The Allies bombing of the city of Dresden on mid-February 1945 saved the life of Henny Brenner (born Wolf) and to many other Jews who were ready to take the road to concentration camps. Henny, the mother of Munich-based historian Michael Brenner (his father is also a Shoa survivor) shared her story of survival during those terrible years with a journalistic detachement.
People, situations and political circumstances are displayed in a slow moving cinematic chain of events. It is a relatively short book, but informative enough to request at least two additional readings. One, about the situation of Jews married with non-Jews and the other regarding the anti-Semitism in the ex-GDR.
Henny was the only child of a family with a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. This situation delayed at a certain extent the moment of the deportation to the concentration camp, although the family properties were seized and she and her mother were obligated to do forced arbeit for ZESS Jena factory. Although mistakenly taken as an example of the pure 'Aryan race' by a teacher, she was expelled from school and suffered under the absurd anti-Semitic measures directed against Jews: among others, the interdiction of using the public transportation, to get a normal hair cut, to go to cultural events, to use the services of a non-Jewish doctor. However, her book also includes testimonies on the Jewish (reform) religious life in Dresden.
Henny and her mother lives' were saved by the Allies bombings, but what followed after the war was over in the so-called Nazi-free Germany was not pleasant either. Following the patterns of the set-up trials against Jews members of the communist establishment, the GDR leaders followed and put into prison representatives of the local community. Adviced by the wise - probably the only after the war until today - leader of the Berlin Jews, Heinz Galinski, Henny and her family will escape to Berlin, before the Wall and from here, she will further move to Bavaria after marrying Hermann Brenner.
Henny Brenner book about her experiences as a young Jew in Dresden adds on to the literature about those times. It shares some new and detailed information about those times and outlines the horrors of facing on a daily basis racism and discrimination. Another dramatic testimony of a disturbing and haunting human experience.
Rating: 4 stars
1 comment:
When I was a teacher at the Dresden International School, in 2007, Henny Brenner came and talked to the high school history classes about her experiences living in Dresden during the war years. She was captivating and inspiring. She answered all of the questions posed to her by our students. She mentioned at that time her book was nearly complete for publication. In these difficult times, I wish her the best.
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