On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I joined fellow author Lisa Leff in Providence, RI for a program entitled Reactions to the Holocaust: Journey for Justice.
The audience was fascinated by our respective stories and one man came up to me at the end of my presentation and told me he was convinced his parents had bought a fur hat from the H. Wolff fur company!
In recognition of it being International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a review by Lori Lowenthal Marcus in the Jewish Press A few extracts as a taster of the entire article:
A granddaughter’s grit, her investigative journalist skills, serendipity, the Germans’ propensity for keeping records all combine to make a true historic adventure – a victory against the Nazis – in Dina Gold’s “Stolen Legacy.”
Dina Gold’s book, Stolen Legacy (Ankerwycke 2015), is a rare Holocaust story. Her family tale combines all the drama and heart-pounding fear of Jews on the run, of Jewish families scattered throughout the world, of loss and, remarkably, of final vindication.
Gold’s story is unique in being a true detective novel and a document-driven courtroom drama, set in the heart of the Nazi Empire.
What a lovely review by Josh Gelernter in The Weekly Standard.
Read the whole piece. Here are some choice extracts:
The theme of the story is Gold’s struggle to recover a large and valuable office building in the heart of Berlin that had belonged to her grandparents, then to the Third Reich, then to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and then to the government of a united Germany. But the theme frequently takes a backseat to tangents and local color. Stolen Legacy is also distinctive among Holocaust books in its unusually unpleasant cast of good guys. The author is perfectly honest in describing her flawed and schismatic family: wastrel philanderers and Communists in prewar Germany, irresponsible stiffnecks in Israel, snobs in postwar Britain. The fact that she manages never to sound disloyal to her family shows a certain finesse.
How did it turn out? I won’t spoil it for you. But if you’re interested in a good detective yarn lasting 150 years, Stolen Legacy won’t disappoint.
It is six weeks since I spoke at the JCC in Detroit. Today I received this email from someone I met at the event:
I was thrilled to read your book, both from the perspective of a journalist and lawyer and as the child of German Jews (on both sides). Your ability to weave together the story of your claim for restitution as well as the investigation of what happened to your family members in a manner that is both delicate and personal as well as passionate and adversarial was thrilling. My grandfather was a restitution lawyer for victims of the Holocaust in Detroit after the war, having had to flee a very successful career in Berlin as a lawyer and working in a paper box factory until retirement. He wasn’t alive to see us secure restitution of his business buildings near the Brandenberg Gate after the Berlin Wall came down, but the process was similar, though not nearly as harrowing as yours was — the stakes were much higher in your case! Thanks again for the gift of this book. It is a treasure.
Joanna Stark Abramson
I am sure I am not alone as an author to delight in receiving such positive feedback from a reader.
A nice surprise today in the Times Book section where columnist Melanie Phillips has selected “Stolen Legacy” as one of her three favorite books of the year. It is listed alongside her other two recommended authors – the illustrious Niall Ferguson and Michel Houellebecq. To be in such company is truly flattering.
