Berlin's Hollow Homes

Jess Skepper's review of Trevor Carroll's 'Berlin's Hollow Homes: Several years ago, Trevor and Mathilde Carroll visited their pro-volleyball playing son in Berlin. One day near the end of that first of three visits while walking in Charlottenburg they encountered a group of brass plaques embedded in the cobblestones of the footpath. The plaques were each inscribed with a name and all dated 1942. Other similar plaques were also discovered, at random intervals on footpaths with similar inscriptions, all dated during world war two. As only an ex- detective would, Trevor began to enquire as to what the plaques represented. It soon transpired that they were Stolperstein or stumble stones, each a memorial to the occupant of the building that they lay outside. The vast majority were Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust. During the Nazi era from 1933 to 1945 Jews lost their livelihoods, their possessions and their very lives proving that the Nazi regime were not only mass murderers, but common thieves as well.We all are familiar with the figure of six million Jews murdered during the holocaust, but there were many other Germans and Europeans who also met the same fate for opposing the brutality of the Nazi doctrine. These huge numbers are not the focus of this book; the author has put flesh & bones on some of those remembered by Berlins Stolpersteine. He tells their stories as if he was there beside them, witnessing the barbarity of what occurred. A thought provoking read, not just names & numbers, but an insight into the insanity of the Nazi regime. At times confronting, but never the less, well worth a read. You will find stories of some who survived against all odds and many who did not survive, but through this book, their stories live on. Andrew Bishop: I have just finished Berlin's Hollow Homes. What a great read- a very emotional one and left me feeling angry that the nazi regime were able to do what they did. And terribly sad for the suffering that occurred. Lest we forget. Hilda and I spent 2 weeks in Berlin in 2016 renting an apartment there near the Brandenburg gate. In our exploring, I recall seeing the Stolperstein and had even noted them in my journal but wasn't aware of their meaning. Your book is a great and critically important legacy in presenting the stories behind them. Neville Taylor: Berlin's Hollow Homes reveals the history of many Jewish people's lives leading up to and including World War II in Germany and in the territories Germany conquered. It is, as we all know, a bleak, murderous, terrifying period. Roughly 6 million Jews were killed, with an estimated 1.2 to 1.6 million deaths at Auschwitz alone. So any serious book on this topic is overwhelming sad and distressing. However there also uplifting tales of survival, selflessness and heroism. if you are a committed student of this period of history, the book has much to offer. As is clear from the cover of Berlin's Hollow Homes, the book addresses the lives of those victims memorialised in the Stolpersteines. It is an extremely well researched book with extensive factual details on these people's lives. In many cases little is known about the people while a few managed to somehow miraculariously survive with tales to tell. Many suicided rather than cooperate with their deportation. I found that Berlin's Hollow Homes is not a book to pick up and quickly read cover to cover. The details and the similarity of many people's truncated lifes is mind numbing. This reflects the industrial scale killing operation that was occurring. In addition, there are lengthy descriptions of deplorable events, such as the full description of one person's deportation via train. As a note of trivia, the deportees had to pay full price for a one way ticket to their demise. Further there are the emotional letters of a young woman to her parents when she is awaiting execution for espoignage and high treason after distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. Of course, you attempt to find and remember the positives, amongst the misery. For example, prior to the commencement of the war, many children, without their parents, were allowed to emigrate. Another example, seems more like a boy's adventure story. Manfred Alexander, having survived a four day deportation trip to the Minsk force labour ghetto where he toiled repairing damaged railway tracks. After being warned of an impending mass killing, he escaped disguised as a German civilian working with the armed services. He hides in a train coal carriage, then amongst wounded German soldiers before being detected by the SS. To escape, he burrows under a prison fence, then catches another train where he evades discovery by hiding in a toilet. After linking up with his girlfriend in Berlin, they pay smugglers to help them cross into Belgium. Subsequently they flee to France where they are hidden by a sympathetic priest. Afterwards they are secreted in a trailer of hay to effect their crossing to Switzland. Finally after the war , through connections, they gain the necessay papers to emigrate to the USA. Each of these stage would have been against incalculable odds. Not all Germans supported the Nazi regime. After hiding as UBoats (underground Jews), a family encountered a sympathetic German, Lieutenant Drossel who supplied them with food and lodgings. Later when fighting the Russians Lieutenant Drossel is ordered by an SS officer to embark on a suicidal mission. He refused. The officer threatened him with summary execution. However the Lieutenant's men turned their weapons on the SS officer who backed down. The war ended before Drossel's court martial. There are many stories in Berlin's Hollow Homes, too many to outline in any review. I suggest reading this work slowly and in piecemeal fashion. Read a few people's experiences at a time, followed by a pause, to digest and reflect. However, I think if you are genuinely interested in the details of the Jewish people's lives during this dark deplorable period of human history you will learn a lot from Berlin's Hollow Homes: