Healing Wound : Experiences and Reflections, Germany, 1938-2001

Ben Rogers

Sereny's strength—and...her importance—is that she will go where angels, and the rest of us, fear to tread. —The Independent [London]

Harper's

Getting things straight is the genius of this book.

Washington Post

[Sereny] ranks among the most accomplished writers of our age...a fearless explorer of one of history's darkest chapters.

Publishers Weekly

A Vienna-born WWII refugee, Sereny has spent more than two decades examining the lingering effects of Nazism and the Holocaust. After a few essays describing her own experiences during the war (and after, when she worked in the displaced persons camps set up by the Allies), Sereny ruminates with curiosity, insight and clarity on wide-ranging, controversial topics: how individuals like Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl and former Austrian chancellor Kurt Waldheim (both of whom she interviewed) have dealt psychologically with the Holocaust; the Israeli trial of alleged Nazi John Demjanjuk; varying perspectives and experiences of the children of Nazis, including "Hitler's favourite godson," a teacher who travels to various schools speaking about the Holocaust's horrors. What distinguishes the writings is Sereny's ability to humanize her subjects without exonerating them. A piece on Franz Stangl, the former commander of Treblinka who was serving a life sentence in a West German prison when Sereny interviewed him chillingly conveys Stangl's reflections on his wartime years. Stangl's intelligence is evident, at the same time that holes are revealed in his claims of having had no choices during the war. In the face of her calm, unrelenting questions, he struggles between admitting and denying responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of Jews gassed under his command. Sereny's ability to probe behind the headlines, both in her interview questions and her prose, makes for an astonishing, subtle study of many Holocaust perpetrators and participants. 32 photos. (Oct.) Forecast: This book presents an overview of a long and highly respected career. It will be widely reviewed, and with Sereny touringNew York, Boston and Washington, D.C., it should get considerable press coverage and achieve broad sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Reminiscent of the thoughtful writings of Elie Wiesel and Viktor Frankl, these essays by Austrian-born Sereny (Into That Darkness) read at times like short stories connected by the author's quest to comprehend the phenomenon that was German National Socialism. Sereny was a member of the French resistance during World War II, and when she tells a story whether her own or that of one of the many historical figures she has interviewed the work is compelling and thought-provoking. When she philosophizes, however, as she does in one long section on the effect of Nazism on German youth, the work stalls. The writing would have benefited from simplification; many of the sentences are long and complex and are fractured by a profusion of dashes and commas, which endangers their clarity. Still, Sereny writes with insight, passion, and understanding of Hitler's servants and their lingering impact on Germany today. Highly recommended for academic libraries. Michael F. Russo, Louisiana State Univ. Libs., Baton Rouge Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A witness to German cruelty makes the case that Germans are adequately confronting their past. "Germany, always vulnerable to charges of xenophobia, has been forced by history to be Europe's most open society," writes journalist Sereny (Cries Unheard, 1999, etc.). This is as much a synopsis of her earlier works on various Nazis as a chronicle of growing up during WWII, and here, the author argues that Germany's character has been forever changed-in some sense for the better-by the terrors of Hitler's regime. Having written about Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka, and Albert Speer, Hitler's minister of armaments and war production, Austria-born Sereny has come into contact with Germans of all stripes, from random teenagers to Leni Riefenstahl, the great documentary filmmaker. She's discovered that both the young and old are grappling with the Holocaust and Germany's role in the war, the former out of curiosity, the latter out of a sense of duty. But both groups also complain that the middle-aged have chosen to repress their nation's history. This silence, and the critics' reactions to it, constitutes the wound that is healing Germany by being a cause for debate. Between that silence and those who would speak openly about the past lies a string of other concerns. Sereny tells of her experiences tracking down babies kidnapped from territories conquered by Germans, for example, using those experiences to show how ordinary folks fooled themselves into thinking nothing was wrong with raising and loving stolen children. Sereny never abstracts the issue of memory and the horrors of war. Her stories are always personal: the Nazi official who can't admit to knowing about the Final Solution,despite his superhuman grasp of government affairs; the member of the French resistance who insists Sereny have a bath before leaving France; the regular German soldiers who gladly share their meal with her as she crosses the Pyrennes. A surprisingly novel addition to a crowded field of scholarship.