by Paul Glaser Rating
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262209-dancing-with-the-enemy
The gripping story of the
author’s aunt, a Jewish dance instructor who was betrayed to the Nazis by the
two men she loved, yet managed to survive WWII by teaching dance lessons to the
SS at Auschwitz. Her epic life becomes a window into the author’s own past and
the key to discovering his Jewish roots.
Raised in a devout Roman Catholic
family in the Netherlands, Paul Glaser was shocked to learn as an adult of his
father's Jewish heritage. Grappling with his newfound identity and stunned by
his father’s secrecy, Paul set out to discover what happened to his family
during World War II and what had caused the long-standing rift between his
father and his estranged aunt, Rosie, who moved to Sweden after the war.
Piecing together his aunt’s wartime diaries, photographs, and letters, Paul
reconstructed the dramatic story of a woman who was caught up in the tragic
sweep of World War II.
Rosie Glaser was a magnetic force – hopeful, exuberant, and cunning. An emancipated woman who defied convention, she toured Western Europe teaching ballroom dancing to high acclaim, falling in love hard and often. By the age of twenty-five, she had lost the great love of her life in an aviation accident, married the wrong man, and sought consolation in the arms of yet another. Then the Nazis seized power. For Rosie, a nonpracticing Jew, this marked the beginning of an extremely dangerous ordeal. After operating an illegal dance school in her parents’ attic, Rosie was betrayed by both her ex-husband and her lover, taken prisoner by the SS and sent to a series of concentration camps. But her enemies were unable to destroy her and, remarkably, she survived, in part by giving dance and etiquette lessons to her captors. Rosie was an entertainer at heart, and her vivacious spirit, her effervescent charm, and her incredible resourcefulness kept her alive amid horrendous tragedy. Of the twelve hundred people who arrived with her at Auschwitz, only eight survived. Illustrated with more than ninety photos, Dancing with the Enemy recalls an extraordinary life marked by love, betrayal, and fierce determination. It is being published in ten languages. (less)
DANCINGWITH THE ENEMY
https://www.yourpeoplemypeople.org/2011/12/dancing-with-enemy.html
The
banquet hall was full. Good food was served. The music was energised and
contagious. And elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors danced with the
grandchildren of Nazi SS officers! Such is the
kind of work being carried out by Helping Hand Coalition in Israel today.
In Or Akiva, a small town situated near Caesarea off the Mediterranean
coast, over 200 Holocaust survivors gathered, along with International
Delegates from several nations including Germany, Russia and the USA, for a
special meal and opportunity for reconciliation at an event arranged by HHC to
bring such a mix of cultures and experiences together. Two young German
bands performed songs in Hebrew, followed by an incredibly talented Israeli
couple, Shaul and Yulia Ben-Har, playing folk and classical music on violin and
viola. After the meal and a few speeches, a group of youth from Germany
performed three dances. Such was their passion, joy and vigour, that the
elderly survivors crowded onto the dance floor and celebrated along with the
German delegation, dancing together for over an hour!
Some of the German dancers were grandchildren of Nazi SS officers from the Second World War. The significance of seeing them dance with survivors who had suffered so much under their grandfathers was not lost, having a deep and lasting impact on the attendees as new bridges of reconciliation were built between the two generations. German and Jewish individuals now forging a new kind of history between them. HHC work hard to raise the quality of life for Holocaust survivors, the poor, and underprivileged in Israel and are seeing wonderful results from their efforts to bring hope and reconciliation to those who need it.