His promising education was aborted; his close-knit family splintered. When the Gestapo came for Orbach's mother on Christmas Eve 1942, they escaped with false papers; his mother found sanctuary with a family of Communists and Orbach - under the assumed identity of Gerhard Peters - entered Berlin's underworld of 'divers'. He scraped a living by hustling pool, cheating in poker and stealing - fighting, literally, to stay alive. Outwardly he became a cagey amoral street thug, inwardly he was a sensitive, romantic boy, devoted son and increasingly religious Jew, clinging to his humanity. In the end, he was betrayed and sent to Auschwitz, on the last transport, in 1944. This singular coming of age story of life in the Berlin underground during WWII is, in essence, a story of hope, even happiness, in the very heart of darkness.
By:
Larry Orbach,
Vivien Orbach-Smith
Imprint: I B TAURIS
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 1
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 135mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 310g
ISBN: 9781784537630
ISBN 10: 1784537632
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 01 August 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION ORIGINAL PREFACE PROLOGUE 1. BORN IN A GATHERING STORM 2. THE INSTITUTE ORBACH 3. WE ARE GOING UNDER 4. SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT 5. A VERY BUSY DAY 6. LEARNING THE ANGLES 7. HOUSEGUESTS 8. STACKING THE DECK WITH OPA 9. WARMED BY AN OLD FLAME 10. FROM STREET TO SANCTUARY 11. HAULING COAL, LIFTING CASH 12. VICE SQUAD 13. A PAUSE FOR PASSOVER 14. LEARNING TO SWIM 15. BETRAYAL 16. VIGNETTES OF HELL 17. PICKING UP THE PIECES EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Larry (Lothar) Orbach (1924-2008) grew up in Berlin and assumed the identity of Gerhard Peters from 1942-44. He spent the last year of the war in Auschwitz and emigrated to New York in 1946. Settling in New Jersey, Larry Orbach set up a jewellery business and, with his wife Ruth Geier - also a refugee from Nazi Berlin - they had two children, Vivien and Richard. True to his word, Larry Orbach's mother, Nelly, lived with him and his family until her death at age 83 in 1969. Larry's final years in his beloved New York were full and surrounded by friends from all walks of life.
Reviews for Young Lothar: An Underground Fugitive in Nazi Berlin
This is a book to make one both smile and weep, to admire the generosity of spirit of courageous individuals and to despair of the selfish inhumanity of those who passed by on the other side. Larry Orbach's story of survival against impossible odds opens a window into the seamy underworld of wartime Berlin and into the limitless extremes of good and evil of which our species is capable. - Bernard Wasserstein, author of On the Eve: The Jews of Europe before the Second World
