One of my favorite things to do is to wander the aisles of a library and select whatever books speak to me that day. Each library visit tends to end with me walking out with a large stack of books.
Although I get most of my news online, I don’t like reading books on a device since I spend way too much time staring at screens during the day so reading a hard copy book is a break from that.
During a recent trip to the library, one of the books that caught my attention was “The Passenger.” On the inside flap, it read: “Hailed as a remarkable literary rediscovery, a novel of heart-stopping intensity and harrowing absurdity about flight and persecution in 1930s Germany.”
Reading further, I learned that the author, 23-year-old Ulrich Boschwitz, wrote the book in four weeks immediately after the Kristallnacht pogroms, which were Nov. 9-10, 1938. Although it was originally published in English in 1939, the original manuscript was discovered in the German archives in 2015 and published again in 2021 and translated to almost 20 other languages.
I found that information intriguing and added it to my stack and I finished it last week.
The novel follows a German-Jewish business owner as he navigates the darkening reality of Nazi Germany. He overhears snide remarks from his fellow citizens, his former business partners begin avoiding him, and he feels unsettled as he tries to figure out what his next steps will be - and who he can trust - after escaping an intrusion at his home. The Jewish Book Council described the book as “an intimate portrait of Jewish life in prewar Nazi Germany at the onset of dehumanization, before the yellow star was imposed.”
After the war started, the author was deported to Australia and when he was on his way back to England in 1942, his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine and, at age 27, he was killed with the 361 other passengers.
And now, 82 years later, I found his book at a Phoenix library. This book that was forgotten for nearly 80 years made it to the UK bestseller list in 2021.
The message of his book is so important - and eerily relevant all these years later.
It’s chilling to read this perception of life in Germany right before the Holocaust because we know what happened next. We know what the dehumanization of a group of people and the propaganda and hatred that comes along with that can lead to. The author had no idea what would become of this propaganda and hatred, but ultimately would be a victim of it.
Perhaps his work will serve as a warning sign to others that this hatred can be fatal to a society and its people. Maybe his documentation of that period of history can still make a difference in our world.
“The Passenger” was the last book I read from my last library visit and this week I read a book from my most recent visit, “The Little Liar” by Mitch Albom, one of my favorite authors. His books include “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”
I didn’t intend to read another book related to the Holocaust - I just saw his book on the shelf and added it to my pile because I hadn’t read it yet.
His book starts in 1943, so it’s set five years after “The Passenger.” It was chilling to read the books right after each other. In the first book, you learn about the hatred brewing and the propaganda just getting started and in the second book, you learn about the aftermath of that hatred and how it can lead to brutality and devastation. The book focuses on the journey of four people - two brothers, a girl from their town - Salonika, Greece - and a Nazi, told by Truth as the narrator. According to the author’s notes, written in July 2023, the stories in the book are based on firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and historians.
“The Little Liar” was published in November 2023 - 85 years after Kristallnacht, 85 years after “The Passenger” was written. And now here we are at this moment in time - nearly 80 years after the end of the Holocaust and there’s so much hatred and propaganda being shared online and on college campuses. Haven’t we learned anything from history?
Today there’s so much emphasis placed on “going viral,” and it may feel discouraging if you feel like your work isn’t making the impact that you had hoped it would make. But sometimes things take time and if you are creating heartfelt, quality work, don’t hesitate to put it out. You never know what kind of impact it may have on someone - or when it will make that impact. - but the world needs more creativity and beauty - and documentation of our lives today so future generations can connect to their past.
So please don’t hesitate to share your own work with the world and whether you’re a songwriter or an artist or however you express yourself - document your time here on earth through your work. You never know who may learn from it in the future.
This week’s song
This week’s song is dedicated to those keyboard warriors who lash out at others on social media. Who bravely speak their mind to random people they don’t know without any regard to how they may make that person feel or whether or not the information they post is accurate. Through their keyboard, they say whatever comes to their mind - things they would never say to people’s faces. Or at least that was what I envisioned in 2015 when I wrote the song. These days, they may actually say it to people’s faces as well.
The song is called “Thumbs Down Mentality,” inspired by the thumbs down emoji on YouTube, and is a live guitar and vocal recording from 2015.
Thumbs Down Mentality
Everyone’s a critic, a thumbs-down mentality
Can’t keep it to themselves, they need the whole world to see
You’re king of your keyboard, you’re ruler of your room
A tyrant typing madly spreading anonymous doomWhy do we have to be this way?
Why can’t we think of something nice to say?So much whining and complaining about trivial troubles
Ignoring pandemonium unleashed outside their bubbles
Every thought you think of does not need to be expressed
Trampling on good intentions with no one to clean the messWhy do we have to be this way?
Why can’t we think of something nice to say?I’m not saying I’m not guilty, I’m not claiming to be right
I’m just sick of the viciousness on my screen each night
I believe we could do better or maybe I’m naive
But don’t you want to improve the world at least once before you leave?You’re king of your keyboard, you’re ruler of your room
A tyrant typing madly spreading anonymous doom
Has civility been forgotten? Has empathy lost its voice?
Next time you choose to share your views, remember you have a choice.Why do we have to be this way?
© Leisah Woldoff
Lessons from the Past: Document your time here