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A Gift from the Enemy
A compelling story of WWII as seen through the eyes of an adventurous young boy during a period when his mother fears the Nazi hunt and is concerned about putting food on the table for her and her son.
Written from the perspective of a child of 7 to 11 years of age, this WWII memoir is unique in many ways. Growing up in Italy, away from his home in Vienna, the boy lives an adventurous life, unaware that the world is crumbling around him.
A review of A GIFT FROM THE ENEMY
The author of this endearing memoir is an 82-year-old retiree living in Florida. How he got there is an amazing tale. Born in Vienna as Erich Lifschütz, an upper middle class Jew with Polish roots, he left Austria with his parents in 1938, at the age of 8. As Jews, they were not permitted to take much money out of the country as they shuffled across France and came to settle in Italy, as the Nazis marched across borders. You would expect such an account to be filled with the horrors of war. But it is not.
Lamet is a natural storyteller. When he identifies himself as being al confino, he is referring to the system of enforced exile, or confinement of untrustworthy elements, which was put in place by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini after allying with Hitler. The author’s father made the fateful choice of returning to Poland to see family, leaving his wife and son on their own for the duration of the war. The author and his mother, whom he calls “Mutti,” are affectionate, yet she is as willful and worry-prone as he is active and adventure-prone.
Excerpt from a review by prof. Andrew Burstein of SLU
Written from the perspective of a child of 7 to 11 years of age, this WWII memoir is unique in many ways. Growing up in Italy, away from his home in Vienna, the boy lives an adventurous life, unaware that the world is crumbling around him.
A review of A GIFT FROM THE ENEMY
The author of this endearing memoir is an 82-year-old retiree living in Florida. How he got there is an amazing tale. Born in Vienna as Erich Lifschütz, an upper middle class Jew with Polish roots, he left Austria with his parents in 1938, at the age of 8. As Jews, they were not permitted to take much money out of the country as they shuffled across France and came to settle in Italy, as the Nazis marched across borders. You would expect such an account to be filled with the horrors of war. But it is not.
Lamet is a natural storyteller. When he identifies himself as being al confino, he is referring to the system of enforced exile, or confinement of untrustworthy elements, which was put in place by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini after allying with Hitler. The author’s father made the fateful choice of returning to Poland to see family, leaving his wife and son on their own for the duration of the war. The author and his mother, whom he calls “Mutti,” are affectionate, yet she is as willful and worry-prone as he is active and adventure-prone.
Excerpt from a review by prof. Andrew Burstein of SLU
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 30, 2007
32 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Enrico Lamet
8 books7 followersEnrico Lamet was born Erich Lifschutz on May 27, 1930, into an upper-middle-class Jewish family. Both his parents, born in Poland, moved to Vienna before the first Great War.
On March 18, 1938, five days after the Anschluss, when German troops had marched into Vienna, Lamet's family fled to Italy, where he spent most of the next twelve years. After World War II ended, Lamet settled in Naples with his family. He finished high school in that city and studied Engineering at the University of Naples.
In 1950 the family moved to the United States, where Lamet continued his engineering studies at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, near his family's home. Deciding that business would be more in keeping with his personality, he embarked on a business career. Over the years he became involved in a variety of enterprises until his eventual retirement as a CEO in 1992.
Fluent in German, Italian, English, Spanish, and Yiddish, Lamet served as an interpreter for the U.S. State Department and taught Italian for several years. Lamet has studied piano and voice and, to this day, enjoys performing Neapolitan songs.
Lamet has three children, two stepchildren, and seven granddaughters. They were the reason this book was written. He and his wife live in Pittsfield, Mass.
On March 18, 1938, five days after the Anschluss, when German troops had marched into Vienna, Lamet's family fled to Italy, where he spent most of the next twelve years. After World War II ended, Lamet settled in Naples with his family. He finished high school in that city and studied Engineering at the University of Naples.
In 1950 the family moved to the United States, where Lamet continued his engineering studies at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, near his family's home. Deciding that business would be more in keeping with his personality, he embarked on a business career. Over the years he became involved in a variety of enterprises until his eventual retirement as a CEO in 1992.
Fluent in German, Italian, English, Spanish, and Yiddish, Lamet served as an interpreter for the U.S. State Department and taught Italian for several years. Lamet has studied piano and voice and, to this day, enjoys performing Neapolitan songs.
Lamet has three children, two stepchildren, and seven granddaughters. They were the reason this book was written. He and his wife live in Pittsfield, Mass.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 23, 2016
An account of a young Jewish boy and his mom who flee Vienna Austria and find themselves in a small town in southern Italy. They are sent there by the Italian government, who has moved several unknown foreigners there. Erich and his mom live there for over four years. The author gives a funny, moving and poignant account of his life. I had never known that some refugees were saved by the Italian government, at a time when they were allied with Germany.
March 24, 2016
I recommend this book to anybody who wishes to acquire a fuller and more nuanced knowledge of the Nazi era in Europe from the mature perspective of a Jewish man who came of age despite it, survived and thrived eventually. The book is chock full of extraordinary detail, including Yiddish - there is a glossary at the back of the book, descriptions of food, living conditions in several contrasting places, family relationships, daily life in an impoverished backward Italian village, details of bombing raids, hunger, efforts to create connectedness with people, ideas. All in all the book is a story of Lamet's love for his mother. He survived primarily because of her strength and determination. She persevered and also made difficult, intuitive and intelligent choices at critical times that allowed the pair to continue living. Lamet's own sociability - he even befriended a Nazi soldier! - intelligence, and stability of character shine through. There is a large cast of real people brought to life by Lamet's skill in storytelling that draws on resource material from his memory, journals and a solid knowledge of his subjects. The meat of the story takes place in a backward mountainous village near Naples and Mount Vesuvius in Italy called Ospedaletto D'alpinolo. Were it not for the fact that the Kindle Edition I read had numerous typographical errors and the text seemed overall to need some trimming and tightening I would give this memoir a rousing five stars. At times the writing was poetic and beautiful: "The sun struggled through the narrow slits of the French shutters." Other times I was full of curiosity and unable to put the book down. But then there were passages I simply skimmed over that seemed superfluous, repetitive or detracting from the flow of the reader experience. Overall, I thank Mr. Lamet for taking the time to share his stories, sometimes revealing very personal and difficult information. What an effort! BRAVISSIMO!
September 30, 2014
This kindle edition needs a lot of editing. In several places an entire chapter or more was repeated and it was annoying scrolling through to find out, where I should really be at.
The story was very interesting with regards to all the horrors this young boy and his family endured during the war.The only criticisms, I have, are, that after the war the author glosses over part, if not most, of his adventures.It would have been nice to learn more details about his life in Italy right after the war.Also, the author talks about his first wife and their separation and divorce, then all of a sudden he has another child almost a year later. Much later in the book we assume he has a second wife, since he names a third child after his divorce and mentions his wife (obviously not his first), but never mentions her at all by name.I find this very strange.He goes into great detail, maybe too much, about his mother and step father's demise instead.
The story was very interesting with regards to all the horrors this young boy and his family endured during the war.The only criticisms, I have, are, that after the war the author glosses over part, if not most, of his adventures.It would have been nice to learn more details about his life in Italy right after the war.Also, the author talks about his first wife and their separation and divorce, then all of a sudden he has another child almost a year later. Much later in the book we assume he has a second wife, since he names a third child after his divorce and mentions his wife (obviously not his first), but never mentions her at all by name.I find this very strange.He goes into great detail, maybe too much, about his mother and step father's demise instead.
February 15, 2022
This is an extremely detailed accounting of Enrico Lamet's experiences during WWII. The book chronicles his life from a young boy well into his adulthood and after the war. After he and his mother are forced to leave his father at the onset of the war, Enrico and his mother move about from various places until they reach Ospedaletto, Italy. He spends a great deal of time here and makes friends and lasting memories. His mother is a driving force during this entire memoir. After being separated from his father for many years, his mother meets and falls in love with another man. Enrico learns to love this man as much as his own father. This book is extremely long and needs an editor in the worst way. Nonetheless, I learned about a different side of the war in this book. With an editor, I feel the book could have been narrowed down into less pages without losing the content. It's difficult to imagine anyone remembering this many details of his life.
July 9, 2022
Would've given a four star if the printed version that I got didn't have a lot of typo and repeated chapters. I'm also not a huge fan of reading books in serif fonts.
With that said, the book itself presents a very different angle to look at Nazi's influence on a civilian - a child, more specifically. On this part, this book might be fit to read also for some kids for them to appreciate the peaceful life we are having today. Like others have mentioned, I might be expecting accounts of pain and agony throughout the year of moving around and breaking up with people that you love, but it's also encouraging to see how bonds are being formed and how people thrive in the worst of time.
Also, at the same time, it would help to attach a translation of non-English in the book. It's not helpful at all to put them there if I don't speak them
With that said, the book itself presents a very different angle to look at Nazi's influence on a civilian - a child, more specifically. On this part, this book might be fit to read also for some kids for them to appreciate the peaceful life we are having today. Like others have mentioned, I might be expecting accounts of pain and agony throughout the year of moving around and breaking up with people that you love, but it's also encouraging to see how bonds are being formed and how people thrive in the worst of time.
Also, at the same time, it would help to attach a translation of non-English in the book. It's not helpful at all to put them there if I don't speak them
May 17, 2021
I will never cease to be amazed at the innumerable unique stories of lives during WWII. This man’s experience (as a boy) was unlike any other I have heard, and I was impressed with the level of detailed recall he had for certain people and events. The title is a bit of a misnomer due to the fact that the books spans far, far more than the war years. It is more of his biography of his mother, in a way, and spans the rest of her life. Although an interesting lady, the book could have ended shortly after the war, or with a more brief synopsis of this family’s lives post liberation.
November 2, 2014
This memoir spans 67 months, more than 2,000 days, starting from the ill-fated Sunday in March 1938 when Hitler’s troops invaded Austria and turned this Jewish family into nomads. Sixty-seven months of running, hiding, trying to stay alive and maintaining sanity is a compelling story, particularly as it is told through the voice and impressions of this young boy as he ages from 7 to 12. Scattered throughout the book are precious, vintage pictures of some of the people and places written about.
Eric and his parents flee the Nazis from their Vienna home in a suspenseful journey, leaving all they owned and knew behind. This little 7-year-old boy describes his heartbreak in leaving his teddy bear behind forever. They make it to Italy and the father separates to visit extended family in Poland. This trio does not reunite. The rest of this saga is about a mother and her son and their valiant life together. They run to France until it is no longer safe, and then back to Italy. When Mussolini joins Hitler, they become internees for the remainder of the war.
This poignant memoir highlights humor, and warm friendships, and love too among the internees — the confinati — in a very small, secluded Italian village. At the worst of wartime, you read of surprising triumphs of the human spirit. One little example is when the mother struggles to keep her growing son in clothes. He tells of his mother patiently taking apart a knitted sweater, scarf, gloves, and hats to re-knit the precious yarn into a larger sweater. He describes how this knitting project was a major topic of conversation with the internees, proof that any little diversion was creatively used to enliven and relieve the endless monotony of waiting for freedom from war.
They are able to smuggle a radio, and with friends they followed the battlefields on a map covered with pins. He speaks mischievously of his fascination with the BBC broadcast coded messages — “The monkey has gone home” or “The sheep has escaped from the barn.” –messages meant for the resistance fighters throughout German-occupied Europe inspired hope.
The internees lived in rooms and apartments among the remote village townspeople. They developed sympathies for these Italian families where most men had been drafted and sent to the front lines, many to Russia. When Italy surrenders to Americans, now the Italians and the internees find they are both enemies of the Germans. Other unique friendships also develop with this precocious young boy, including with an Italian army Lieutenant, and also with a Nazi officer who speaks longingly of his own 11-year-old son. And what was the gift from the enemy? I won’t spoil that sweet surprise for you.
Thereby hangs a tale . . . .
Eric and his parents flee the Nazis from their Vienna home in a suspenseful journey, leaving all they owned and knew behind. This little 7-year-old boy describes his heartbreak in leaving his teddy bear behind forever. They make it to Italy and the father separates to visit extended family in Poland. This trio does not reunite. The rest of this saga is about a mother and her son and their valiant life together. They run to France until it is no longer safe, and then back to Italy. When Mussolini joins Hitler, they become internees for the remainder of the war.
This poignant memoir highlights humor, and warm friendships, and love too among the internees — the confinati — in a very small, secluded Italian village. At the worst of wartime, you read of surprising triumphs of the human spirit. One little example is when the mother struggles to keep her growing son in clothes. He tells of his mother patiently taking apart a knitted sweater, scarf, gloves, and hats to re-knit the precious yarn into a larger sweater. He describes how this knitting project was a major topic of conversation with the internees, proof that any little diversion was creatively used to enliven and relieve the endless monotony of waiting for freedom from war.
They are able to smuggle a radio, and with friends they followed the battlefields on a map covered with pins. He speaks mischievously of his fascination with the BBC broadcast coded messages — “The monkey has gone home” or “The sheep has escaped from the barn.” –messages meant for the resistance fighters throughout German-occupied Europe inspired hope.
The internees lived in rooms and apartments among the remote village townspeople. They developed sympathies for these Italian families where most men had been drafted and sent to the front lines, many to Russia. When Italy surrenders to Americans, now the Italians and the internees find they are both enemies of the Germans. Other unique friendships also develop with this precocious young boy, including with an Italian army Lieutenant, and also with a Nazi officer who speaks longingly of his own 11-year-old son. And what was the gift from the enemy? I won’t spoil that sweet surprise for you.
Thereby hangs a tale . . . .
August 9, 2015
This is the story of Erich, a Viennese Jewish boy who leaves with his parents when Hitler takes over Austria. They travel to Italy, where his father decided to go back to Poland, where his parents are currently living. So Enrico, as he has become goes from town to town along with his "Mutti" who has to scrape to keep them fed and housed. This is a delightful young man as we follow them during the war, as they try to escape the Germans. His mother meets a new man because his fathers has never returned and things look up for them after that. He comes to love this man who eventually marries his mother. His escapades range from exploring ruins to befriending a unit of German soldiers, mush to his mother's horror, and what happens when the Americans finally come. In need of some editing, but overall a good read.
January 18, 2019
Bel libro su una storia "semplice" di un ragazzo condannato al confino con la mamma perché ebreo. Dai fasti di Vienna alla solitudine di Ospedaletto (Avellino) quante cose sono cambiate per il piccolo Enrico.
Una storia vera raccontata dall'Enrico ormai in età avanzata che scava nella memoria e ricostruisce molto bene un quadro della vita in un paesotto di montagna durante la guerra. Descrizioni precise ma non pedanti, il libro scorre via e riesce ad appassionare coinvolgendo il lettore in questa odissea personale.
Il libro è diviso essenzialmente in tre parti, di cui le prime due vicine: si parte da Vienna, letteralmente, e si affronta un lungo viaggio che porterà i protagonisti in provincia di Avellino. La seconda parte, quella principale, narra della loro permanenza ad Ospedaletto; la terza percorre più rapidamente gli anni/decenni seguenti.
Bello davvero
Una storia vera raccontata dall'Enrico ormai in età avanzata che scava nella memoria e ricostruisce molto bene un quadro della vita in un paesotto di montagna durante la guerra. Descrizioni precise ma non pedanti, il libro scorre via e riesce ad appassionare coinvolgendo il lettore in questa odissea personale.
Il libro è diviso essenzialmente in tre parti, di cui le prime due vicine: si parte da Vienna, letteralmente, e si affronta un lungo viaggio che porterà i protagonisti in provincia di Avellino. La seconda parte, quella principale, narra della loro permanenza ad Ospedaletto; la terza percorre più rapidamente gli anni/decenni seguenti.
Bello davvero
August 24, 2015
this is a wonderful reminiscence of the travails of a Jewish woman and her son in Italy during the Fascist era written by her son and their travels ending finally in America and Mexico. It is extremely moving, enlightening and often funny. It is spoiled somewhat by the poor proof reading. It might also have been better as 2 volumes, finishing with the end of the was and thence moving on to their peacetime lives.
June 30, 2016
Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. I learned so much about European history that I only had a vague sense of before. When the author describes Mussolini and his actions, my first thought was, Lordy, he acts and sounds just like Trump. I highly recommend this book. It is very well written and makes one want more.
March 25, 2014
Harsh reality
Harsh reality
The author gives much detail on the harsh reality of life during and after Hitler's reign. He also shares the simple joys of being alive with hope for the future.
Harsh reality
The author gives much detail on the harsh reality of life during and after Hitler's reign. He also shares the simple joys of being alive with hope for the future.
March 2, 2015
Incredibly moving and gripping
Who thinks being interned in a primitive (compared to his life before) village could save a boy's life? This is his story and what an AMAZING one it is!
Who thinks being interned in a primitive (compared to his life before) village could save a boy's life? This is his story and what an AMAZING one it is!
April 23, 2014
A truly wonderful account of very dangerous and stressful times
To be able to keep in contact over the years and relive those moments is truly fantastic and extremely enjoyable
To be able to keep in contact over the years and relive those moments is truly fantastic and extremely enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews