Noble is Man - Kate Mendels & Leopold Herzberg

Noble is Man - Kate Mendels & Leopold HerzbergBeginning her story in 1886, Kate Mendels paints vivid and detailed pictures of family life in small Westphalian German Jewish communities. She shows how the positive contributions of Jews to all aspects of life in Germany, their military service in the dread years of World War I and the short lived period of full citizenship in the Weimar Republic at first led many to deny that Nazi rule irrevocably doomed their freedoms. Emigration was challenge

Beginning her story in 1886, Kate Mendels paints vivid and detailed pictures of family life in small Westphalian German Jewish communities. She shows how the positive contributions of Jews to all aspects of life in Germany, their military service in the dread years of World War I and the short-lived period of full citizenship in the Weimar Republic at first led many to deny that Nazi rule irrevocably doomed their freedoms.

Emigration was challenge enough for the young and single but for a family of three generations, migrating was far more difficult. Among the great problems would be the wrench of leaving family, friends and familiar surroundings, lisposing of home and business and resettling in a country with an unfamiliar culture and different language.

In 1941, just two years after arrival in Sydney, Leopold Herzberg records graphic descriptions of Kristallnacht and his incarceration in Buchenwald concentration camp. He tells of the degrading and inhuman conditions in such camps already before the war, even before the adoption of the Final Solution by the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. After his release, Leopold and Kate, with mother, spouses and children, escape Europe to a new life in a new land.

Ursula Cher, daughter of Leopold and niece of Kate, edits their manuscripts and combines them into an engrossing record for today and for future generations. The personal accounts of the authors are enhanced by historical background, footnotes, illustrations, appendices and glossary, providing a wider context for this unique book.

Machor Publishing, paperback