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Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML: A rediscovered classic and international bestseller that recounts the gripping tale of a friendship destroyed at the hands of Nazi Germany In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin, his friend and former business partner who has returned to Germany in 1932, just as Hitler is coming to power. Originally published in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an international sensation. Credited with exposing the dangers of Nazism to American readers early on, it is also a scathing indictment of fascist movements around the world and a harrowing exposĂ© of the power of the pen as a weapon. A powerful and eloquent tale about the consequences of a friendshipâ??and societyâ??poisoned by extremism, Address Unknown remains hauntingly and painfully relevant tod… (more)
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The plot unfolds in epistolary form as a a series of letters between partners in an art gallery in San Francisco.
When Max receives a return letter from his actress sister marked "Addressat unbekannt," he pleads for Martin's assistance in her (she had been at one time Martin's lover). But Martin, now part of the Nazi apparatus refuses and tells Max to cease all contact. However, Max continues to write cryptic business letters to his former partner and friend.
Today, of course, the story seems predictable, but at its publication the story called attention to what was unfolding in Germany in the 1930s.
Last night I saw a production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, Disgraced, by Ayad Akhtar, which chronicles the destruction of the career of a secular Muslim because he spoke up in court for an imam accused of terrorism. The message of the play was not so different from the message of Taylor's story.
This short novel was written by the American author, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, and first published in 1938. Kressmann Taylor got her idea from real correspondence. By the mid-1930s she heard of American students in Germany writing letters home describing Nazi atrocities. Their friends sent them letters making fun of Hitler. Then, the visiting students urged them to stop doing that saying these letters put them in grave danger, and they might get arrested or even killed. Thus Kressmann Taylor got the idea of letters as a weapon or "murder by mail."
Most middle- and upper-class Germans had Jewish friends or clients before Hitler rose to power, but particularly after 1933 the political climate in Nazi Germany rapidly changed towards a situation where having Jewish friends was suspicious. In fact, while researching materials for her novel, Kressmann Taylor discovered that even well-educated Germans had fallen prey to the indoctrination to renounce friendship with Jewish people and despise them. The idea that German censors opened incoming and outgoing mail. monitored correspondence, and arrested people accused of having personal or business contacts with Jewish people flabbergasted Kressmann Taylor.
Address unknown is based on this idea. The book consists of a correspondence between Max Eisenstein and Martin Schulse. Together, they run a successful art gallery in San Francisco. Martin Schulse returns to Germany, where he quickly adopts the new political ideas of the Nazis. Max Eisenstein, his Jewish business partner, remains in the US to continue the business. As the story evolves, Max is slow to understand how the situation unfolds, and Jewish people realize too late how vicious the nazis are in their determination to exterminate the Jews. Martin takes a very active, volutary role in this process, and deliberately betrays Max when he asks him to help his sister Griselle, who is an actress in Berlin.
When the bitter truth dawns on Max, he takes a turn, and continues to write letters to Martin, until one day his letter is returned, marked "Address Unknown".
The short novella Address unknown is perfectly tuned to the slow-witted process of discovering how things stood in Germany at the time. Tipped off by the curious correspondence incident, Kressmann Taylor investigated what was known about Nazi Germany and discovered what tragedy was unfolding, long before anyone in the United States had a clear idea of what was going on. The novel was an immediate success, and was re-issued to serve as a warning. Most continental editions were lost as soon as the war broke out, and interest in this curious short novel only recently picked up as a French translation appeared in 1999, a German translation in 200, Hebrew in 2001 and a new English edition in 2002, with more countries and languages following.
Nowadays, censorship and fear of what carelessness are widespread. Americans are hesitant to send mail to Iran or North Korea, and in a more modern version, Internet and email censorship is ubiqitous. Apparently, the time is right for a re-reading of this novel.
It is written as a series of letters between a Jewish American living in San Francisco and his
The foreword is also worth reading. That’s where I learned that the story was first published in Story magazine, but it was thought to be too strong coming from a woman, so it was published under the “Kressmann Taylor” name, Kressmann being the author’s maiden last name and Taylor her husband’s. The history of the piece includes being published in Reader’s Digest, despite their policy of not publishing fiction and gaining popularity throughout the US. It had no chance of getting known in Europe because shortly after its original publication the Nazis occupied most of Europe and banned the book, along with many other.
For a chilling effect, read through the letters and meditate with me how deep mass psychosis, desperation, need for self-esteem can drive people.
A very powerful and thought provoking read. What I don't understand is how it was forgotten for so long.
Impressive primarily as a reminder that it was public knowledge even in 1938 that the Nazis were systematically murdering political prisoners and conducting pogroms, known even to writers in the U.S. That the story was apparently reprinted as a book edition, adapted in Readers Digest, and other periodicals, indicates it was not a news item limited to the Jewish community.
We join the story as Martin and his family relocate from America back to their homeland of Germany. They have been business partners and friends
The year is 1932. Germany is not in a good shape, there is poverty. We are at the eve of the rise of Hitler in Germany and he is bring hope to the people....
Over the coming pages we see the once sturdy relationship and friendship of Max and Martin come under strain. Martin is greatly influenced by the political developments in Germany and how those of Jewish descent are being treated. Max continues writing, despite Martin asking that he does not and at once we see the formation of censorship and those who receive certain letters being held to account. We see the division of a nation driven by the policy of Germany at that time. The book concludes in March 1934.
Although a slim volume, just 95 pages this book has left a lasting impression. This is certainly a classic of the 20th Century and this is most definitely a case of less is more.
No matter how you classify it, Address Unknown is a
Martin Schulse and Jewish Max Eisenstein are partners in a successful San Francisco art gallery, and this book is made up of the letters they exchange when Martin, who has never felt settled in
To start with the letters are friendly, as Max updates Martin on how the business is doing, and Martin tells him about their new house and how his children are settling in, but the tone gradually changes over the next eighteen months as Martin becomes seduced by Nazism to Max's dismay.
Although the pen is mightier than the sword, as the saying goes, in this book the pen becomes a sword when it is used to get revenge for a terrible betrayal.
The author of this book was inspired by hearing about American students studying in Germany writing to their classmates back home begging them not to include jokes taunting Hitler in their letters as they could get someone killed. First published in 1938, this short book became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic and is still well worth reading now.
Martin Schulse and Jewish Max Eisenstein are partners in a successful San Francisco art gallery, and this book is made up of the letters they exchange when Martin, who has never felt settled in
To start with the letters are friendly, as Max updates Martin on how the business is doing, and Martin tells him about their new house and how his children are settling in, but the tone gradually changes over the next eighteen months as Martin becomes seduced by Nazism to Max's dismay.
Although the pen is mightier than the sword, as the saying goes, in this book the pen becomes a sword when it is used to get revenge for a terrible betrayal.
The author of this book was inspired by hearing about American students studying in Germany writing to their classmates back home begging them not to include jokes taunting Hitler in their letters as they could get someone killed. First published in 1938, this short book became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic and is still well worth reading now.
The horrors of Nazi Germany.
As Hitler rises to power, the tone of their letters begins to change as the German gets taken in by Hitler’s rhetoric. It is chilling to note the comparisons of the past to our present, and also how otherwise intelligent people can be taken in by a lunatic.
Even though the book was originally published in 1938, it still resonates today by illustrating how easily people can be manipulated and how desperate they can become when trying situations arise.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
The series of eighteen letters (and one cablegram) stretches from 1932 when Martin moves back to Munich and ends in 1934 and follows a timeline in pre-WW2 Europe charting Hitler’s gradual ascent to power and the strengthening of anti-Semitic sentiments resulting in persecution Jews. Parallel to the changes in the political landscape and ideology in Nazi Germany we see the disintegration of what we can assume was a long-standing friendship. We see, on the one hand, the changes in Martin’s attitude and commitment towards his friendship with Max and his growing devotion to Hitler and Nazism on the other. Max, initially, is hopeful that their friendship would remain unaffected and attempts to remind Martin of the liberal beliefs they shared before Martin’s departure.
“But there is another realm where we can always find something true, the fireside of a friend, where we shed our little conceits and find warmth and understanding, where small selfishnesses are impossible and where wine and books and talk give a different meaning to existence. There we have made something that no falseness can touch. We are at home.”
We witness how Martin emerges from his initial hesitation over Hitler’s agenda(“Yet cautiously to myself I ask, a leader to where? Despair overthrown often turns us in mad directions.”) to a fully indoctrinated and committed Nazi (his reference to Hitler as the “Glorious Leader”).
“I have never hated the individual Jew–yourself I have always cherished as a friend, but you will know that I speak in all honesty when I say I have loved you, not because of your race but in spite of it.”
Martin denounces liberalism as “musty sentimentalizing” and stands firm in his decision to distance himself from Max lest he loses favor with the Nazi party or is viewed as a traitor. (“Do you know what it is to be taken to a concentration camp?”, he writes to Max). His words portray him as a man who is slowly being brainwashed into believing that the oppression and persecution of the Jewish population would result in establishing a “superior” race and securing a great future for Germany. The darkness within him and his loss of humanity is evident in his refusal to help Griselle, Max’s sister with whom he once shared a romantic relationship, when she approaches him for help - an act that ultimately forces Max’s hand.
Written in 1938, this novella was inspired by the changes the author noted in her own German friends who were influenced by Nazism upon returning to Germany. Even though the timeline of this novella pre-dates WW2, it remains just as powerful and relevant to this very day. At approximately sixty-six pages, this is a short but impactful read that will leave a lasting impression. This is an important book, the kind of book that is meant to be read, shared, and never forgotten. In the introduction to this book , Margot Livesey aptly sums up the timelessness of the central theme of this thought-provoking novella.
“How do we know what we know, and when do we know it? Why does a good person become a bad person? What power does a citizen have against the state?”
Imagine going through some old letters, say from a great uncle or similar who is no longer with us. For many of us we have the general era context, but as you sit and read these, some of the particulars and
I think this should be read by more people, and not just in light of modern events happening now. I can see why it won the awards it did.
4.5 stars.