Hidden Inheritance
Contents:
But at Viktor's home, they were equally out of place. The vitrine and its homely curiosities — netsuke were originally designed as toggles — were banished to her dressing room, where, in due course, her children would play with them while she chose her jewellery.
Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory, and Faith Paperback – October 6, Heidi Neumark’s life changed forever when her daughter’s late-night online searching exposed a generation of family secrets. From a few computer keystrokes, Neumark discovered her hidden Jewish. Review by Philip K. Jason. Heidi B. Neumark is a Lutheran pastor, community activist, and author who has served congregations in the Bronx and in Manhattan .
And there they stayed, a cuckoo in the nest, as the first world war began, and ended, and then, as Austria, unable to feed its people, allowed antisemitism to take hold. In March , the Ephrussi home was invaded by men in swastika armbands. Some things were stolen, others destroyed, but the netsuke remained mysteriously intact. After the Anschluss, the family fled.
Emmy took her own life in the Ephrussi country house in Czechoslovakia. Viktor and his children escaped elsewhere: After the war, she travelled to Vienna to discover what remained of the family's possessions.
Not much was the answer, but a maid, Anna, saved the netsuke from the Nazis, hiding them in her mattress. In , Elisabeth's brother, Ignace Iggie , visited Tunbridge Wells between postings for an international grain exporter.
Should he go to the Congo or to Japan? They looked at the netsuke together and his decision was made for him. And it was in Japan, in , that de Waal first set eyes on his future inheritance, now repatriated by Iggie.
Family Secrets, Memory, and Faith
The young potter was studying in Japan and every week he lunched with his great uncle. Afterwards, they examined the netsuke, one by one. The hare with the amber eyes. A tumble of tortoises. De Waal has researched his story with obsessive diligence and he tells it with an imaginative commitment — searching, yet wide-eyed — sadly lacking in some of our more wizened biographers.
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance | Book review | Books | The Guardian
He is wonderful on place, forever turning doorknobs, real and imaginary, and inviting the reader in. But I could not understand, and became annoyed by, his conviction that he is not in the business of memorialising the diaspora. There is something precious about this, as though such territory is beneath him.
Their survival is wondrous, but I don't think their presence turns The Hare With Amber Eyes from memoir into book of ideas, as de Waal seems to believe.
Sometimes, they are more distraction than narrative thread and the need to return to them often bogs the author down; there are, after all, only so many ways to describe the feel of carved wood and only so many times such an image can be made to work as a symbol of patinated memory without the reader feeling that a point is being laboured. I loved the story of the Ephrussis, but I am mystified by de Waal's insistence on gilding it with his own flimsy abstractions.
There is no shame in telling people what happened to Jewish families in the last century. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Shortly after starting this book, I found myself looking at a painting hanging in my home. It is of a church in Finland that I was told my Great-Grandfather John served as an altar boy before the 20th century. I understood her confusion and questioning all that she supposedly KNEW about her family.
The author writes in a straightforward manner that I appreciated. There is a lot to digest in her story and I had to read small chunks and take time to think about it. I appreciate Rev Neumark's sharing her story to the world. What is happening in the world today brings to mind what happened in the 30's and how the world reacted then. I guess if we don't learn from the past we will be forced to re-live it again.
This is the touching story of a Lutheran pastor raised to believe she was Christian finding herself surprised when her daughter accidentally found the family had Jewish origins going back centuries. The author researches her Jewish roots, visits the places in Germany that her father's family had lived and the death camp where many relatives were murdered, and begins to make peace with her past.
She weaves her Christian beliefs through the narrative and her stories of ministry in an inner-city church in NYC. Well written and well researched, it is a fascinating and often haunting account of one person's attempt to reconnect with her family history. One person found this helpful 2 people found this helpful. For God's sake, get this book now! Heidi Neumark is a Lutheran Pastor, writer and theologian, as well as a social services provider to the poor, dispossessed and queer. She discovers unexpectedly via her daughter's on-line research that she is Jewish and that her Neumark family was decimated in the Shoah.
It causes her to reflect on her career as a Pastor and her relationship to the Sacraments of Baptism and The Eucharist. In a narrative that is breathtaking and seductive, one simply cannot put the book down.
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She raises profound issues for believers and non-believers and the relationship of Jews and Christians today as to where life's meaning is to be found. The book is the result of years of painstaking, meticulous and agonizing research and travel. It is not a long book, but it is all consuming in its passion and pathos. The book rambles at times, and the author tries to reconcile her Christian faith with these facts of her family's history which can be a bit tiresome, but, overall, this is an interesting tale of respect, honoring a legacy, and uncovering and facing the horrors of the past.
One person found this helpful.
My Hidden Inheritance by Heidi Neumark
A Fabulous interesting True story about a Lutheran Pastor and the family secrets which have been hidden from her for so long. An innocent tap of the computer keyboard on the part of Neumark's daughter opens up a family history completely unknown to her, and one she must delve into ,in order to learn more about herself and those family members who walked before her. Many questions are asked by Neumark , and many queries are probed into.
Readers have the opportunity to share in this valuable exp Excellent reflection on an unexpected discovery of ancestry and understanding. S I totally enjoyed this book or should I say as an educational read. I guess if we don't learn from the past we will be forced to re-live it again. The author's reflections on how Christianity relates to Judaism are thoughtful and insightful. I totally enjoyed this book or should I say as an educational read.
The route taken by this woman is one we will share with her as she embarks on a physical and deeply emotional trip. The chapters flow smoothly and the journey yields discoveries about those family members whose lives were lived in a very difficult and dissimilar epoch than the one in which Heidi Neumark exists.
A most enjoyable book. This is an astonishing work: A Lutheran pastor in her 50s learns that her father was Jewish - and her grandfather murdered, along with many other of her German relatives, in Nazi concentration camps. She follows the trail back to stories of horror, and courage, of which she was totally unaware. Hidden Inheritance is a gripping page-turner, terrible and wonderful to read.
I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was very interesting to follow Rev. Neumark through the rediscovery of her family.
She was very lucky to still be able to find individuals that could give her so much information about her family even during the rise of Hitler and the 2nd World War. I did find her theological outlook on some of her familial discoveries confusing. A quick read and an interesting story. Learning what happened to the author's grandparents makes the Shoah Holocaust a more personal event. The author's reflections on how Christianity relates to Judaism are thoughtful and insightful.
Especially when they are tied to her own circumstance as a Lutheran pastor discovering her Jewish heritage. See all 63 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Vine Customer Review of Free Product.
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