Forty years later, Leberts son Stephanalso a journalisttracked down these same men and women to find out what had become of them, how they remembered their fathers, and what effect the names they carried had on the paths they took. Leberts account of his conversations, juxtaposed with his fathers postwar interviews, gives us an extraordinary and unflinching look at how these individuals have coped with a horrifying heritage.
The stories that emerge are fascinating, surprising, and often disturbing: The young man who refuses military service and is granted conscientious objector status on the grounds that his father is imprisoned by the stateas a Nazi war criminal. The boy who begins his education learning the principles of fascism, finishes it at a Catholic boarding school, and later becomes a priest and a missionary to Africa. The woman who was systematically refused work because she wouldnt use an alias, but who now lives in the suburbs under her husbands name, keeping secret contacts with other nostalgic Nazis. The journalist who writes a scathing magazine article reviling the father responsible for two million deaths, and is greeted with a barrage of letters from outraged Germanswhatever your father may have done, the letters argue, fathers must always be honored.
My Father's Keeper is a remarkable and illuminating addition to our knowledge of the Nazi past and of how this past continues to haunt the present. And it offers a chilling perspective on the way children live with their parents legacy.
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Forty years later, Leberts son Stephanalso a journalisttracked down these same men and women to find out what had become of them, how they remembered their fathers, and what effect the names they carried had on the paths they took. Leberts account of his conversations, juxtaposed with his fathers postwar interviews, gives us an extraordinary and unflinching look at how these individuals have coped with a horrifying heritage.
The stories that emerge are fascinating, surprising, and often disturbing: The young man who refuses military service and is granted conscientious objector status on the grounds that his father is imprisoned by the stateas a Nazi war criminal. The boy who begins his education learning the principles of fascism, finishes it at a Catholic boarding school, and later becomes a priest and a missionary to Africa. The woman who was systematically refused work because she wouldnt use an alias, but who now lives in the suburbs under her husbands name, keeping secret contacts with other nostalgic Nazis. The journalist who writes a scathing magazine article reviling the father responsible for two million deaths, and is greeted with a barrage of letters from outraged Germanswhatever your father may have done, the letters argue, fathers must always be honored.
My Father's Keeper is a remarkable and illuminating addition to our knowledge of the Nazi past and of how this past continues to haunt the present. And it offers a chilling perspective on the way children live with their parents legacy.
Imprint | Little, Brown |
Country of origin | United States |
Release date | September 2002 |
Availability | Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days |
First published | September 2002 |
Authors | Stephan Lebert, Norbert Lebert |
Translators | Julian Evans |
Dimensions | 216 x 140 x 16mm (L x W x T) |
Format | Paperback - Trade |
Pages | 243 |
ISBN-13 | 978-0-316-08975-3 |
Barcode | 9780316089753 |
Categories | |
LSN | 0-316-08975-3 |