Title : The Streets of Yesterday - Silvia Tennenbaum - Book
Summary :
Moritz Wertheim runs a prosperous textile business that he will soon pass on to his sons, and in particular to Eduard, the youngest of the siblings, who has just returned from the United States. The Wertheims begin this promising 20th century with serenity alongside their fellow citizens. They are a perfectly assimilated Jewish family who participate in German economic life, celebrate Christmas, and are ready to do anything to defend the Empire, like Eduard, who enlists in the army when the Great War is declared. But with the ensuing defeat and the crisis spreading throughout the country, tension is now palpable in the streets of Frankfurt. The first anti-Jewish laws are passed, and the rise of anti-Semitism forces some members of the Wertheim family to leave. Eduard goes to Switzerland, his brother Jacob to the Netherlands, and their nephews and nieces to the United States or even Palestine. Then World War II broke out, leading several family members to their deaths, leaving the survivors devastated by the discovery of what their country had done to their loved ones. By multiplying the perspectives and sensibilities of these fabulous characters who populate her family saga, Silvia Tennenbaum accurately depicts the complexity of the history of the German Jewish bourgeoisie. Its particular relationship to religion and patriotism, but also its role in the great ideologies of the time: nationalism, communism, and Zionism. The author takes us through these lives, which compose a moving fresco of the first half of the 20th century.
- EAN: 9782070145720
- Used book
- Book in good condition
- The book matches the photo