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    I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return
    I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return
    I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return
    Ebook226 pages2 hours

    I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return

    By Anna Goldenberg and Alta L. Price

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A memoir of family history, personal identity, and WWII Vienna—a “well-researched, intimate, evocative look at some of the 20th century’s foulest days” (Kirkus).
     
    In autumn 1942, Anna Goldenberg’s great-grandparents and one of their sons are deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Hans, their elder son, survives by hiding in an apartment in the middle of Nazi-controlled Vienna. But this is no Anne Frank-like existence; teenage Hans passes time in the municipal library and buys standing room tickets to the Vienna State Opera. He never sees his family again.
     
    Goldenberg reconstructs this unique story in magnificent reportage. She also portrays Vienna’s undying allure. Although they tried living in the United States after World War Two, both grandparents eventually returned to the Austrian capital. The author, too, has returned to her native Vienna after living in New York herself, and her fierce attachment to her birthplace enlivens her engrossing biographical history.
     
    I Belong to Vienna is a probing tale of heroism and resilience marked by a surprising freshness as a new generation comes to terms with history’s darkest era.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJun 9, 2020
    ISBN9781939931856
    Author

    Anna Goldenberg

    Anna Goldenberg was born in 1989 in Vienna and studied psychology at the University of Cambridge and journalism at Columbia University. She worked at the Jewish newspaper The Forward in New York before returning to Vienna, where she now writes as a freelance journalist.

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    Reviews for I Belong to Vienna

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    • 5/5
      I BELONG TO VIENNA A JEWISH FAMILY'S STORY OF EXILE AND RETURN by Anna Goldenberg is a compelling read. It is a sad story and at the same time a happy story. A sad story because so many of Anna's family were murdered in the camps but some survived and many never left Vienna which had been their home. The book is a wonderful way to explore Vienna from the 1930s to the present. A happy story because many did survive the Holocaust and still lived in Vienna. Anna, the author, and of the youngest generation came to New York to get a Masters Degree at Columbia University. As much as she loved New York she felt lonely and wanted to return to the Vienna of her family. Some were surprised by the decision that she would return to the city that the Nazis invaded and that had been so destroyed during the war. But return she did and joined her extensive family and felt at home again. That is what makes it a happy story. The book is very readable and gives you a good feel for Vienna from before, during and after the war. I strongly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return; Anna Goldenberg, AuthorThe author researched her family’s history, beginning in their homeland, Austria. She wanted to uncover their experiences during the war. I found some of her assessments to be naïve or a bit distant, in the same way as she found some of her relative’s assessments to be less fraught than she had expected. Perhaps it is an Austrian trait to withhold a little emotion. The prevailing attitude of the author’s family members seemed to be that they would be afforded greater latitude when Hitler rose to power. They had fought for Austria. They had excellent contacts. However, they lacked a grasp of the seriousness of the situation to come. Perhaps the idea that they would not be as badly treated should not have appeased them. They should have been affronted for those that would be treated more poorly. Like Germans who didn’t think Hitler would be so bad if you were a “good German”, or “a good Jew”, they thought they were good Austrians and would be afforded advantages that others would be refused. Even when their rights were curtailed, they found optimism. They were forced out of their apartment, but the apartment they were given was larger and had better plumbing. They thought maybe they would like this Hitler. Things soon changed and so did their attitudes.After the war ended, many family members never returned and were never heard from again. Eventually, when those who survived discovered the fate of the missing relatives, they learned many had been brutalized and murdered, many had suffered far worse than they had, and they had not had a picnic. The story Anna tells does not seem as horrific as some I have read in the past, however. Perhaps, because several members of her family were in Theresienstadt, the model camp, they had a better lifestyle than those in the death camps. Perhaps her family members had greater forbearance and could withstand the horror around them. Perhaps they simply had more good fortune since those family members did survive and were not sent to the more brutal Concentration Camps. Perhaps the experience in Austria was different than the one in Poland and France and other conquered countries.From around 1938, when Anna describes the Anschluss, as Germany invades and conquers Austria, until the close, she tries to uncover the family’s secret history. She learned how those who considered themselves true Aryans caused the countries that Germany conquered to descend into a maelstrom of hate and prejudice against all Jews, no matter how slight the relationship. Jews were blamed for all the ills of the people and had to be removed from society. She learned who was deported and who hid in plain sight. She learned how they got through the war. The rest of Germany watched in silence, as their neighbors disappeared. Some watched in fear, since retaliation was brutal, but some completely supported the heinous and brutal Nazi regime and participated in gathering the spoils of war.I was surprised that the surviving family members returned to Vienna when the war ended. It was their country, they believed, and they wanted to remain. That attitude differs from the victims in most other books I have read on the subject. In most cases, returning victims found their property was gone, their “Aryan” neighbors could not face them and didn’t want to, they were resented, and many times, victimized again. They felt unwelcome. They wanted to go to a country that would welcome them where they could start over to rebuild their broken lives. They did not want to stay with those that had vilified them.Greed, anti-Semitism and hate for those not purely Aryan, governed the behavior of the Germans in the Nazi Party. They blamed everyone but themselves for their own failures, and wanted what the more successful had achieved without working for it. They needed a scapegoat to explain away their own shortcomings. Of course there were other external influences that caused World War II, such as a failed economy, but that dire state was the result of another unsuccessful war they started, World War I.I thought that the book was very relevant today, politically, which is unsettling. As our country, the United States, experiences chaos and violence and the media is either silent or promoting it, and the people who are guilty accuse the innocent of causing the problems, I fear we are sliding into the maelstrom without a hope of stopping. Since the news is not accurately reporting violent events, calling them peaceful, they are encouraging it. They appear to be sanctioning the mayhem and protests against innocent victims. They are sanctimonious and think they are better and know better than the factions they are protesting against. It seems all too familiar, as the disenchanted run wild and rampage. Have the Brown Shirts come to America?This book was given to me by librarything.com
    • 4/5
      This was a most unusual memoir by Anna Goldenberg, telling of her family's experiences as Austrian Jews during the Holocaust and after.The author had done much meticulous research by interviewing family members, seeking out archives and most surprising of all, a wealth of papers left by ger grandparents, Drs. Hella and Hansi Feldner Bustin.It's a story of amazing survival, rebirth, and reconnection. While several extended family members died at the hands of the Nazis, her grandparents managed to survive against all odds, and ultimately meet, marry, and finally decide to circle back to Vienna where they lived out their lives.
    • 4/5
      I Belong to Vienna is a heartfelt story from author Anna Goldenberg's research into her grandparents' holocaust survival and decision to return to Vienna after an internship in the US. This is not a usual book about the holocaust. While describing the horrors that her grandparents faced, Ms. Goldenberg emphasizes their coping and most of all, their hope for life afterward. This is a success story about her family and herself, as she reflects on her decision to also return to Vienna, even though like her grandparents, she had an opportunity to stay. The pace is lively and encourages the reader to also reflect on family, self, hardships, and opportunities.
    • 4/5
      Journalist Anna Goldenberg followed in her grandparents’ footsteps when she went to graduate school in New York City. Like her grandparents, she didn’t stay in New York long. She missed her native Austria and her family. She recognizes that her family’s story is different from that of most European Jews. Why did Goldenberg’s family choose to stay in Vienna when the survivors of so many other Jewish families left Europe following World War II and the Holocaust? Goldenberg uses her late grandfather’s manuscripts, her still-living grandmother’s memories, and her journalistic skills to fill in the gaps in her family history.I’ve read quite a few Holocaust biographies and memoirs, and each survivor has a unique story. Goldenberg’s grandmother and her immediate family all survived their time in the camps, but Goldenberg discovers that things could have turned out very differently at key points in their experience. Goldenberg’s grandfather was the only survivor from his immediate family. He spent several years hiding in plain sight with his mentor, a Gentile doctor who eventually adopted him. Her grandfather even attended the opera regularly while in hiding! The book could have used a bit more editing to remove some repetitive passages and tighten up the chronology, but overall it’s a welcome addition to the genre of Holocaust literature. Its young adult author and its focus on the author’s grandparents as young adults will recommend it to young adult readers.This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.
    • 4/5
      I was a little sad when I finished this book. It was a very interesting read but did leave you wanting more details about the other members of her family's day to day life as they began to realize what lay ahead of the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people. I would have liked more perspective from others to flesh it out more. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about the Holocaust as it was written from personal letters and other documents of her relatives. A very good read.
    • 3/5
      With thanks to LibraryThing for the opportunity to read and preview this book. I have reading Holocaust related books for many years,both fiction and non-fiction. This memoir from the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors,while moving and well researched,was not as compelling or involving as I would have liked.
    • 3/5
      I have read many books about World War 2 and the experiences of victims of the war in the many different countries affected. So I looked forward to reading this story. However, I found it disappointing as it seemed to lack focus. The author was describing both her own story and that of her family. But the discussion which ranged over different people and different events was somewhat confusing. It seemed to lack a clear story line, and jumped around to different aspects. A straight chronological telling would have been better. It also was hard to keep track of all the different characters -- even the genealogical chart provided was confusing.The author has clearly done a lot of work in her research. She was very interested in her family history, as I too have been in researching the history of my parents, who managed to get out of Europe just at the start of the war. However, I have to conclude that this book would be best for either (a) readers who are specifically interested in Vienna and events happening in and around there; or (b) readers who are so interested in World War 2 and the Holocaust that they want to read anything about this period. Otherwise there are many other books in this subject area that would be more worth the time.
    • 5/5
      In I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family’s Story of Exile and Return, journalist Anna Goldenberg tells the story of her family living in Vienna during the early twentieth century, from the period of relative peace in the immediate aftermath of the First World War through the encroaching dark of Nazism, the Anschluss, and World War II. Her account draws upon extensive records from Vienna as well as family papers and oral history, allowing Goldenberg to recreate the narrative of both her grandparents’ families for several generations.The work represents a warning to modern readers witnessing a return to authoritarianism. Goldenberg’s grandparents and great-grandparents were able to convince themselves things might not be so bad since they and their communities had experienced pogroms in the past and, even in the face of injustices, deportations, and rumors of concentration camps, they found ways to carry on with their lives, even encountering occasional acts of charity. This demonstrates how fascism and authoritarianism slowly creep into a society, so that people grow accustomed to the small injustices and systemic oppression. Further, the occupying forces of the Reich in Austria were careful to avoid upsetting the Aryan population, which meant that their brutality was choreographed or secretive, thereby hiding their crimes from a public that was also indifferent.On the other hand, the example of her great-grandfather Pepi offers hope, as he helped her grandfather Hansi to hide when the Nazis deported Hansi’s own family, effectively raising Hansi through adolescence into adulthood and even adopting him as his son. Goldenberg writes, “Taking responsibility is a decision. Someone who takes responsibility takes action. Pepi decided he had a role to play in my grandfather’s life” (pg. 197). Goldenberg’s grandmother’s father wrote a letter expressing sentiments that could just as easily be conveyed now as they were in 1943: “Today’s dark times have placed unprecedented demands on even you, my dear, and at such a tender age. Remind yourself: this, too, shall pass; you have your whole life ahead of you – a life, I pray our Heavenly Father, full of brightness and beauty” (pg. 79). The overall narrative adds to the body of literature on Holocaust scholarship while giving an account that shows why it remains important to study and learn from this history.
    • 3/5
      Disclaimer: I received an ARC via a Librarything giveaway.This book has two disadvantages. The first is that it doesn’t quite have the space to be what it should. The second is that Daniel Mendelsohn’s Lost is what it is going to be compared to.Goldenberg’s book is part story of her grandparents and part memoir or thought piece. As such, it doesn’t quite succeed at the memoir part. As for the story of her grandparents, one wishes that she had allowed more of their voice instead of telling the reader what her grandfather wrote or her grandmother said. And it isn’t really a detective story, the facts are there. This isn’t to say the book is not worth reading. Narratives like this are important, especially since the generation that witnessed it is passing away. It is also important to look at the impact of the Holocaust on the children and grandchildren of survivors.The book does capture, even if briefly, the life in Vienna before and during the invasion of the Germans. It is both a Vienna that had been and what it became. As such it is worth reading. In terms of much sense reflection or connection to current generations – for instance why the family keeps returning to Vienna, there is not much. There are flashes, but the insights are not closely examined. Goldenberg almost seems to be in a hurry to move away from them. Her thinking about her own life versus hat her grandparents suffered may sound trite to some, but there is something more at work there. Though she doesn’t quite reach it, it is still important.
    • 5/5
      It is still a mystery to me that any Jewish People would choose to return to Vienna, Austria,as unlikely as returning to Germany after Hitler.The rejection, hatred, betrayals, confiscations, murders, beatings, pursuits, quotas,refusals to allow emigration, total fear, starvation, Torture of children,deceit, apathy, denial, liars, train deportations to concentration camps...all add up to a total absence of TRUST.Yes, the return to having a Family was paramount, but after the sheer horror of existence,the total absence of any kind of freedom...how could those memories not drive people to escape the possibility of those forces of hatrednot rising again, as they did in Germany after World War I...?Anna Goldenberg beautifully and intricately recreates her Family's history.
    • 5/5
      The author, while studying journalism in New York in 2013, was often asked how she as a young Jew could love Vienna and plan to return there. Her grandparents who had survived the Holocaust as adolescents returned to Vienna after a year in New York in the mid-1950s. The author set out to recover their story. Her grandmother who was deported to Theresienstadt with her own mother and sister, twice avoided being put on a train for Auschwitz and was still in the camp when it was liberated. Her grandfather was taken into the apartment of a family friend--a gentile medical doctor. Although he had no identity papers, he managed to read in the library mornings and attend the Vienna State Opera in the evening. He left a file of 117 programs of the operas he attended in standing room. The audience included so many uniformed military officers that the authorities never bothered to cordon off the building and check papers. In all, this story is both poignant and fascinating. Its challenge to our stereotypes is a joy to read.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable read. I didn't understand how she could return to Vienna after the treatment they received.

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    I Belong to Vienna - Anna Goldenberg

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