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Cafe Berlin
Cafe Berlin is a hypnotic literary thriller and an unforgettable portrayal of the feverish, decadent world of Berlin clubgoers in the months leading up to the Nazi rise to power. Utterly accurate in its depiction of historical and military events and astoundingly rich in detail, Cafe Berlin is vivid and compelling.
281 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
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437 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 30, 2023
I’m not a fan of musical theater, but there have been 3 or 4 notable exceptions. One is Cabaret. Viewing the film led me to read Christopher Isherwood’s I Am a Camera, on which it is based, and view several stage productions, both amateur and professional. Something about the book/play/film has really appealed to me.
Recently I learned that Harold Nebenzal, who was involved in one or more of the productions, wrote a novel, Cafe Berlin (I believe his only one), which is also set in a Berlin nightclub in the 30s, and into the 40s. I couldn’t resist.
I wasn’t disappointed. Nebenzal’s novel, although telling a different story, with different characters and some significantly different environs (in addition to Berlin) manages to convey all of the passion.
It’s a pretty short book with very short chapters, most of which manage to convey two different aspects of the overall story.
Recently I learned that Harold Nebenzal, who was involved in one or more of the productions, wrote a novel, Cafe Berlin (I believe his only one), which is also set in a Berlin nightclub in the 30s, and into the 40s. I couldn’t resist.
I wasn’t disappointed. Nebenzal’s novel, although telling a different story, with different characters and some significantly different environs (in addition to Berlin) manages to convey all of the passion.
It’s a pretty short book with very short chapters, most of which manage to convey two different aspects of the overall story.
November 5, 2012
As close to perfect as any book I've read. After I finished it, I had the same feeling as after I'd finished Anna Karenina, Catch-22, or The Reader; now THIS is what literature is. There's love, sex, action, conspiracy, deep personal conflict, and it's by turns hilarious, terrifying, heartbreaking, and ultimately redeeming. The author also did a wealth of historical research to write it, sending me on a several day Wikipedia binge to learn as much as I could about the fascinating people and cultures he weaves in to the story. He also illuminated a part of WWII I'd never understood - the war fought between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
September 5, 2019
A really engrossing book about a Sephardic Jew hiding out in Berlin during the War. What makes this novel different from many others written about this same tragic situation is that our "hero," Daniel Saporta, is from Damascus, from a family of successful businessmen. He is sent to Berlin to learn more Western business skills. There is a lot of humor and adventure in this book, in addition to the tragedy.
August 13, 2024
Ein toller Roman, der mich absolut gefesselt hat. Es gab keine Stelle in diesem Buch, die mich gelangweilt hat.
Der Roman spiegelt das Leben in Berlin in den 30er Jahren wieder und fokussiert sich dabei besonders auf das Nachtleben. Dabei orientiert sich die Story realistisch am geschichtlichen Geschehen, sodass man hier und da auch einige informative Aspekte mitnehmen kann.
Punktabzug für die teilweise sehr detaillierten Beschreibungen von sexuellen und erotischen Handlungen, die aus heutiger Sicht eher frauenverachtend und rassistisch sind. Klar ist es ein Teil von dieser Zeit gewesen, hätte man sich aber einfach sparen können, da es keinen ersichtlichen Mehrwert für das Buch liefert.
September 16, 2024
2 🌟 for the story, 1 🌟 for the historical information, especially of Palestine.
More to come.
this book called Berlin nights, about a Jewish guy who's from damascus. He's really young when he goes to Berlin, he's 18, and he moves in with this German family, who were Jewish, and he was his father's top customer; his father had a spice warehouse. So he goes to live with the Jewish Family and the dude's wife totally seduces him and has a torrid affair with him. Well the husband was shtupping the maid, and she got pregnant, so the husband used that excuse, that the Damascus boy had gotten the maid pregnant, to get rid of him having an affair with his wife, And kicks him out.
So the boy opens up a nightclub, believe it or not, with the help of serendipity, at the age of 18. And it's a huge hit! I guess all the Jews stop coming because they're getting railroaded to where they have the concentration camps, but the Nazi officers and soldiers all go there. It's going between two time frames, one is where he's hiding in an attic in 1943, and the other time is 1934.
There were parts that disgusted me because he was such a slut. That lost a star for the book, but a star was gained back by historical information, that I appreciated, especially about palestine.
When he got kicked out of the landau's household, this was right when the stock market crash in the United States happened, and affected economies worldwide:
".. I was aware that although the German masses suffered cruelly, plenty of people were doing well during this period. there were the businessmen who had some sophistication in their dealings, those who had foreign accounts, those who had saved foreign currency, those who bought when others sold, and vice versa. There was also a class of profiteers: Germans who had Holdings abroad; foreigners from every continent who had come, during the inflation, to pick up the pieces. And there were the purveyors of cocaine, heroin, cannabis; also the pimps, active in both import and export. They fetched country girls from the impoverished Farms of Pomerania and Silesia with offers of work as waitresses and sales girls. Once in berlin, the young women were drugged, debased, and debauched until they were tractable and started to turn a profit on the sidewalks or in the many brothels that dotted the city. True blondes who showed promise in their newly acquired trade were shipped off to Cairo and Buenos aires, to port said and caracas, where an appreciative clientele awaited them."
and this happens more than ever today. Poor young women from Mexico are promised jobs as maids and hotels in the United states. And this is what happens to them.
the author has his character talk about his first Friday night in the Landau household. The protagonist dresses in the Damascus Jewish tradition, and went to the head of the table and poured the wine into a Kiddush cup. He was observing the Sephardic tradition, but I was totally disgusted by the menu:
" the dinner started. First, they gefüllte fish: poached carp, their centers filled with a forced meat of carp, pike, onions, almonds, and meal of matzah. It was served cold in its own jelly with fiery horseradish. It is a dish beloved of all ashkenazim, whether from russia, Hungary, romania, poland, or germany; rich or poor, Orthodox or assimilated, communist or free thinker, they all love gefüllye fish. In my 10 years among the ashkenazim, I never learned to like it.... "
Who could?
Dr. Steinbruch, Who the protagonist met on the train going from Damascus to berlin, and who coaches the Daniel in the German language, is executed in 1943. Lohmann, the business partner who kept the Daniel alive during his time hiding in the Attic had brought him food that was wrapped in a newspaper. The protagonist read:
traitor executed
berlin, December 13th, 1943
on the 11th of december, the 64-year-old museum curator Doctor Theodore Steinbruch was executed by firing squad in front of the war museum. The People's Court had condemned him to death for suspicion of Espionage on behalf of a foreign power. Adding weight to the verdict was his cowardly conduct in seeking refuge in his academic post when his knowledge of languages should have been placed at the disposal of the various security organs. The site of the war museum was chosen because of its proximity to the pergamon museum, where steinbruch had been employed since 1924. It will serve as a reminder to those defeatist elements in the academic community that the German people, through its institutions, will protect the nation against treason and defeatism."
Steinbruch had been the Daniel's mentor. He had coached him in working against the Nazi party. He was part of a group who sabotaged the Nazis.
the protagonist would get dancers for his nightclub from different places. He would take the Orient Express to different countries (in this case the Kaukasus) and look for dancers who would fit in at his club: belly dancers Etc. He had lambasted one of his dancers on the way back on the Orient Express for having picked up an Italian as a john. But when she knocked at his sleeping room door, that was different:
" as the Orient Express rocketed through the night, I was in the grasp of a modern day dalila, who seemed to have learned her Artistry in the hamam of the Wise Women of al yamam. Between Vzunkopru and Svilengrad she brought me to climax five times without releasing me. When I tired, she would remind me of my duties with 'a fist catching flies.' When she finally let me go, it was Daylight and the train had stopped to take on coal."
It wasn't okay for her to have a John in her sleeping quarters, but it was okay for an employer to have sex with his employee? Fucker character. I hated this part.
When the protagonist is returning with his driver from an errand of sabotage, the driver urged him, when an intense rainstorm came down, to spend the night at a local inn. This is in genoa. The Innkeeper, spending time alone with daniel after everyoneelsehas gone to bed, tells him about the problems that Mussolini is causing in italy.
" He invited me into the kitchen, warm and cozy with an ebbing wood fire in the stove. Over coffee and Brandy we established the easy intimacy that often occurs between strangers. He spoke of his concern that the fascists, under Benito mussolini, would gradually take away the freedom the Italian people had historically enjoyed. Mussolini had begun by first abolishing the right of women to vote and then instituting a voter's tax, which reduced the number of people voting from 10 million to 3 million. And now, in 1930, he had prohibited abortion. I spoke of The Growing Power of the National Socialists in germany, of their stormtroopers, who already roamed the streets with impunity, and the political murders they were committing. Our conclusion was that the millions who had died in the Great War had died - for what?"
So it's true that many of the Nazis and fascists came to the United States after World War ii, and have only recently begun their campaign all over again.
The author has the protagonist Daniel speak about his meetings between 1939 and 1941 with Dr steinbruch:
" some time in 1940, we met in the reptile House of the Berlin zoo. It is a large, steamy structure, lushly planted with palm trees and tropical foliage. From a bamboo bridge, one could observe crocodiles, alligators, and caymans dozing in the brackish Waters below. It was a place avoided by mothers and nursemaids. The beasts frightened them more than it did their charges. It was there Dr Steinbruch first told me of his suspicions that a Nazi-Moslem rapprochement was in the making. The attacks on the Jews of Palestine were growing in ratio to the successes achieved by the Nazi juggernaut. Behind these attacks - murders, really - the gray Eminence of Hajj Amin El husseini seemed to be hovering. The name Hajj Amin was familiar to me. He had sparked anti-jewish riots in Palestine beginning in 1920 and he was behind the Arab general strike against the British in 1936. Although Hajj Amin had no religious education, he was nevertheless appointed muffti, or interpretor of Koranic law, by the british. By naming him to the most important Muslim Post in Jerusalem they had hoped to ensure, or rather to buy, civil behavior on his part. Of course they were to be disappointed. This much I knew about him.
Dr steinbruch knew a great deal more. Hajj Amin was born in 1893 to an old Jerusalem family. He attended turkish schools, including a military academy and joined the Turkish army during the first world war, serving as an artillery officer until his capture by the british. Once a prisoner of war he conveniently changed sides to fight in the hejaz with Bedouin tribesmen who were recruited by the British to fight the turks. The British rewarded him with a position in the Palestine customs administration. It was Sir Herbert samuel, a Jew and High Commissioner for palestine, who then appointed him Grand Mufti of jerusalem. True to his colors, he now again turned against the British and was sentenced by them, in absentia, for instigating large-scale riots against the jews. Now, in 1940, he was a fugitive from British Justice and, according to Dr steinbruch, hiding out in iraq. It was inevitable, thought Dr Steinbruch, that the Nazis and the Arab fanatics, both committed to the eradication of the jews, should eventually come together. It was to be our task to prepare for that day."
Interesting.
In his role as a saboteur against the Nazi party, Daniel travels to Sarajevo, bosphor. He stays in a hotel, and sits in the lobby, keeping his ears open to listen to the German officers who are crowded around.
". . . I listened and observed, occasionally taking Refuge behind the donauzeitung. In this particular issue there appeared an article headed by the likeness of Hajj Amin el Husseini, stating that this foremost leader of Islam had contributed another half million kune to the 'Mohammed' organization of bosnia. He was never short of funds, because apart from the monies the Germans were paying him, he had treated the Waqf of jerusalem, the Moslem widows and orphans fund, as his own. It was said in Arab circles that since the day in 1922 when the British had handed him the key to that figurative strong box, not a single hospital, orphanage, or other charitable institution had been built in palestine. All the funds had been used for political or personal use, a practice he was effectively continuing to this day. The Mufti was quoted as saying on radio Bari that the killing of Jews was pleasant in the eyes of God and that the Moslems of Bosnia were the cream of islam. The Splendid German forces were eagerly waiting to welcome these Stalwarts into their ranks."
More to come.
this book called Berlin nights, about a Jewish guy who's from damascus. He's really young when he goes to Berlin, he's 18, and he moves in with this German family, who were Jewish, and he was his father's top customer; his father had a spice warehouse. So he goes to live with the Jewish Family and the dude's wife totally seduces him and has a torrid affair with him. Well the husband was shtupping the maid, and she got pregnant, so the husband used that excuse, that the Damascus boy had gotten the maid pregnant, to get rid of him having an affair with his wife, And kicks him out.
So the boy opens up a nightclub, believe it or not, with the help of serendipity, at the age of 18. And it's a huge hit! I guess all the Jews stop coming because they're getting railroaded to where they have the concentration camps, but the Nazi officers and soldiers all go there. It's going between two time frames, one is where he's hiding in an attic in 1943, and the other time is 1934.
There were parts that disgusted me because he was such a slut. That lost a star for the book, but a star was gained back by historical information, that I appreciated, especially about palestine.
When he got kicked out of the landau's household, this was right when the stock market crash in the United States happened, and affected economies worldwide:
".. I was aware that although the German masses suffered cruelly, plenty of people were doing well during this period. there were the businessmen who had some sophistication in their dealings, those who had foreign accounts, those who had saved foreign currency, those who bought when others sold, and vice versa. There was also a class of profiteers: Germans who had Holdings abroad; foreigners from every continent who had come, during the inflation, to pick up the pieces. And there were the purveyors of cocaine, heroin, cannabis; also the pimps, active in both import and export. They fetched country girls from the impoverished Farms of Pomerania and Silesia with offers of work as waitresses and sales girls. Once in berlin, the young women were drugged, debased, and debauched until they were tractable and started to turn a profit on the sidewalks or in the many brothels that dotted the city. True blondes who showed promise in their newly acquired trade were shipped off to Cairo and Buenos aires, to port said and caracas, where an appreciative clientele awaited them."
and this happens more than ever today. Poor young women from Mexico are promised jobs as maids and hotels in the United states. And this is what happens to them.
the author has his character talk about his first Friday night in the Landau household. The protagonist dresses in the Damascus Jewish tradition, and went to the head of the table and poured the wine into a Kiddush cup. He was observing the Sephardic tradition, but I was totally disgusted by the menu:
" the dinner started. First, they gefüllte fish: poached carp, their centers filled with a forced meat of carp, pike, onions, almonds, and meal of matzah. It was served cold in its own jelly with fiery horseradish. It is a dish beloved of all ashkenazim, whether from russia, Hungary, romania, poland, or germany; rich or poor, Orthodox or assimilated, communist or free thinker, they all love gefüllye fish. In my 10 years among the ashkenazim, I never learned to like it.... "
Who could?
Dr. Steinbruch, Who the protagonist met on the train going from Damascus to berlin, and who coaches the Daniel in the German language, is executed in 1943. Lohmann, the business partner who kept the Daniel alive during his time hiding in the Attic had brought him food that was wrapped in a newspaper. The protagonist read:
traitor executed
berlin, December 13th, 1943
on the 11th of december, the 64-year-old museum curator Doctor Theodore Steinbruch was executed by firing squad in front of the war museum. The People's Court had condemned him to death for suspicion of Espionage on behalf of a foreign power. Adding weight to the verdict was his cowardly conduct in seeking refuge in his academic post when his knowledge of languages should have been placed at the disposal of the various security organs. The site of the war museum was chosen because of its proximity to the pergamon museum, where steinbruch had been employed since 1924. It will serve as a reminder to those defeatist elements in the academic community that the German people, through its institutions, will protect the nation against treason and defeatism."
Steinbruch had been the Daniel's mentor. He had coached him in working against the Nazi party. He was part of a group who sabotaged the Nazis.
the protagonist would get dancers for his nightclub from different places. He would take the Orient Express to different countries (in this case the Kaukasus) and look for dancers who would fit in at his club: belly dancers Etc. He had lambasted one of his dancers on the way back on the Orient Express for having picked up an Italian as a john. But when she knocked at his sleeping room door, that was different:
" as the Orient Express rocketed through the night, I was in the grasp of a modern day dalila, who seemed to have learned her Artistry in the hamam of the Wise Women of al yamam. Between Vzunkopru and Svilengrad she brought me to climax five times without releasing me. When I tired, she would remind me of my duties with 'a fist catching flies.' When she finally let me go, it was Daylight and the train had stopped to take on coal."
It wasn't okay for her to have a John in her sleeping quarters, but it was okay for an employer to have sex with his employee? Fucker character. I hated this part.
When the protagonist is returning with his driver from an errand of sabotage, the driver urged him, when an intense rainstorm came down, to spend the night at a local inn. This is in genoa. The Innkeeper, spending time alone with daniel after everyoneelsehas gone to bed, tells him about the problems that Mussolini is causing in italy.
" He invited me into the kitchen, warm and cozy with an ebbing wood fire in the stove. Over coffee and Brandy we established the easy intimacy that often occurs between strangers. He spoke of his concern that the fascists, under Benito mussolini, would gradually take away the freedom the Italian people had historically enjoyed. Mussolini had begun by first abolishing the right of women to vote and then instituting a voter's tax, which reduced the number of people voting from 10 million to 3 million. And now, in 1930, he had prohibited abortion. I spoke of The Growing Power of the National Socialists in germany, of their stormtroopers, who already roamed the streets with impunity, and the political murders they were committing. Our conclusion was that the millions who had died in the Great War had died - for what?"
So it's true that many of the Nazis and fascists came to the United States after World War ii, and have only recently begun their campaign all over again.
The author has the protagonist Daniel speak about his meetings between 1939 and 1941 with Dr steinbruch:
" some time in 1940, we met in the reptile House of the Berlin zoo. It is a large, steamy structure, lushly planted with palm trees and tropical foliage. From a bamboo bridge, one could observe crocodiles, alligators, and caymans dozing in the brackish Waters below. It was a place avoided by mothers and nursemaids. The beasts frightened them more than it did their charges. It was there Dr Steinbruch first told me of his suspicions that a Nazi-Moslem rapprochement was in the making. The attacks on the Jews of Palestine were growing in ratio to the successes achieved by the Nazi juggernaut. Behind these attacks - murders, really - the gray Eminence of Hajj Amin El husseini seemed to be hovering. The name Hajj Amin was familiar to me. He had sparked anti-jewish riots in Palestine beginning in 1920 and he was behind the Arab general strike against the British in 1936. Although Hajj Amin had no religious education, he was nevertheless appointed muffti, or interpretor of Koranic law, by the british. By naming him to the most important Muslim Post in Jerusalem they had hoped to ensure, or rather to buy, civil behavior on his part. Of course they were to be disappointed. This much I knew about him.
Dr steinbruch knew a great deal more. Hajj Amin was born in 1893 to an old Jerusalem family. He attended turkish schools, including a military academy and joined the Turkish army during the first world war, serving as an artillery officer until his capture by the british. Once a prisoner of war he conveniently changed sides to fight in the hejaz with Bedouin tribesmen who were recruited by the British to fight the turks. The British rewarded him with a position in the Palestine customs administration. It was Sir Herbert samuel, a Jew and High Commissioner for palestine, who then appointed him Grand Mufti of jerusalem. True to his colors, he now again turned against the British and was sentenced by them, in absentia, for instigating large-scale riots against the jews. Now, in 1940, he was a fugitive from British Justice and, according to Dr steinbruch, hiding out in iraq. It was inevitable, thought Dr Steinbruch, that the Nazis and the Arab fanatics, both committed to the eradication of the jews, should eventually come together. It was to be our task to prepare for that day."
Interesting.
In his role as a saboteur against the Nazi party, Daniel travels to Sarajevo, bosphor. He stays in a hotel, and sits in the lobby, keeping his ears open to listen to the German officers who are crowded around.
". . . I listened and observed, occasionally taking Refuge behind the donauzeitung. In this particular issue there appeared an article headed by the likeness of Hajj Amin el Husseini, stating that this foremost leader of Islam had contributed another half million kune to the 'Mohammed' organization of bosnia. He was never short of funds, because apart from the monies the Germans were paying him, he had treated the Waqf of jerusalem, the Moslem widows and orphans fund, as his own. It was said in Arab circles that since the day in 1922 when the British had handed him the key to that figurative strong box, not a single hospital, orphanage, or other charitable institution had been built in palestine. All the funds had been used for political or personal use, a practice he was effectively continuing to this day. The Mufti was quoted as saying on radio Bari that the killing of Jews was pleasant in the eyes of God and that the Moslems of Bosnia were the cream of islam. The Splendid German forces were eagerly waiting to welcome these Stalwarts into their ranks."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2022
Sehr flüssig zu lesendes und spannendes Buch. Erzählt wird die Lebensgeschichte von Daniel Saporta, der in einer jüdischen Gewürzhändlerfamilie in Damaskus aufwächst. Mit 17 Jahren wird er von seinem Vater zu dessen Freund und Geschäftspartner Landau nach Deutschland geschickt. Dies ist der Start in sein Leben, das nie wieder so sein soll, wie es einst war. Durch einige Schicksalsschläge wird er zum Besitzer eines Berliner Nachtclubs, SS-Günstling, antifaschistischer Spion und schließlich Partisan. Als er auffliegt, muss er sich in einem Dachboden verstecken und beginnt, ein Tagebuch zu schreiben, in dem er auch sein früheres Leben aufzeichnet.
Das Buch ist eine Achterbahnfahrt zwischen der glanzvollen, aber auch brutalen Welt des Berliner Nachtlebens und Daniels Erlebnissen im Dachbodenversteck, die von Ungewissheit, Hunger und Kälte geprägt sind.
Das Buch ist eine Achterbahnfahrt zwischen der glanzvollen, aber auch brutalen Welt des Berliner Nachtlebens und Daniels Erlebnissen im Dachbodenversteck, die von Ungewissheit, Hunger und Kälte geprägt sind.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2023
This novel is excellent. Written as a diary it draws the reader into the world of Berlin of WWII era. The writer of the diary is Daniel, a Jewish man who hailed from Damascus originally. It combines the story of the Balkans and Middle East in the telling of this tale of WWII. Daniel is a changeling who speaks more than a few languages including Arabic which allowed him to change personas and interact with a cast of international ne'er do wells as well as Nazis. Daniel lived in Berlin and owned a nightclub and it is through this nightclub that we are introduced to the louche nightlife of the time which of course included spies, ladies of the night, belly dancers and a host of other interesting characters. The novel has elements of a romance, travelogue and a spy novel. It take material that has been gone over many times with a unique spin.
August 14, 2024
This books illustrates not only the historic context on a very detailed level, but the protagonists inner emotional and moral struggels.
The Jew Daniel Sporta lives the transition from the wild times in Berlin during the Weimar Republic to the Nazi regime in splendour. Sex, Drugs and oriental belly dancers attract the high society to his club, the Kaukasus. With the transition of the power, more and more big names from the National Socialists join his guests. From simple officers to party functionaries, the protagonist, equipped with a false Spanish identity, has to be careful. The inner tension between adapting to the obvious antagonism of the social situation and his own person runs through the thoughts of the thriller making himself devided between the demands of different people and himself.
The Jew Daniel Sporta lives the transition from the wild times in Berlin during the Weimar Republic to the Nazi regime in splendour. Sex, Drugs and oriental belly dancers attract the high society to his club, the Kaukasus. With the transition of the power, more and more big names from the National Socialists join his guests. From simple officers to party functionaries, the protagonist, equipped with a false Spanish identity, has to be careful. The inner tension between adapting to the obvious antagonism of the social situation and his own person runs through the thoughts of the thriller making himself devided between the demands of different people and himself.
February 3, 2022
Not bad. Lots of history of Sephardic Jews in the Mid East and life in Germany during the 1920s to 1941. Night clubbing, espionage, sexy dancing, and, one major point against it, 1990s style descriptions of women’s breasts. Orbs anyone?
The author can write a fast paced story, but every now and then he hits the cliches with a hammer. Now the story is written as the main character’s diary, so maybe the non Pulitzer caliber writing can be forgiven. Anyway it is a fun, suspenseful, and even educational read. Just not perfect.
The author can write a fast paced story, but every now and then he hits the cliches with a hammer. Now the story is written as the main character’s diary, so maybe the non Pulitzer caliber writing can be forgiven. Anyway it is a fun, suspenseful, and even educational read. Just not perfect.
February 1, 2018
Divertente libro dello sceneggiatore di "Cabaret".
Un ebreo sefardita nella Berlino a ridosso del nazismo. "Si potrà interagire con gli Askhenaziti quando la smetteranno di mangiare il Gefillte Fisch (carpa ripiena)"
Traduzione italiana inesistente, la lingua originale è l'inglese. Se vi capita, è una piccola sorpresa.
Un ebreo sefardita nella Berlino a ridosso del nazismo. "Si potrà interagire con gli Askhenaziti quando la smetteranno di mangiare il Gefillte Fisch (carpa ripiena)"
Traduzione italiana inesistente, la lingua originale è l'inglese. Se vi capita, è una piccola sorpresa.
May 12, 2024
Nachtclubleben im Berlin der 30er Jahre
Vor den Nazis auf einem Berliner Dachboden versteckt lässt der aus Damaskus stammende Jude Daniel Saporta sein noch kurzes Leben in Tagebuchaufzeichnungen Revue passieren. Ein buntes und kulturell vielfältiges Buch über das Nachtleben in Berlin in den 30er Jahren, die zunehmenden Kriegswirren und den unbändigen Lebenswillen des Protagonisten.
Vor den Nazis auf einem Berliner Dachboden versteckt lässt der aus Damaskus stammende Jude Daniel Saporta sein noch kurzes Leben in Tagebuchaufzeichnungen Revue passieren. Ein buntes und kulturell vielfältiges Buch über das Nachtleben in Berlin in den 30er Jahren, die zunehmenden Kriegswirren und den unbändigen Lebenswillen des Protagonisten.
January 13, 2025
i didn't like the book in the beginning, the layout felt weird, however once I got into it further (halfway) I wanted to finish it ad find out if and how he survived. A different angle on WWII. the Nazies were just as bad on their own people as they were on the peoples they were trying to eradicate.
April 15, 2025
Einfach perfekt. Hatte mir nicht viel erwartet aber wurde überrascht. Spannend, unterhaltsam und gleichzeitig deutlich gesellschaftskritisch – ohne dabei jemals belehrend zu wirken. Sehr schöner distanzierter, fast filmischer Stil. Man fühlt sich als Leserin mitten im Geschehen, bleibt aber immer auch Beobachterin. Easy read trotz hartem Thema.
February 9, 2024
What a wonderful book.
March 16, 2024
It took me a while to get into this book. I wasn’t able to connect with Daniel (the main character) and there were too many history facts for my liking - and too much talk about food. I was thinking about putting the book aside. But then, after around 80 pages, the story kicked in, Samira arrived, Daniel started to show some personality and the plot started thickening. I devoured the rest of the book and I jumped out of happiness reading about their reconciliation at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2021
This was an amazing read, captivating story telling and plot that weaves together the richness of cultures in the near East and in Berlin with perfect historical accuracy. Many of the scenes literally come alive and could easily be scripts for great scenes in a movie, which makes sense since the author is better known as a film producer. While WWII plays a key role in the plot, the most interesting plot pieces are agnostic to this and come more from the general story telling and the detailed writing style.
September 10, 2019
"Café Berlin" hat mir sehr gut gefallen.
Harold Nebenzal hat einen wunderbaren und leicht zu lesenden Schreibstil, der dem Leser das Gleiten durch die Seiten sehr vereinfacht. Das Abtauchen in diese Geschichte gelang mir ohne Probleme und mit Daniel Saporta hatte ich auch einen klugen, gerissenen und charmanten Mann an der Seite, der das Leben in der Vorkriegszeit zu leben wusste. Schöne exotische Frauen, Live-Musik und sein guter Geschäftssinn haben ihn und seinen Club "Kaukasus" zu einer kleinen Berlinberühmtheit gemacht.
Trotzdem hatte sein Leben in Damaskus, Syrien keinen leichten Start und er musste schnell lernen auf sich zu achten, sich zu behaupten und seinem Instinkt zu folgen. Viele Male spielte er mit dem Feuer und begab sich in Gefahren, die schon für andere tödlich waren.
Die Geschichte von Daniel wird von ihm selbst als Tagebuch aufgeschrieben. Daniel sitzt zu diesem Zeitpunkt auf einem Dachboden und muss sich vor den Nazis versteckt halten. Um sich abzulenken und nicht vor Angst, Kälte und Hunger irre zu werden, schreibt er seine Geschichte auf. Es gibt demnach immer wieder ein paar Sprünge von der Vorkriegszeit zu der aktuellen Zeit (1943-1945). Harold Nebenzal verliert sich manchmal etwas zu sehr in den Details, aber nie so lange, dass man das Interesse an dieser Geschichte verlieren könnte.
Langeweile kam tatsächlich nie auf (wurde auf dem Cover versprochen). Im Gegenteil, am Ende der Geschichte war man fast schon etwas traurig, adieu sagen zu müssen.
Harold Nebenzal hat einen wunderbaren und leicht zu lesenden Schreibstil, der dem Leser das Gleiten durch die Seiten sehr vereinfacht. Das Abtauchen in diese Geschichte gelang mir ohne Probleme und mit Daniel Saporta hatte ich auch einen klugen, gerissenen und charmanten Mann an der Seite, der das Leben in der Vorkriegszeit zu leben wusste. Schöne exotische Frauen, Live-Musik und sein guter Geschäftssinn haben ihn und seinen Club "Kaukasus" zu einer kleinen Berlinberühmtheit gemacht.
Trotzdem hatte sein Leben in Damaskus, Syrien keinen leichten Start und er musste schnell lernen auf sich zu achten, sich zu behaupten und seinem Instinkt zu folgen. Viele Male spielte er mit dem Feuer und begab sich in Gefahren, die schon für andere tödlich waren.
Die Geschichte von Daniel wird von ihm selbst als Tagebuch aufgeschrieben. Daniel sitzt zu diesem Zeitpunkt auf einem Dachboden und muss sich vor den Nazis versteckt halten. Um sich abzulenken und nicht vor Angst, Kälte und Hunger irre zu werden, schreibt er seine Geschichte auf. Es gibt demnach immer wieder ein paar Sprünge von der Vorkriegszeit zu der aktuellen Zeit (1943-1945). Harold Nebenzal verliert sich manchmal etwas zu sehr in den Details, aber nie so lange, dass man das Interesse an dieser Geschichte verlieren könnte.
Langeweile kam tatsächlich nie auf (wurde auf dem Cover versprochen). Im Gegenteil, am Ende der Geschichte war man fast schon etwas traurig, adieu sagen zu müssen.
December 22, 2009
It is the late 1930s-the high-pitched tail end of the infamous years between the wars. Berlin is a night city, pulsing with the neon signs and imported jazz of ten thousand cabarets. Daniel Saporta a.k.a. Salazar-a Sephardic Jew passing as a Spaniard-is the celebrated owner of Klub Kaukasus, an oriental cabaret touted by the local scandal sheet as the definitive Café Berlin. Playing host to high-ranking Nazi officers unaware of his true identity, Daniel caters to appetites both pure and perverse, providing his clientele with first-rate food, drink, and women.
It is 1943. Daniel Saporta is in hiding. From his cramped, unheated attic cubicle, he writes his story about the years in Berlin leading up to his concealment. Utterly accurate in its depiction of historical and military events and astoundingly rich in detail, Café Berlin, sold in five countries, creates a vivid and compelling picture of a city and a time that fascinated and appalled the rest of the world half a century ago. [close:]
It is 1943. Daniel Saporta is in hiding. From his cramped, unheated attic cubicle, he writes his story about the years in Berlin leading up to his concealment. Utterly accurate in its depiction of historical and military events and astoundingly rich in detail, Café Berlin, sold in five countries, creates a vivid and compelling picture of a city and a time that fascinated and appalled the rest of the world half a century ago. [close:]
March 30, 2016
I'd give it four stars even only for its capturing storytelling. While I was reading it, I had the feeling someone is really talking to me, telling me the story of their life. I've already read accounts by Jews who survived the Nazi time and I've been shocked, horrified, sad and so on. But this book isn't about this... I didn't really have the feeling that all of this happened long long ago. Somehow it has a very contemporary atmosphere, so the border between past and present is blurred.
March 26, 2009
I read this book on the way to Germany and was so excited to actually walk down the same street that the characters did (Der Linden something). The book takes you back to that awful time in history when being Jewish was a crime and one had to hide their ethnicity in order to stay alive. It reminded me of the story I read as a young girl, Anne Frank.
June 7, 2007
Beautiful story about the ups and downs of life mixed with a real historical context with first-hand almost-witness historical accounts.
Great story-telling too and character development... asynchronous parallel timeline.
Great story-telling too and character development... asynchronous parallel timeline.
June 2, 2008
Das Buch ist ohne Zweifel spannend und stellt ein sehr schwarzes Kapitel der deutschen Geschichte dar. Es schildert auch Realitaeten dar wie zum Beispiel die Tatsache, dass nicht alle Deutschen vom ideologischen Wahn betroffen waren.
December 28, 2007
I really liked the style of the diary entries and then telling the story. It's a great mix that keeps you very involved in his life.
November 13, 2008
One of the most evocative books I've ever read, it has stayed with me for several years.
November 14, 2019
Sehr interessant und spannend, besonders mit den zwei Zeitleisten.
October 17, 2017
I did not enjoy this book. I truly felt that its story line did not introduce anything at all that was new. Historically speaking Berlin at this time was a cess pit of vice and porn. To glamorise this from the point of view of someone trying to profit from this, made me throw it across the room...
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