Anton the Dove Fancier: and Other Tales of the Holocaust

by Bernard Gotfryd

Extraordinary true stories of the author's teenaged years in Nazi-occupied Poland. Recipient of the 1991 PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation for Nonfiction; Winner of a Christopher Award This collection of extraordinary true stories―including nine stories new to this expanded edition― illuminates the experiences of a young Polish boy before World War II, through the gathering storm of Nazism, into the death camps, to poignant reunions many years later. Here we watch young Bernard break curfew to secure a rare chicken for the High Holidays―only to see it given to the Christian janitor because it is not kosher; we meet Alexandra, a Polish resistance fighter who enlists the teenaged Bernard in the cause but who perishes while he survives; and we share Bernard's fear as he spends one very uncomfortable night―hours after his liberation―in the seemingly sympathetic home of the parents of a young SS officer.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, World War II

248 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1990

Reviews

[Carly Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are written simply, and all have a very clear clincher at the end. The first few stories are from Gotfryd's time before the camps and even before the war, but there was still a sense of foreboding layered in innocent stories. What I think makes these tales of the Holocaust different from others is the fact that they are simple.
Sometimes we read stories of heroism or of great struggle all written equally dramatic, but these are so casually written that I feel a bit sad for Gotfryd - a Holocaust survivor, writing about the death of so many friends as if it was commonplace and a regular occurrence. I understand that it was commonplace during this time, but I think the casual, simplistic writing style enhances the melancholia of the stories.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories about the author’s childhood as a Jew in Poland before World War II, his experiences in concentration camps and his contacts throughout the rest of his life with those he had known as a child or in the camps. The stories are simply told - with very little emotion. Yet, they are powerful.

[Emma Glacier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bernard is an amazing guy. Many years ago I wrote to him and he wrote back and invited me to his house to stay. He sent a card of a photograph he had taken of a very bleak snowy wood.
He captured sadness. So sorry for him. Never forgotten this book best holocaust memiour.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A raw and moving collection of true stories set during the Holocaust.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historie nadają się na film. Przejmujące!

[Margaret Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and the small stories within the larger...

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of true short stories was written by a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust, made his way to the U.S. and became a photojournalist for Newsweek Magazine. Most of the stories recount his experiences as a young boy growing up in a small town outside Warsaw prior to the outbreak of WWII and continue through the Nazi occupation, his arrest and deportation to the Camps and his time as a prisoner until he was liberated in May 1945. Additional stories tell of his attempts to reunite with surviving family and friends in post-war Europe and his chance encounters with other survivors here in the U.S.

This is a warm and poignant book. It does not dwell on the atrocities, but rather it focuses on emotions and relationships. It tells stories of unlikely heroes and small-minded bigots, of love and hate, of hope and of despair, and most of all of everyday people thrown into an unimaginable nightmare. The author puts you there with great effectiveness,

While the stories of life in the camps are particularly heartbreaking, I was also struck by the stories that recounted his attempts to find his family after the end of the war. One can only imagine the struggle and range of emotions experienced by thousands of people desperately trying to reunite with family in a chaotic world surrounded by devastation.

And finally, there are stories of survivors who cannot or will not remember, of family in America who don't have a clue as to what their recently-arrived cousin from Poland went through and how he must be feeling, and of the people of Poland and Germany who refused to believe that "such things" we're going on.

This book is a wonderful addition to the body of Holocaust literature.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful. Rather focusing on graphic details of the holocaust he provides vignettes of people he meets. Their fates are disclosed at the end of chapters. Getting to know the personalities of various people make the Holocaust even more distressing. Okay, that was not the best description. I can't find the right words. Reading about the tortures and murders is horrible but Bernard Gotfryd lets us into these lives and it pulls on the heart. You feel like your own friend has suffered. There are also vignettes of some wonderful people who did what they could to protect the Jews and other ethnic groups.

I would definitely recommend this book

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so poignantly tender and beautifully written that I didn't put it down until I had finished it. The next day I read out of it to my husband when we had a long drive. He kept wanting me to read more. The writer brilliantly puts you "there", back in Germany/Poland during World War II. I didn't realize how many kind Nazis there were who were secretly trying to help the Jews. The chapters were different short stories from the author's memory of different things that happened to him. It was so so good. A must read. Warning: I cried and cried thinking about the book for days after reading it. I am very sensitive when it comes to people suffering.

[Lori Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only I had read this in Sunday School instead of seeing repellent, morbid films, I would be a different person today. Heartwarming stories about a horrific childhood by eyes that saw the real thing. The author was among the 200 Polish Jews who lived to tell. His telling is extraordinary and engaging.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost gave this 4 stars only because it is so sad. But I gave it 5.

And on a side note, my teacher is friends with Mr. Gotfryd. She has pictures of him in her classroom and we sent him emails and a Christmas gift. He called her the other day and she played the voice mail for us and it was so sweet!