitic aspects, as many Zionists then and now basically despise "diasporic" Jews and their cultures.
And in addition to romantization of Zionism, the author also seemed to have a tendency to do that with Hirsch himself. As character flaws were rarely mentioned and he was constantly portrayed as a noble protector without using the respective adjectives. I bet he never realized how much Hirsch's arguments about sports resembled those of the German right at the time or the colonialist nature of the Zionist movement back then.
In general he seems to be the most cautious, for some reason, when it came to any activities of Hirsch that were due to him being gay. He is not as cautious with other topics as he is with the claim that Fredy's contacts with Germans was purely of a homosexual nature. I mean he outright stated that many homosexual Germans sought out Jews as partners because they would not report them to the gestapo.
And while I was glad that Hirsch apparently switched from Zionism to humanism later, I did wonder where the author had the information from of which he was so sure.
And apart from the fact that Fredy sometimes makes me think of Dumbledore, the author seems to make people (here elderly Jews from Germany and Austria) nothing but victims who fall for everything and robs them of their agency. Interestingly, he does this when Fredy is shown to have some negative character traits.
At the end I also I couldn't decide whether these notes in the book were more informative or more annoying.
And the biggest fuck you came towards the end. Of course, he mentions the revolt of the Sonderkommando in Oct1944 but not the two in the gypsy camp earlier that year. And by the time this book was written at least the first one, that can be considered successful, was widely known. Also, he claims the revolt of the Sonderkommando was the only concerted resistance of inmates in Birkenau... WHAT!? How exactly does this person define "concerted resistance" if the one in May1944 in the gypsy camp does not count? Did the guy not know or not care? His sources suggest that he may have no idea, but that only shows his ignorance even more.
So in the end, I can say that at its best this book manages an OK, but that is it. The mixture of fiction and non-fiction is definitely a drawback and his romantization, generalizations and omissions are not outweighed by its information on Hirsch and the world he lived in.
I am standing with my earlier assertion: Only read this book if you have no other alternative.
October 17, 2018
Eine wichtige Geschichte!
Leider ist der Erzählstil teilweise sehr spekulativ. Es ist schwer nachzuvollziehen, wie der Autor eine derart detailreiche Einsicht in Hirschs Gedanken- und GEfühlswelt erfahren haben könnte - trotz der vielen Quellen die angeführt sind.
Leider ist auch mindestens ein grober Patzer unterlaufen:
Statt korrekt Irma Grese, schreibt der Autor konsequent falsch Irma Greese. Enttäuschend, dass dies auch dem Lektorat nicht aufgefallen ist. Da hätte ich vom Orell Füssli Verlag mehr erwartet. Hoffentlich war das ein Einzelfall, der mir zufällig gerade ins Auge fiel und nicht ein Hinweis auf mehr, was mir nicht aufgefallen ist.
Mehr dazu und weiterführend Links zu Fredy Hirsch:
https://luxinobscuritas.wordpress.com...
Leider ist der Erzählstil teilweise sehr spekulativ. Es ist schwer nachzuvollziehen, wie der Autor eine derart detailreiche Einsicht in Hirschs Gedanken- und GEfühlswelt erfahren haben könnte - trotz der vielen Quellen die angeführt sind.
Leider ist auch mindestens ein grober Patzer unterlaufen:
Statt korrekt Irma Grese, schreibt der Autor konsequent falsch Irma Greese. Enttäuschend, dass dies auch dem Lektorat nicht aufgefallen ist. Da hätte ich vom Orell Füssli Verlag mehr erwartet. Hoffentlich war das ein Einzelfall, der mir zufällig gerade ins Auge fiel und nicht ein Hinweis auf mehr, was mir nicht aufgefallen ist.
Mehr dazu und weiterführend Links zu Fredy Hirsch:
https://luxinobscuritas.wordpress.com...
November 13, 2016
Ach, Fredy Hirsch ich werde dich niemal vergessen, keine Angst!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews