MAY 2018 - AudioFile
This audiobook tells the story of an unlikely pair of Nazi hunters—a German woman who is married to a French Jew. The story is told in tag-team fashion, alternating between the perspectives of the wife and husband. Narrators Marisa Calin and Raphael Corkhill handle this approach effectively. Each partner’s sections are long enough to establish a narrative thread, and the narrators deliver the variety of European accents with accuracy. This is especially true when they read from personal letters. The story is constructed in chronological order, so listeners will come to understand the backgrounds and motivations of both partners. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
01/08/2018
The husband-and-wife Nazi-hunting duo revisit their improbable exploits in this tumultuous memoir. Writing in alternating chapters, Beate Klarsfeld, who was born in 1939 and grew up in postwar Germany, and Serge Klarsfeld, a French Jew whose father died in a concentration camp, recount how they improvised a family business unmasking Nazi war criminals. They specialized in publicity stunts: Beate made headlines by slapping German chancellor (and ex–Nazi propaganda official) Kurt Kiesinger; the couple tried to kidnap a wanted ex–Gestapo boss living openly in Cologne and then dared German authorities to arrest them for it. They weathered jail stints and survived a car bomb, but there was quieter work too: sleuthing through archives for evidence, and running undercover ops to locate war-criminal Klaus Barbie in South America. The Klarsfelds’ rambling narrative sometimes obscures the big picture of criminality amid legal minutiae and bogs down in minor doings and awards, but at its best it gives an exhilarating picture of amateurs assuming investigative duties in search of long-overdue justice. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
"Riveting . . . absorbing . . . As their memoirs make clear, these militants of memory never lost sight of their goal." —Benjamin Balint, The Wall Street Journal
"Exceptionally relevant . . . an awe-inspiring account of one couple's relentless pursuit of Nazi criminals . . . The Klarsfelds are reluctant memoirists, Serge explains, but their fidelity to accuracy and their humility regarding monumental triumphs of justice serve as urgent messages to us all." —Elizabeth Rosner, San Francisco Chronicle
"Assertive . . . Hunting the Truth] helps us understand how these two otherwise ordinary individuals—a nonobservant Jewish Frenchman and a gentile German woman—came to devote themselves with such single-minded daring to the cause of achieving both justice and commemoration for the French victims of the Holocaust . . . The Klarsfelds’ success has been undeniable." —Robert O. Paxton, The New York Review of Books
"Hunting the Truth is an important book, with an immeasurable educational value. At the narrative level, the authors have written a history primer about the unimaginable cruelty of the Nazis and their willing French collaborators, whom the Klarsfelds helped bring to justice. Alongside the narrative stratum, however, they have compiled a moving treatise based upon their personal experiences." —Mordechai Ben-Dat, The Canadian Jewish News
"A riveting record . . . Anti-semitic hatred, in Sartre’s formulation, “is first of all a passion.” By presenting their many years of struggle for a “great, just cause,” the Klarsfelds’ memoir affirms a far higher and more enduring passion." —Peter E. Kornblub, Jewish Book Council
"Remarkable . . . Throughout their harrowing work, [the Klarsfelds] maintained a home in Paris and remain to this day devoted to and inspired by each other. A masterful work of historical importance." —Booklist (starred review)
"At its best [Hunting the Truth] gives an exhilarating picture of amateurs assuming investigative duties in search of long-overdue justice." —Publishers Weekly
"With bravery and chutzpah, a husband and wife demonstrate that there’s no moral compromise with history." —Kirkus
“This inspiring memoir of persistence and staying true to one’s beliefs will remind all readers that although it may be slow, justice will triumph.” —Library Journal
"The Klarsfelds, by their assiduous research and documentation, helped in the identification and capture of Nazis and others responsible for those crimes . . . The Klarsfelds will be remembered for their emphasis on using the legal system to try the perpetrators of the Holocaust and to prevent their rehabilitation as honored citizens.” —American Thinker
MAY 2018 - AudioFile
This audiobook tells the story of an unlikely pair of Nazi hunters—a German woman who is married to a French Jew. The story is told in tag-team fashion, alternating between the perspectives of the wife and husband. Narrators Marisa Calin and Raphael Corkhill handle this approach effectively. Each partner’s sections are long enough to establish a narrative thread, and the narrators deliver the variety of European accents with accuracy. This is especially true when they read from personal letters. The story is constructed in chronological order, so listeners will come to understand the backgrounds and motivations of both partners. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-01-22
In a joint memoir, a pair of notable Nazi hunters review their half-century of disputing acceptance of mass murderers in decent society.The authors, husband and wife, tell their story by turns. Serge was hidden in a cupboard in the south of France as his father was taken by the Germans to be killed in Auschwitz. He was 8. Beate was a German Christian child living in the ruins of the Third Reich. They met as adults, and their reciprocal affection complemented their innate passion for justice. Aware of the importance of press coverage of the atrocities around them, they publicized the histories of the perpetrators who carried out the Nazi regime's killing of France's Jews. In one wonderful photo-op, Beate contrived to publicly slap the face of German Chancellor—and quondam Nazi—Kiesinger. They created commotions, brandished placards, held press conferences, broke windows, and traveled the world. In acts of civil disobedience, Beate chained herself at appropriate venues and arranged to get arrested in diverse jurisdictions; some courts, anxious to avoid publicity, were not ready to prosecute. Serge researched, produced irrefutable documentation, and provided exhaustive dossiers to reporters and prosecutors. He became a lawyer and, with his son, took part in many trials and legal proceedings, several of which were provoked by the Klarsfelds. They were active in the exposures of Klaus Barbie, "the Butcher of Lyon," and of Kurt Waldheim, the former secretary-general of the U.N. The Klarsfelds believed there were no closed cases. There were always more war criminals, anti-Semites, and Holocaust deniers in more places—more than enough for the independent anti-fascists to continue their lifelong mission despite bomb threats and attempted murder. Avenging the memories of the millions who lost their lives was, and remains, an important vocation. As their story unfolds, readers may note a faint, unavoidable touch of vainglory; never mind, what they have accomplished is worthy of high praise.With bravery and chutzpah, a husband and wife demonstrate that there's no moral compromise with history.
