The Unanswered Letter: One Holocaust Family's Desperate Plea for Help

by Faris Cassell

In 1939, as the Nazis closed in, Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to an American stranger who happened to share his last name. He and his wife, Viennese Jews, had found escape routes for their daughters. But now their money, connections, and emotional energy were nearly exhausted. Alfred begged the American recipient of the letter, “You are surely informed about the situation of all Jews in Central Europe.... By pure chance I got your address.... My daughter and her husband will go... to America.... Help us to follow our children.... It is our last and only hope....”

After languishing in a California attic for decades, Alfred’s letter ended up in the hands of Faris Cassell, a journalist who couldn’t rest until she discovered the ending of the story. Traveling across the United States as well as to Austria, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and Israel, she uncovered an extraordinary story of heart-wrenching loss and unforgettable love that endures to this day.

Did the Bergers’ desperate letter find a response? Did they—and their daughters—survive? Did they leave living descendants?

You will find the answers here.

A story that will move any reader, The Unanswered Letter is a poignant reminder that love and hope never die.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Holocaust, Historical, Jewish, Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no idea how to review this book properly.

It is epic in scope. The author not only did a humongous amount of research but she took the reader along on her journey of discovery turning the book into a history of European Jews during the late 1930’s- early 1940’s. Much more than I had bargained for.

The letter in question was written in August 1939 by Alfred Berger and is reproduced in the front of the book. I found myself repeatedly turning to re-read the letter which is a devastating and heart-breaking piece of paper.

The letter came to light in 2000 when it was passed on to the author’s husband by one of his patients. I’m still not sure how or why this patient had possession of the letter in the first place.

The book is 437 pages of harrowing details. It is heavy reading.

I wavered between 3-stars or 4-stars and I’m still not sure, but for now I’m leaving 4*

[Jennifer Blankfein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible research conducted by author Faris Cassell as she took us on a journey following a single desperate family beginning in Vienna during the Holocaust. Heartbreaking and informative - this book is a must read as education is imperative so the atrocities committed against the Jews never happen again. Full review to come on Book Nation by Jen.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unanswered Letter by Faris Cassell is a stunning and haunting book about the quest of an unrelated couple joining forces with an unknown family to find out what actually happened to a Jewish couple, Alfred and Hedwig Berger after receiving a long lost letter begging for help while entrapped within Austria’s closed and occupied borders during WWII.

I will not rehash the synopsis with the reader in my review, as I want to focus on how amazing and unforgettable this book truly is.

The search to find out what really happened to Alfred and Hedwig takes the author and her husband across several continents and several years. The work that was spent by the author is amazing, even more for the fact that this quest does not even involve her family. The amazing friends and people that she meets, and the family that she is able to bring together through introductions and answering long-standing fundamental questions is heartwarming.

I have a great deal of knowledge at this point concerning the Holocaust, anti-semitism before and after the second war, as well as the displacement camps and difficulties the survivors faced thereafter, but I learned so much more about what the Austrian Jewish people, specifically the Viennese Jewish people, experienced and went through in trying to survive, escape, and hold on to their loved ones and their existence. It made this feel so much more real to me to feel as if I was traveling with them to Massachusetts, Vienna, Poland, and Russia. It was heartbreaking to see families torn apart, to have people you love just disappear one day, to stand in front of your own grave in your last previous moments made me cry several times while I read this journey. This amazing family should have never had to experience any of this.

I loved seeing the pictures the author added, Sydney’s surprising addition to finding where his family originated near Minsk before immigrating to the US, and to find that Gretl and Martha created fulfilling lives despite their harrowing escapes and the loss of their parents. I am so glad to see life blooming despite being so carelessly extinguished. I am so glad that Celia, Micha, Peter, Judith, as well as other family members, were able to have some answers and some closure.

The fundamental questions of who we are, where we came from, what matters most in life, what we truly believe, and what we would do if we were placed in that situation, became questions that the author and her husband asked themselves, as well as what I was asking myself at the end of the book.

This is an amazing book that I will never forget. It is something that has brought me even closer to my own Jewish family and faith, and for that I am truly thankful.

Thank you EW and Regnery Publishing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I was disappointed in this book. Listening to the author read letters from one family member to another (this took up a great deal of the book) became tedious and dull. To me, this book was about the administrative side of war - trying to obtain passports, visa, and other documents. She never captures the horrors of war or the Holocaust.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tremendous read. By chance, a letter from a desperate Austrian Jew is given to an Oregon journalist. What happened to the coupe? Cassell embarks on a historical hunt for answers. She fleshes out the family's story against the backdrop of historical events. The desperation, the feelings of entrapment, hopelessness, and resignation leap off the pages. This is one of my favorite genres to read- genealogical historical family mysteries. It's a lengthy tome, but every word is riveting. Thanks to Edelweiss and Regnery History for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Jt Furbay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books i have read this past year. This is the true story of a desperate man's request sent to a stranger with the same last name in the USA hoping that the man may be able to help him and his wife get out of Nazi Austria. Both his daughters were able to get out of Europe. The author is given the letter by her husband who was given it by another person who knew the family who received it and kept it for many years. The author decides to find out about the man who wrote the letter and what happened to him and his family. What happens is a deeply moving story about his family and what she finds out.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 I have mixed feelings about this book. Like the author, I’m also a freelance journalist and also live in Oregon. I’m also an avid genealogist and am fascinated by family histories (even those of others), am Jewish, and grew up among many Holocaust survivors. I first read about this book in an Oregon magazine and immediately put it on my must-read list. As a journalist, I know what it’s like to become obsessed with a story and the author’s determination, research, and sleuthing skills are impressive. At times, however, I found the writing style overwrought (certainly not surprising given the subject, but I found it to be distracting). I also don’t like when writers project thoughts/feelings on to their subjects in the absence of facts (e.g., she must have felt..., or, surely they would have done...). Along with the search for information about the families involved, the author provides much historical background and details of the Holocaust. For those who know little about this horrific time, this is valuable and essential reading. For those—like myself—whose lives have in large part been shaped by the Holocaust, it didn’t add to my knowledge. In the end though, I’d recommend the book, especially for those unfamiliar with this period of history. As Jews we say, “never again,” and this book goes a long way towards explaining why.

[Kelsey Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. The title of this book is a perfect match for the story within its pages: The phrase "the unanswered letter" is haunting; it is the object that instigated the whole project and symbolizes the world's response to European Jews in the 1930s and 40s. The book does indeed focus on one family, the Bergers, but thoroughly explores broader aspects of World War Two and the Holocaust as they relate to the Berger family. And the "desperate plea for help" is the thread that runs through the entire book ... did the family receive help, the help they needed to survive?

The first part of the book documenting the search was a bit slow, but still pretty interesting since it gave insights into what is involved in discovering stories of the past. The latter half, once Cassell put together the whole tale, read like a biography of the Berger family. But what I think really set this book apart was the compassionate human element, the intense inner searching and how the research affected her, that Cassell included.

[Nancy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book became a personal journey for me once I discovered Hedwig, the woman in this couple, shares my mother's last name. Each time there was a mention of the Grunberger family, I paused to check documents, looking for a connection to my grandfather's relatives, whose records have yet to be discovered.
The research that went into this book was extensive. It brought to life a family that, until now, was part of the 6 million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. what a treasure to have their story told.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not understand why this book is so highly rated. I could not finish it. The author ruined what could have been a very useful addition to our knowledge about the Holocaust. I know her intent was not to be self serving, but the way she added herself to the story made it seem so. This comes across more as a personal memoir rather than the story of what happened to the Berger family. Either her editors should have pointed this out or she should have stated this in the beginning that this was a personal memoir rather than simply a story about what happened to the Berger family. The meat of the book should have focused on the Bergers and less on her own personal quest. Her own story of discovery is nowhere near as important as what the Bergers and their extended family members went through.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. The Berger family’s saga is harrowing, compelling, and heartbreaking, and the book is at its best in the latter half that focuses primarily on their desperate attempts to emigrate. I found the author’s insertion into the narrative rather... self-indulgent? All of us wonder what we would have done during that time (or what our cousins in Poland or our great-grandparents up the street from the US’ lone refugee camp actually did, if anything), and some of the author’s commentary felt almost performative, though that could just be me projecting.

[Molly Wowk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m probably in the minority here, but I did not love this book. The Bergers’ story is incredible & I really wanted to know it. But….I felt like the author was telling HER story. Her story of how the letter came into her possession, finding the remaining family & her research into them. I would have preferred to hear THEIR story. Ultimately & sadly, I was turned off by the author’s constant insertion of herself into this story & did not finish.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review took me a while to write it. This story is soo sad and while many of the holocaust stories this story is heartbreaking. I think this one was one of the hardest, this family was reaching out for help and thier pleads went unanswered. Definitely recommend.

[Jen (Thismomreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This was an emotional, intriguing and heart-breaking read.

From the publisher – In August 1939, just days before World War II broke out in Europe, a Jewish man in Vienna named Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to a stranger in America who shared his last name. “By pure chance I got your address . . . I beg you instantly to send for me and my wife…“

Decades later, journalist Faris Cassell stumbled upon the stunning letter and became determined to uncover the story behind it. How did the American Bergers respond? Did Alfred and his family escape Nazi Germany? Over a decade-long investigation in which she traveled thousands of miles, explored archives and offices in Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, and Israel, interviewed descendants, and found letters, photos, and sketches made by family members during the Holocaust, Cassell wrote the devastating true story of The Unanswered Letter.

This story is unbelievable and reads like so many historical fiction texts that have been written about the war and the Holocaust. But it is not fiction – it is the true story of two desperate people, willing to reach out to strangers across the Atlantic for help, at a time when the chance of escape from Nazi forces was slim to none.

As a history major, I have extensive background researching and studying World War II and The Holocaust. That being said, if you do not, the author does an excellent job providing a thorough background of life in Nazi-occupied Austria. This added context helps to create an atmosphere of urgency, fear and desperation that deeply connects the reader to the experience the Bergers (and all European Jewish people) faced during the height of the Nazi regime.

The author’s relationship with the surviving Berger relatives serves to further enhance the reader’s understanding of the narrative and the photos included throughout give an extra layer of personal connection to the story. There is beautiful closure as the Berger grandchildren are able to find answers to their family’s lingering mysteries. While we cannot truly feel exactly what Alfred and Hedwig experienced, Cassell writes with such emotion and truth, that the reader becomes deeply involved in their fates and that of their children.

Faris Cassell has dedicated years of her life to writing this book, traveling the globe for research and working with the Berger family to solve the surrounding mystery of a nondescript letter sent from Austria to America at the height of the Holocaust. It is a poignant and beautiful read and I highly recommend.

[Deena B · Rating 5 out of 5]

'THE UNANSWERED LETTER - One Holocaust Family's Plea For Help' by Faris Cassell

This book was so much more than I expected!
It is the true story of one large Jewish family's heartbreaking tribulations in Vienna and beyond in The late 1930s - the Anschluss, Kristallnacht, separation, isolation, persecution, humiliation, unimaginably sinister evils.

The author's unwavering dedication to the Berger family, a staggering amount of research, years of unearthing answers to questions that went unasked - this book helped me understand more about what happened and how.

This book at times, to me, read like a horror story. I found myself dreading what was coming, thinking it can't get worse, but then it avalanched into MUCH worse. The fact that this is NOT a horror story, but a TRUE HISTORY is mind-boggling. I had no idea, and at times it just took my breath away.

"The stones remember" ...... And so shall we never forget.

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway! Thank you to the author, publisher and Goodreads for the honor.

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the 1 and 2 star ratings are so callous and completely miss the point of the book. To tell another broad view of the Holocaust isn’t nearly so useful as bringing one family back to life. Alfred and Hedwig Berger could represent millions whose stories are lost forever (like my family whose names I do not even know) and reading their story in such detail helped everyone remember them. Memory is such a strong and important part of Judaism. I felt like reading their letters was a bit like praying. Wonderfully written.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

On March 12, 1938, the German/Austrian Anschluss took place, and Germany took over Austria. The Nazis were welcomed by the Austrian people and the streets of Vienna were lined with Austrians cheering as Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazis took a look at the captured-without-a-shot country. The only people not cheering the takeover were Viennese Jews, who realised what would happen to them under Nazi rule. And so the rush to get out of the Reich reached a critical point. Austria’s Jews began to use anything or anyone to get a visa to a “safe” country. Some did the equivalent of the tossing a message in a bottle by someone trapped on a desert island. “Help me, save me”. But in 1938, the many such letters went to strangers in the United States who had the same name as the letter writer. “Help me” “Sponsor me, help me get my family to safety.”

One such plea, sent 65 years before to a man in Los Angeles named Berger, somehow wound up in the hands of Faris Cassell, a doctor’s wife from Eugene, Oregon. That letter, sent by Albert Berger in 1938, was just one of many sent to complete strangers named Berger in the United States. No one responded with any offers of help to get the Berger family out of Vienna. Albert and his wife died during the Holocaust, while their two daughters - then in their 20’s - made it to safety in the States and Israel and had families of their own.

Faris Cassell, the Christian wife of the Jewish doctor from Oregon, decided to track down the Viennese Berger family and tell their story. And what a story it was! She tells of the larger Berger family from then to now. Cassell is a good writer and her book has few wasted words. I read many books on the Holocaust and this is one of the best.

By the way, I both read and listened to this book, alternating the hearing and reading.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Really well researched true story based on a letter written by a Jewish man in Vienna in 1939 to a family in California bearing the same surname. He is hoping that the California family will provide an affidavit so he can escape Nazi suppression.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

True stories of the Holocaust are always worth sharing. So much of the personal history was lost or hidden. When these stories surface, it seems imperative that we as a human race listen and remember them. This story is even more haunting because of how the tiny moments mount to effort that ends in horror. You know from the start Alfred and Hedwig don’t make it out alive. But hearing them struggle for every opportunity leaves them reader feeling frustrated through time. The author also laments with the reader - could any of us have done any differently? What happens when literally every card is stacked against you?

It’s not 5 stars for me because it felt a little conflicted, going from the Berger’s story to the author’s own search for the truth. I also felt like exploring what happened to Alfred and Hedwig’s family was good for context but left the narrative going in a few directions at once. But the breadth of personal history here is a gift for any history lover. I would have liked to have seen a source list at the end, as the author did extensive international research but overall it’s an excellent book.

Thank you Regnery History for an ARC!

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute must read.
So well done. Moving and heartbreaking and insightful.

[Melissa Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amount of research that Ms Faris Cassell must have done for this book is astonishing. This book will draw you in and you’ll quickly realize that you cannot put it down. I really appreciate how this book walked the reader through historical events like the Anschluss and Kristallnacht. While many books briefly mention pre-deportation events , Ms Cassell explains how the Berger family was personally affected and tormented during these times leading up to the horrific mass killings. This book also helps you explore your own underlying pre-conceived thoughts and notions about race and religion. There is so much to learn from this book that I plan to read it again. Absolutely recommend this book.

[jmilesc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book. Incredibly well researched and detailed, the people come alive. I struggled with a few chapters, the unpacking of the family line- maternal vs paternal aunts, uncles, cousins, but it was well worth fighting through.

The author’s husband is a Jewish physician. One of his elderly patients had this letter- her Aunt and Uncle had received it just before WWII. While the letter went unanswered, it was kept in the family. Now, in declining health, perhaps because her doctor was the only Jew she knew, she gave it to him. His wife, the author Faris Cassell, was a journalist with a history degree. She put decades of research into this story- including tracing the family tree, meeting with the relatives of the letter writer, and digging into the specific political climate- the changing tides in Vienna with a zoomed-out look at the larger picture on a global level. She does a fabulous job of unpacking it. I’ve read a lot of Holocaust literature and a fair amount of history of Germany and Europe leading up to, during, and after, WWII. I admit I can glaze over a bit- my interest is captured by human interest, the individual experiences, and I lose some of the bigger picture- but in this book, she unpacked this so well that things I’ve previously read or understood were suddenly revealed in a way that I could better grasp. I better understood how and why people made some of the decisions they made during this period of history. And much of it brought on a chilling understanding of human nature and world politics.

In her words, part of what drew her in:
“This dramatic letter had drawn me irresistibly and haunted me with questions that reverberated through my life. Might deadly hatred explode in my own world? I hoped to understand, at least a little, how divisions that separate people could grow to Holocaust dimensions. How could apathy and greed derail the human impulse for compassion?”

That is what drew me in as well to this book. In 2023, I’ve seen things since 2015 that I never thought could/would happen in my own world.

She looked at back issues of the annual city directory in Vienna, from before there were phone books. She says about 1938:
“The chronicle laid out a record, day by day, of the pacification and Nazification of Vienna: torchlight parades, celebratory visits from Hitler and General Field Marshal Goring, new antisemitic laws; antisemitic art exhibits in public spaces, required classes promoting large families and explaining racial marriage laws. Hitler Youth events appeared, as did dates of mandatory practices for air raids and citywide blackouts. This was a fascinating record of indoctrination and preparation for war. ….

An inescapable campaign of Nazi deception and propaganda had pervaded city life, confronting Jews with an overpowering new reality. It had employed common, easily recognized persuasion and promotional techniques- and it had worked. I realized that such a campaign could happen anywhere, and it could be effective. “

“The more I read that morning in the archive, the darker those spring days of 1938 seemed to me; it was a low point in human history, when ordinary people turned on their friends and neighbors. It was not the only such time in history, but it was shameless and extreme. Like a pistol shot at the beginning of a race, the Anschluss marked the Reich’s early movement toward the Holocaust.”

“Shaking her head, she said that before the Anschluss, her family had believed that even if Hitler took over, Austrians would never enforce Germany’s draconian racial laws excluding Jews from society. For one thing, there were too many Jews in Austria- almost three percent of the population, about three times the percentage in Germany. Many Jews thought that if a takeover happened, it would be gradual. There would be time to react. Others judged Hitler a passing phenomenon.
Those had been wishful, out-of-touch fantasies.”

“Austria had become a nation of informers, snitches, and spies, where everyone- Jews, resisters, even uninvolved apolitical citizens- had reason to fear their neighbors.”

This family and the unbelievable mechanics of trying to make an escape from Vienna, is an incredible record. Each family member's experience is traced and documented, and each person's details and efforts were different, and each was incredibly complicated- and in the end, only some of them made it out alive. It’s mind-boggling. The tenacity. The time, money, and continual running around to achieve a needed step. The eventual successes and failures.

The attempts to get affidavits of support, one necessary step in gaining the ability to emigrate, were heart-wrenching. The myriad of applications for immigration- to anywhere- that were denied.

One relative, currently living in Brazil, came to Vienna during the course of the author’s research in this book:
“This descendant of a family who risked their lives to flee Austria, or were trapped and murdered here, said that he intended to apply for Austrian citizenship. Responding to my startled silence, he explained. “Life in Brazil is good now, but one never knows. A second passport could prove useful.” Again during this quest, I was startled to see my own life from a different perspective…. I had led a privileged, secure life and never imagined being forced to leave my home. Now, with a partly Jewish family, should I be thinking differently? Around the table, heads were nodding approval of Amnon’s plan.”

One family member, Gretl, the daughter of the letter writers, eventually made it to Palestine. It took years of work, and it was dicey. Older people would not have been able to make the arduous journey.
The book describes what was happening in Palestine, how Britain reacted, and why.

Some more quotes:
“The rampant persecution of the Jews had become common knowledge in Vienna and around the world within three months of the Anschluss. Nations including the United States and Britain, monitored the severity of the terror as Austria’s Jews tried every conceivable means to flee. Before discovering Wiley’s memo, I hadn’t understood that the British possessed details of Betar’s ‘secret’ rescue operation and were tracking Gretl’s journey. Even so, the British may not have been as obliging as they reported to their American counterparts. In fact, if Britain permitted some transports to land in Palestine, its military also strafed, bombed, and impounded refugee ships, killing or imprisoning feeling Jews. The young refugees were well advised to use all possible caution.”

“As harrowing as Martha and Leo’s deportation was, it probably saved them from much worse. Across Germany and Austria during Kristallnacht, Nazis destroyed, looted, ransacked or burned more than a thousand synagogues- all but one of the twenty-four in Vienna- along with seventy prayer and study houses, and four thousand Jewish shops. Nearly two thousand Jewish apartments in Vienna’s First District alone were aryanized. Nazis arrested sixty-five hundred Viennese Jews and deported nearly half to camps. At least twenty-seven Jews were murdered and another eighty-eight seriously injured. Six hundred eighty Viennese Jews committed suicide.”

“The collusion of businesses and ordinary citizens in this enormous theft is a horror story in itself. It seems that when enough citizens enjoy a piece of the spoils, persecution can become widely acceptable.”

“The family had been shaken to its core. Where, I wondered, were their aryan friends? Were non-Jewish Viennese so satisfied with their plunder that no crime was too great? Were they terrified of the repercussions to themselves for befriending Jews? Despite the intense persecution, I saw the Bergers as resourceful, determined, and loyal to each other. When I had begun researching Alfred’s letter, one force driving me was my desire to understand how the Holocaust had happened to the Bergers, how they had been caught in its grip. Given their situation, I couldn’t think of anything I would have done differently to escape- and that thought was frightening.”

“Private life, free thought- any deviation from Nazi norms- vanished. Street-corner book burnings incinerated a wide range of free thought. The Reich restricted its citizens’ work, finances, food, marriage partners, child-rearing culture- the totality of German life.”

“Eventually, Celia told me that her mother had revealed on her deathbed that she had had an abortion before leaving Vienna. The United States would not admit pregnant women.”

“With war shortages pinching all Viennese, the Reich’s propaganda machine operated at full tilt that fall to keep public morale high…. The scope and subtlety of Germany’s preparations for mass deportations of Vienna’s Jews astonished me… the layers of insidious planning and the exportation of hatred.”

“At the 1940 San Francisco World’s Fair, an audience of fifteen hundred rose to their feet to join Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin in an emotional rendition of his song “God Bless America.” The Ku Klux Klan reacted vehemently, urging Americans to never sing that “Jew song.”

1941- Eight years of Hitler’s appointment to chancellor. February 16, 1941- three years after the Anschluss, the first train, carrying nearly a thousand Jews, left Vienna for Poland.
Jews couldn’t buy soap or shaving cream and henceforth, Jewish men would be recognized by their beards. Two daughters lost- one for three years at this point, to the US, and the other for four years- to Palestine.

Pearl Harbor in 1941
“Alfred and Hedwig would have awakened the next morning to the sensational news, and learned three days later that the United States and Germany were at war. Henceforth no mail would travel between the enemy nations. All of their once large, loving Vienna family was gone, and they were alone. Their lifeline had been severed. They had written their last letter to America.”

“I also knew that many Viennese, possibly a majority, had opposed Nazism and union with Germany. Some were murdered for resisting Nazi tyranny, but most quickly fell silent. A few kind, brave souls helped Jews in small ways: groceries, a smile even when that was dangerous. But no crowd of helpful onlookers had surrounded Alfred as he lay dying on the street or Hedwig as she was loaded onto a train. I thought how unreal it must have felt to the Bergers when friends and colleagues abandoned them, and malevolence swept across the city they loved.

The present-
An interview with a woman in her late seventies who had grown up in Vienna:
“The Viennese Jewish people were well liked. Then you had this big Jewish group coming in from the East. You understand? Sidney straightened, his voice tight: “They were different?” he suggested. “Exactly. They didn’t try to fit in. They looked different. They didn’t care about our ways. And you know, it’s happening again. Now, they’re coming in from Russia. They have money and don’t try to speak our language.”

“People can know- and not know.”

“As I discovered more about the Bergers fate, it seemed that was how the Holocaust was built, a step at a time, from the highest levels of government to the streets and homes of ordinary people who knew and didn’t know their own power to shape the world.”

Interview with the Author:
“Ask yourself, when I look back on this year, what effort will I be glad I’ve been a part of?”

As I read this account- to see the impact of this campaign in Vienna, a slow burn- to see it played out in real, individual lives, step by step, was unnerving and a different way of looking at this period of history than I’ve previously experienced. To see the letter writers' torment, years and years of suffering- drip by drip….

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have an uncorrected page proof but that did not matter. It is a longer book but the premise is incredible. This is a story of survival and the will to go on. The author piecing this together did an excellent job and we find out about how one family found a way out of the Holocaust. Not an easy read but an important read.

[Doreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please read this book! An advanced copy was sent to me and I'm so thrilled that it was!

I read a good number of Holocaust-related books. WWII and the Holocaust have been interests of mine since Jr. High. Each and ever story is unique. Whether the books are about life in concentration camps, resistance stories, stories from the ghettos, emigration stories, etc; each and every one is different.

In this book, there is a letter sent in 1939 from an Austrian Jewish couple to a family in America, asking for help. It is uncovered decades later and passed on to the author. The letter inspires the author's search to find out what happened to this couple and their family, during and after the war. There are 2 factors that make this book especially interesting to me:

1) The author is relentless in her search for information which leads her across the United States and to several countries; meeting and working with family members. The personal story(ies) she relates show just how committed the author is in seeing this journey to its conclusion.
2) The processes and disappointments for Jews acquiring visas is accurate and detailed. Every bribe paid, every ship turned away, every disappointment and postponement that was involved, is told in heart-wrenching detail.

It's a fairly long book. For some, the exquisite detail may feel a bit exhausting, but I encourage anyone to read it through to the end. How tiring it must have been for those who actually had to live this experience! Books like this are the reason our understanding of the Holocaust continues to grow. And, as our understanding grows, so does the certainty that nothing like it should ever happen again.

[Kim Bakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author comes upon a letter sent to one family in America by a couple in Vienna during WW2. The Austrian family pleads for help to get them out of Austria as the options for Jews are dwindling as Hitler tightens the noose around them. The author, who is a journalist, gets interested in finding out what happened to that couple - did the Americans help them? Did they end up being killed in the Holocaust? This story is how the author found those answers and so much more!

[Joan Arthur · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too Long, too much detail

[Nissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great read, very informative, and descriptive, would read many more like this. A book that is hard to put down once you start to read. A book everyone should read who are interested in the Holocaust, WW2 and European history. I want to thank the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this book.

[Alyssa]

DNF - it was probably very interesting in the end, but the beginning was slow and didn’t draw me in. I lost interest and quit reading since I was dreading picking it up and would always reach for a different book instead.

[Lisha Haase · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't finish this one.