»Du bist nicht ganz verlassen«: Eine Geschichte von Rettung und Widerstand im Nationalsozialismus

by Mark Roseman

In the early 1920s amidst the upheaval of Weimar Germany, a small group of peaceable idealists began to meet, practicing a quiet, communal life focused on self-improvement. For the most part, they had come to know each other while attending adult education classes in the city of Essen. But the Bund, as they called their group, had lofty aspirations--under the direction of their leader Artur Jacobs, its members hoped to forge an ideal community that would serve as a model for society at large. But with the ascent of the Nazis, the Bund was forced to reevaluate its mission, focusing instead on offering assistance to the persecuted, despite the great risk. Their activities ranged from visiting devastated Jewish families after Kristallnacht, to sending illicit letters and parcels of food and clothes to deportees in concentration camps, to sheltering political dissidents and Jews on the run. What became of this group? And how should its deeds--often small, seemingly insignificant acts of kindness and assistance--be evaluated in the broader history of life under the Nazis? Drawing on a striking set of previously unpublished letters, diaries, Gestapo reports, other documents, and his own interviews with survivors, historian Mark Roseman shows how and why the Bund undertook its dangerous work.

Genres: History, Germany, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Holocaust, Biography

Hardcover

Published March 9, 2020

About the author

Mark Roseman is an English historian of modern Europe with particular interest in The Holocaust. He received his B.A. at Christ's College, Cambridge, M.A at Cambridge, and his PhD at University of Warwick. As of 2014 he is teaching history at the University of Indiana, Bloomington in the United States of America.

Reviews

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lives Reclaimed offers an an account of a little-known piece of World War II history—and a consideration of how that bit of history was represented and reinterpreted after the war. Lives Reclaimed explores the decision by members of a "counter cultural" bund to engage in resistance during Hitler's rule in Germany. The key questions the author explores are
• what really motivates rescuers?
• when is an action an altruistic as opposed to self-interested?
• in the context of an organization that has agreed to debate almost every action and to go with the opinion of the majority, how much credit should any one individual receive for the group's actions?
If you're interested in considering questions like these and want to broaden your knowledge of life in Germany during WWII, you will find much valuable material in this book. If you prefer titles that are emotionally driven, rather than intellectually driven, you may find this title less interesting.

I received a free CD copy of this title for review purposes. The opinions are my own.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lives Reclaimed by Mark Roseman is a historical novel that is about a group of idealists in Germany ( called the “Bund” in short) that was founded in the 1920s at first as a “society” that gave themselves certain expectations and goals on how to live their lives and how to treat the world surrounding them and others.
After the onset of Nazi Germany and WWII, their plan took a different angle and the group helped play a part in adding back a bit of actual humanity to the atrocities that were occurring to their fellow men and women.

The author presents a fabulous background in setting up how the group was created and how it evolved into what we know of it now. The amount of research that went into this novel is impressive and astounding.

This is just one example of how the flame continued to burn despite the Nazi’s goal of trying to extinguish the hope that continued to survive in the hearts of humans inside the front lines.

A very informative and fabulous read.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced read and in return this is my honest and unbiased review.

[Gabrielle Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roseman once again is a master at weaving together powerful storytelling with rigorous research. Through letters, diaries, documents, conversations with Holocaust survivors, and his deep understanding of the history of the Third Reich, he brings to life their traumatic experiences as well as the heroic struggle of Germans who had the courage to help them. Lives Reclaimed reclaims an almost unknown group of socialist idealists called the “Bund.” In a non-demonstrative way they managed to stand up against Nazi terror to help persecuted Jews across Germany. Bund members saved lives, but Roseman also shows how smaller acts, dangerous in themselves, helped the victims of Nazi terror. I found Isa Hermanns’ letter particularly moving where she says she can’t stop thanking the Bund for sending letters and parcels “that gave me the will to survive.” She survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp, but Roseman has this chilling last sentence of her story. Despite the moral support she received and her survival, “Isa could not shrug off her wartime experiences and committed suicide a year or two later.”
I take Roseman’s work also as an indirect challenge to us, to do something, no matter how small, to stand up against injustice.
Gabrielle Robinson

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This provided interesting insight into a number of ideas, including the difference between how people thought about their actions at the time and how distance, external events and later recollection changed the flavor, of not the substance of actions and motives. This provided a window into the private thoughts and actions that a tightly-knit group took to assist and support, as well as rescue those at risk under a totalitarian regime at war. How does one “rescue” an individual over the course of seven or more years? That isn’t a one-time heroic made-for-movie dramatic swooping in, but a possibly endless sequence of small actions of varying risk by a while group of people to potentially save a single life. This book brought that into focus, and cast into stark relief the reality that each act of kindness is vital.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roseman's account of the young jewish woman, Marianna Strauss, living underground during WWII, led him to write this additional book about the Bund - the small network of idealistic socialists/communists/naturists which provided the moral, spiritual, and daily necessities for persons like Marianna living under the constant threat of deportation to a death camp.

Roseman does a good job of explaining (or at least trying to) the complexities that went into decision making by the many characters he follows during this awful time and then the people who judged them later.
What motivated the Bund members? Were they heroic? How were their actions comparable to dissidents who lost their lives fighting an underground war against the Nazis? Why couldn't the Israels find a way to recognize them?

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more than I did. Maybe I missed the point, but I felt like the author picked at a thread and followed it without really making a convincing argument that the Bund, the subject of this book, merited an entire book. Perhaps it would have been better as a chapter or a section in a larger book about regional resistance groups.

Would I recommend it? Maybe, in the context of localized resistance. But there's so much more literature that I would recommend before this one.

[Ohma Willette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of detail proved this a slower read. This small group (BUND) helped shelter Jews during WW2 but had difficulty getting recognized. The issues facing individuals after the war in getting pensions and reparations was most detailed and informative.

[Mills College Library]

940.5318 R812 2019