Sitting on Top of the World Reviewed By June Maffin of Bookpleasures.com
- By June Maffin
- Published July 4, 2014
- History
June Maffin
Reviewer June Maffin:Living on an island in British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Maffin is a neophyte organic gardener, eclectic reader, ordained minister (Anglican/Episcopal priest) and creative spirituality writer/photographer with a deep zest for life. Previously, she has been grief counselor, broadcaster, teacher, journalist, television host, chaplain and spiritual director with an earned doctorate in Pastoral Care (medical ethics i.e. euthanasia focus). Presently an educator, freelance editor, blogger, and published author of three books, her most recent (Soulistry-Artistry of the Soul: Creative Ways to Nurture your Spirituality) has been published in e-book as well as paperback format and a preview can be viewed on YouTube videos. Founder of Soulistry™ she continues to lead a variety of workshops and retreats connecting spirituality with creativity and delights in a spirituality of play. You can find out more about June by clicking on her Web Site.
Author: Steven L. Richards
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 97814944925413
Two little brothers - one ten, one eleven - living
in Nazi Germany, discover at far too young an age, how politics,
antisemitism and life’s circumstances can tear families apart and
dramatically change lives. Author Steven Richards has written a
compelling, must-read book that details social conditions in Germany
before and during the tragic events of WW11 which led to the
systematic murder of millions of Jews. With superlative skill,
the author weaves the factual story of two German families - the
Ettlingers and the Walkers and two little boys caught in the horrors
of the holocaust.
When Ilse Ettlinger falls in love with
Julius Walker, a Christian, her father, Jewish patriarch Isaak
Ettlinger, becomes enraged that his daughter has become involved with
a man who is not Jewish. His anger increases when Ilse becomes
pregnant with Heinz, marries Julius, and becomes pregnant again ten
months later with Kurt. When Ilse and the boys are abandoned by
Julius, Isaak turns his back on his daughter and grandsons.
Alienated from her parents, Ilse has no family support and is unable
to care for herself and her sons. When she seeks help from the
family of the boys’ father, the response is devastating. They
will help and raise her eldest son - Heinz, but only if Ilse agrees
to three conditions: Ilse will never contact Heinz again; neither son
knows of the existence of the other; Heinz will be raised as a
Christian. Under duress, Ilse agrees. When she realizes that
she still cannot support her family, she asks to return home to her
parents with her young son Kurt. Her father, Isaak, agrees if
she follows two conditions: he become Kurt’s legal guardian; Kurt
is raised as an Orthodox Jew. With Ilse’s agreement to these
conditions, young Kurt’s life is set in tragic motion.
Raised
as Jewish, living in Germany during WW11, Kurt becomes embroiled in
the evils of Nazi Germany from the moment he, his mother and the
Ettlinger family is given thirty minutes to pack and then forced to
board a train for a concentration camp in France. Conditions in
the camp are impossible and the young boy experiences the stark
reality of evil. When an opportunity arises for Kurt to escape
through the efforts of a group of Quakers, his mother must make a
decision to keep her son with her in the concentration camp where an
almost-certain death awaits, or release him into the care of
strangers. Her selfless decision offers the possibility of life
to Kurt. Eventually smuggled to Morocco and then to a variety
of foster parents in the United States, Kurt is eventually adopted by
a Jewish couple in Chicago.
This detailed, masterfully
documented historical narrative is a thought-provoking and gripping
reminder to readers that truth is often stranger than fiction.
The author chose an Al Jolson song I’m Sitting On
Top of the World as the surprising title of the book.
Unusual? Perhaps. Apt? It is if one realizes that
it is a summary of one of the many lessons this powerful book
teaches.
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