La robe de Hannah: Berlin 1904 ?2014

by Pascale Hugues, Daniel Mirsky (Translator)

Hannah's Dress tells the dizzying story of Berlin's modern history. Curious to learn more about the city she has lived in for over twenty years, journalist Pascale Hugues investigates the lives of the men, women and children who have occupied her ordinary street during the course of the last century. We see the street being built in 1904 and the arrival of the first families of businessmen, lawyers and bankers. We feel the humiliation of defeat in 1918, the effects of economic crisis, and the rise of Hitler's Nazi party. We tremble alongside the Jewish families, whose experience is so movingly captured in the story of two friends, Hannah and Susanne. When only Hannah is able to escape the horrors of deportation, the dress made for her by Susanne becomes a powerful reminder of all that was lost.

In 1945 the street is all but destroyed; the handful of residents left want to forget the past altogether and start afresh. When the Berlin Wall goes up, the street becomes part of West Berlin and assumes a rather suburban identity, a home for all kinds of petite bourgeoisie, insulated from the radical spirit of 1968. However, this quickly changes in the 1970s with the arrival of its most famous resident, superstar David Bowie. Today, the street is as tranquil and prosperous as in the early days, belying a century of eventful, tumultuous history.

This engrossing account of a single street, awarded the prestigious 2014 European Book Prize, sheds new light on the complex history not only of Berlin but of an entire continent across the twentieth century.

Genres: Germany, Nonfiction, History, Biography, German Literature

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When author Pascale Hugues moved to Berlin, she had the inspired idea to write the biography of her street. It is unassuming; her apartment in a renovated older building. There is an underground stop, a church, a small, scruffy square, a little alley linking the street to a major road and a pizza shop. Berlin, like so many other cities in Europe, bear the scars of war. The modern and the old live side by side, with new buildings replaced those that were bombed.

This is the story, then, of a street from 1904 – 2014. Of course, you can take any street, virtually anywhere, and unearth a thousand stories and characters. The central theme of this novel is the way that Germany is still coming to terms with its wartime past. Over 100 Jewish inhabitants of Pascale’s street were deported in the war and the title of the book comes from Hannah Kroner-Segal, whose childhood friend, Susanne Wachsner, made her an evening dress to wear on the voyage to the United States in 1939, when she fled Berlin with her parents.

It is obvious that there are still scars present in Berlin which are not only linked to buildings, but also to people. Hugues reports that there was uproar in her building over a commemorative plaque for the thirteen Jewish residents deported. Many of these tales are heart breaking indeed. There is Mr and Mrs Kutschera, whose children, Ger and Karin, died in Poland. Painful returns; such as a visit by John Ron, who revisited the street in 1957 after having fled nineteen years before and others who made new lives elsewhere.

This is not just about the war though and it is fascinating to read about a little corner of the world in the beginning of a century. Of a street born in 1904, whose most famous resident was David Bowie, who lived in Berlin from 1976 to 1978 (there is not much beyond a mention of Bowie, if you are considering reading the book because of that). Rather than the famous though, this is the story of normal lives; particularly those whose everyday existence was torn apart by the turbulent times in which they lived.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hugues uses contemporary methodologies of oral and micro-history to think about the history of C20th Germany via a single small street in Berlin. Her focus is narrow and deep but, almost inevitably, becomes unbalanced with most of the material coming from the Nazi era. On this short street alone 106 Jews were deported and that number, far more manageable in human terms than the 11 million, drives home its point with power. One of these was Lilli Ernsthaft, a Jewish woman who survived and returned to the street after the war raising important issues about restoration, reparations and how to move forward with a respect for the past.

All of this is certainly interesting but it does tend to make the book largely about the German-Jewish experience during WW2. Given the title of the book I was expecting more about the earlier part of the C20th, the impact of the First World War, and perhaps more about post-war Berlin. Hugues' street was in the American sector of the divided Berlin but we hear little about life in the divided city. Towards the end Hugues is ecstatic to hear that David Bowie lived in a neighbouring apartment during the 1970s and, again, I would have liked to have heard more about Berlin's more recent past.

The narrative can feel a bit muddled at times though Hugues' writing is personable and involving: 3.5 stars for an unbalanced and uneven look at a fascinating city.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see that other Goodreads reviewers agree with my ambivalence about this book, to which I gave 4* rather than 3 because I liked so much of it. This young French writer is living in an apartment in Berlin when conflict arises among the residents about whether to commemorate and memorialize the Jews that lived in the building and were killed by the Nazis. Her interest piqued, she advertises in an international Jewish German paper and receives a surprising number of answers from people who lived in the building or on the street. And then travels around the world to meet these elderly people and hear their stories. I found that part of the book fascinating. And also some of the history of the neighborhood and how it has changed over the years. But the last two or three chapters felt like so much padding, as if she (and her editor?) felt that book needed to be a certain length. So I really lost interest in what started out to be an outstanding book - but finished it anyway.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book refreshing. I liked the way it gives the reader a different perspective on Germany's recent history.
Some chapters were slightly too long for what they could offer the reader in exchange, but it was nevertheless quite alright.
3,5

[Tracy Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've learned over the years to tell a story in the small details. The bouquet of plucked dandelions scattered around the place where a child was kidnapped, is a lot more affecting than the screaming and crying and screech of tires. That's what Hughes is doing in this book, she's telling her story in the details, in vignettes about the lives of the people who essentially created the culture of the street she lives on, both while they lived there and afterward. And in doing this, she tells the story of the Holocaust and how it touched Berliners. She does tell more contemporary history, but the stories of the Jewish families who were among the first to make their homes in this particular street takes up most of her narrative.

So I don't really understand why this book didn't touch me. It's well written, the subject matter is one of my most enduring interests, and yet, I felt removed from it as a reader. Possibly it's Hughes' writing style that never quite meshes with the way I think. Or possibly I sense that there was a point for which she was reaching, but which she never quite grasps. It never felt pulled together for me. And that's a shame because it's clearly a labor of love for Hughes.

Nevertheless I give her points for her scholarship, her pursuit of the details of people's lives. I wish I'd found it more engaging.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting to read this book, I was expecting the history of Berlin as a whole. I am especially eager to know its history, particularly during the Cold War, when it was divided into two. However, it was not meant to be. Instead we follow the author, a French residing in Berlin (can you imagine it?) in chronicling the history of the area where she resided, Schöneberg, and various history of its residences.

Being part of history of Germany, of course the Jewish residents featured heavily throughout the book. I found the story of Hannah and her dress, sewed by her jewish bestie, particularly haunting and tragic. The Germans, of course by no means living much better during the Nazis era, especially when Berlin was besieged by the Soviet Red Army, with particular story of a woman who kept the story of his only son’s lineage for a long-long time. Other interesting story includes the time when David Bowie used to be temporary resident (the only story which was not depressing in my opinion).

In the end, it was a very okay reading. I am moved by various sad stories and fascinated by the various means of how the Jewish survivors deal with the memory of Germany, and of course, the manmade terror that was holocaust.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Hannah's Dress Pascale Hugues, a French journalist living in Berlin, investigates the history of her street which at the beginning of the twentieth century was occupied by wealthy bourgeois families, many of them Jewish. Everything changed with the arrival of the Nazi party, of course. A few of the Jewish occupants managed to get out in time, to America or Israel, abandoning or selling properties and belongings for a pittance, but most ended up victims of the Nazi killing machine.

At the heart of the book is the poignant story of two friends, one of whom, Hannah, escapes to America. The other, who joins a queue for a permit to leave the country fifteen minutes too late, ends up being carted off on one of the special trains that took Jewish people away to their deaths.

The book is not only about the Jewish residents. Pascale Hugues finds out everything she can about the street and its residents, the ones who did well out of the Nazi era, the ones who moved into the vacated apartments, the damage wreaked by Allied bombing, the architectural transformation as post-war Berliners tried to re-build the city and escape from their history, the businesses that came and went, the social and cultural changes and, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the flat where prog-rock band Tangerine Dream lived and where David Bowie briefly stayed, and the gentrification that has finally begun to endow the street with a modern version of its original status.

For me, the most interesting thing about the book, is the small details like the shopkeeper who assured her that the bomb damage was so great because it was orchestrated by Jews bent on revenge, or the bureaucratic labyrinth faced by those Jews who survived and struggled to reclaim some of their property or to seek compensation.

It is let down by a rather stilted translation. Tenses are badly handled and word-order still feels distinctly Germanic in places. Nevertheless, it's an impressive piece of social history. We are so used to contemplating the horrific scale of the Holocaust. By focusing on the little indignities, Pascal Hugues makes it feel so much more personal.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

GNab I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Pascale Hugues, and Polity in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me. This English version was translated by Jon Delogu, with passages from the German translated by Nick Somers.

This proved to be a very compelling book, from an unusual perspective. Pascale Hugues, a French journalist living in Berlin, tells us about the residents, businesses and local attitudes of the street where she lives in modern Berlin, from 1904 when it was inhabited by the more well to do, mostly Jewish families, and follows the highs and lows of the residents of the street until 2014 when the French version of this fine tale was published by Editions es Arenes, Paris. This proves to be an excellent view of the changing norms that led to both Wars to End Wars in Europe in the twentieth century. It is also a warning look at the precursors that allowed a society based loosely on equality to fall into one that could look the other way when genocide was the new norm.


pub date May 1, 2017
Polity

[January Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read. As a Holocaust researcher, I really enjoyed this book. It was a different take on things. Well written.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pour expliquer mon engouement pour ce livre, il faut d’abord mentionner que je l’ai trouvé par hasard, chez Dussmann, la plus grande librairie de la ville, alors que j’étais de visite à Berlin, et venais de passer plusieurs jours à me balader sous un soleil presque implacable, entre autres, entre les pierres tombales du plus grand cimetière juif d’Europe.
Dussmann semble toujours avoir quelques exemplaires de ce livre en stock. J’espère qu’il trouvera de nombreux acheteurs parmi les visiteurs et expatriés de langue française à Berlin, car il peut aider beaucoup à mieux comprendre la ville et le pays.

La petite histoire dans la grande, où la grande histoire racontée à travers la petite ? Ce bouquin fascinant raconte l’histoire d’une rue à Berlin, de sa construction en 1904 à aujourd’hui, à travers le destin de quelques habitants. L’auteure est journaliste, et son récit se base sur des solides recherches et sur les interviews qu’elle a menées avec ses protagonistes. Parmi eux, de nombreux juifs qui ont survécu à la Shoah, le plus souvent en émigrant, et alors que nombreux de leurs proches étaient tués par les Nazis.

Ces souvenirs risquent un peu d’écraser les autres histoires, recherchées avec autant de diligence et d’empathie, des allemands non juifs, qui servent à l’auteure pour documenter les changements sociologiques et démographiques de l’après-guerre. Car comme c’est la rue qu’elle habite personnellement depuis un quart de siècle, tout ce qui y a laissé des traces mérite d’être raconté : les grandes crises économiques de l’entre-deux-guerres, la montée du nazisme, les bombardements de la deuxième guerre mondiale, l’occupation par les Russes d’abord et par les autres alliés ensuite, quand la rue fait partie de Berlin ouest.
Les histoires personnelles des témoins sont racontées avec beaucoup d’empathie et de respect, même celles de ceux qui n’inspirent pas tout à fait la sympathie. Le style est journalistique mais délectable. Une lecture fascinante qui invite à regarder toutes les rue qu’on fréquente avec un œil plus intéressé et curieux, et une excellente façon d’aborder l’histoire compliquée de l’Allemagne moderne, surtout celle de la ville qui était au centre des événements les plus emblématiques.

[AngelaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful non-fiction book retelling the stories of the people who lived in the author's street in Berlin, mainly in the interwar years, through a series of vignettes. Many of the stories are very poignant, told by people who are now in their twilight years but for whom the memories of the street remain crystal clear. One such is the story of Hannah's dress, made by a young Jewish dressmaker for her best friend. The friend manages to escape Nazi Germany with her family; the young dressmaker does not.
I usually prefer to read books in the original French but this translation was well done and, for the most part, the language flowed.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, and a book I would recommend.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the conceit of this book—the history of Berlin in the 20th century as told through the lives of ordinary people in Schoenberg. (Fair warning: there are a lot of heartbreaking Holocaust stories.) The book is engaging and well written.
I’d love to see someone do something similar with Toronto or Vancouver (my cities).

[Danielle Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of a street in Berlin from its creation to 2014. The author who lived on the street has got to know the elderly characters who have lived on the street and researching others who have left especially the Jewish residents during Hitlers rein. For readers that have an interest in history and genealogy this is a amazing read.

[Bill Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent oral history of the residents in pre and postwar years but wanders off the point towards the end when she seems to become totally absorbed by the residency of Tangerine Dream and David Bowie (who only stayed there for 48 hours)and detracted for me from the rest of the reminiscences.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author decides to research the lives of families who have lived on her street in Berlin. She traces the street from 1904, during the war years, building of the Berlin Wall to present day.

[Harpalus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting windows into the history of Berlin. Reads somewhat as a long poem. Very intimate and quaint.

[Barbara Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

[Mary Warnement · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugues is at her best in this memoir/biography of those who have lived on her street in Berlin when she focuses on the ordinary people's lives. Stretching to find celebrities to talk about, she sounds like a groupie desperate to say Washington slept here.

21 Hugues spends much time studying Berlin city archives, and I appreciate when she writes that time stops in the reading room. But I add, sometimes one travels back in time as well. Or brings the past alive.

I learned some new German words and pseudo German words, like powerfrau. I read about Bahlsen biscuits and then someone brought me--less than a week after I finished reading this--Bahlsen dark chocolate wafers because she knows I like dark chocolate and Germany.

162 Her chapter on the woman who became obsessed with her furniture surviving the war to the point where she hired a professional photographer to document what each room of her home looked like. "Ursula Kruger fears that the least modification of its positioning would cause the fragile memories to fade." I understand the inclination, but stuff isn't the answer. Her daughter says many years later, "you keep everything but you never find peace."

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah's Dress is a very interesting read, but the title is completely inappropriate. The book is about the history of a Berlin street the author resides, from 1904-2014. The dress is just one story out of many included, And completely misleads readers. The author tracked down former residents and revealed their stories, all equally fascinating. How many people actually contemplate the precious owners of their home? This author did and shares a wealth of history about a street that continuously evolved. I received an ARC through NetGalley.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A macro history made micro and, in doing so, provides a smart way in to what can be an overwhelming set of circumstances. 20th century Germany is endlessly fascinating - a very enjoyable read.

I received an eARC from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC Kindle version of this book
I enjoy historical fiction about WWI; however, I didn't care for this book.
If you enjoy dates and details of places and areas, you'll enjoy this book.

[Michael Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writer has moved to Berlin and tries to discover the history of her street through its past occupants. Fascinating and moving. Highly recommended.