Rezensionen

Review: Nine Suitcases

Redaktioneller Bericht - Kirkus Reviews

An affecting memoir of the Holocaust by a noted Hungarian author, with many an unusual twist. Born in 1895, Zsolt had published ten novels and four plays by the time a right-wing government came to power in Hungary, the product of "folksy populists . . . who decried urban Western civilization and championed a chauvinistic system based on the alleged strength and purity of an unspoiled Magyar race rooted in the Hungarian countryside." Regrettably, Zsolt was an urban Jew, and though he had served the emperor with distinction in WWI, he found himself a target. Because it was, at least superficially, a full partner with Nazi Germany, Hungary got to set its own rules, which did not include exterminating its Jews—at least at first. Zsolt was thus sent to the countryside, and then into Ukraine, as a laborer. "I was thoroughly trained in gravedigging out there," he writes, waiting with his fellow prisoners to clean up after Hungarian soldiers, White Ukrainian commandos, and Nazi troops as they burned villages and gunned down the fleeing inhabitants, who "tumble all over the ground, into the glowing ashes." Zsolt writes of the daily torments of the region's Jews, who sensed that something worse was on the way but for the time being had to withstand the greedy scheming of neighbors outside the shtetls and ghettos and, as the author recounts it, the excesses of Nazi martinets and fascist petty officials; as one SS officer berates a young rabbi, in one memorable scene, a Hungarian police captain watches "with the expression of a pedantic official, who is not responsible for the matter in hand, but who doesn't disapprove of what's going on." But the victim refuses to relent, and, as Zsolt writes, "It made no difference, but the rabbi won," which sends the Nazi officer into a foul humor: "He felt as uncomfortable about looking his audience in the eye as an actor who feels everything has gone wrong that day." Vignettes of hell: a valuable account of daily life under Hungarian fascism—banned for four decades even under Communist rule.

Nutzerrezensionen

Review: Nine Suitcases: A Memoir

Nutzerbericht - Goodreads

I don't know if I'd call this one of the greatest Holocaust memoirs like it says on the cover blurb, but it is good, and it is significant because it's definitely one of the earliest memoirs. It was ...

Review: Nine Suitcases

Nutzerbericht - Aubrey - Goodreads

The bravery of this man. It's near impossible to comprehend how he was able to devote his life to the betterment of his beloved country and suffer such horrors as compensation. He didn't even make it ... Vollständige Rezension lesen

Review: Nine Suitcases: A Memoir

Nutzerbericht - Susan Emmet - Goodreads

Finished this remarkable book. Don't know where I found it, but it turned up in our library while I was culling books to give away. Struck by the detailing, the indictment of victims and perpetrators ... Vollständige Rezension lesen

Review: Nine Suitcases: A Memoir

Nutzerbericht - Sharon - Goodreads

I thought this was a good read, but it was really hard to get through, for some reason. Vollständige Rezension lesen

Review: Nine Suitcases: A Memoir

Nutzerbericht - Miss GP - Goodreads

I'm not sure why I've never heard of this author or his works. Nine Suitcases: A Memoir is every bit as heart-breaking, horrific and important as the works of Holocaust survivors Elie Wiesel and Primo ... Vollständige Rezension lesen

Review: Nine Suitcases: A Memoir

Nutzerbericht - Laci - Goodreads

This is a soul-crushingly painful read on the dark depths of humanity in the face of war. Blunt and clearly written, Zsolt puts the reader in his shoes effortlessly and makes you thankful that you can ... Vollständige Rezension lesen

Review: Nine Suitcases

Nutzerbericht - Buck - Goodreads

Near the beginning of Nine Suitcases, Béla Zsolt recalls meeting some Jewish prostitutes from a Nazi 'field brothel' beside a railway track in Poland. One girl asks him and his companions if they're ... Vollständige Rezension lesen