From the Publisher
"'Try to understand me,' Moriz Scheyer begs the future readers of his memoir in 1944. And we do, leaving it drained, but exhilarated by the description of how he roamed an unfriendly Europe, stateless. With the publication of this mesmerizing book, his search for asylum might just be over."
—Ronald C. Rosbottom, Amherst College, author of When Paris Went Dark
"Moriz Scheyer's gripping account of survival under Nazi rule is both a chilling reminder of the fragility of life in a world gone mad, and a record of the generosity of spirit and courage of people who hardly knew him but risked everything to save him. Shocking, heartbreaking, but hugely inspiring."
—Susan Ottaway, author of A Cool and Lonely Courage
"Scheyer's account of his struggle for survival as a foreign Jew under Vichy, largely written while still in hiding, is propelled by the raw passion of righteous anger. His nuanced picture of wartime France, with its collaborators and resisters, vividly underscores the power of ordinary human kindness in the face of supreme evil."—Thomas Ertman, New York University, author of Birth of the Leviathan
"A well-written book full of desperate hope, intense fear, and a demand for vigilance against the mentality of hate."—Kirkus Reviews
"His prose is unembellished - direct and simple, like that of Ernest Hemingway".—Winnipeg Free Press
Library Journal
08/01/2016
That this book exists at all is quite remarkable. The author, an Austrian literary critic of Jewish descent, nearly lost his life multiple times during the years of Nazi occupation. If not for several twists of fate, Scheyer's (1886–1949) life would not have been written or even published. Scheyer documented his story while in hiding, tracing his previous journeys to France and Switzerland trying to escape the Nazis. This intimate account was discovered by Scheyer's son in the 1980s, who felt it to be too anti-German and destroyed what he thought was the only copy, only to have his own son discover, translate, and publish the manuscript. Penned by an accomplished writer, this narrative offers an elegant take on the events directing Scheyer's life. VERDICT Raw, emotional, and deep, Scheyer's work contains an immediate perspective that is unusual to Holocaust survivor memoirs and deserves a place alongside other works, such as those by Anne Frank or Primo Levi.—Maria Bagshaw, Elgin Community Coll. Lib., IL
Kirkus Reviews
2016-06-30
Scheyer (1886-1949), arts editor of Vienna’s Neues Wiener Tagblatt until his expulsion in 1938, describes his desperate struggle to remain free after the Anschluss.The book, a carbon copy kept by the translator’s grandmother, Scheyer’s wife, was discovered in an attic in the home of Scheyer’s stepson and is now available, unedited as witness to the kindness and cruelty of the time. The author began writing the book in 1943 in the family’s hiding place in the Dordogne and completed it in 1945. In 1938, moving to France was the way to avoid the Germans’ strict regulations for Jews. Scheyer, his wife, Grete, and their faithful Czech companion, Slava, faced and outran constant danger. The writing is fraught with the emotional turmoil of trying to stay a step ahead of the Nazis. Scheyer’s descriptions, after the fact, of the inability to relax, the constant fear that someone would denounce them, knowing a knock on the door could be the end, and even their inability to come out of hiding after liberation are gripping. His constant question—“how could it all have happened?”—hovers over all. Even at first, while he was in Paris to buy exit visas, he speaks of the desperation and pain of being a refugee living on charity. He tells of the miracles, as well, and muses on the fates of his friends to show how close we become in adversity. Suffering a wide range of experiences—from passeurs who deserted them to contacts with the resistance—they finally found angels in the Rispal family, who led them to safety in a convent. Scheyer’s stepson destroyed the original copy of the book due to its intense anti-German sentiments; thankfully, the work survived. A well-written book full of desperate hope, intense fear, and a demand for vigilance against the mentality of hate.
