Julia Nelki, Villa Russo. A Jewish Story. With a foreword by Stephan Lohr
Preis: 18,00 EUR inkl. gesetzl. MwSt. zzgl. Versand Artikelnr.: ISBN 978-3-945447-32-1 Sofort lieferbarThe book focuses on a villa in Wernigerode from the late
19th century, its builders, owners and inhabitants. It offers
a view of over 120 years of German history: the pride of
an entrepreneur, the success of the industrial production of
Harz cheese, and its abrupt end with the seizure of power of
the National Socialists in the 1930s. The villa’s Jewish owners,
Benno and Clara Russo, are terrorised, deported and violently
killed in a concentration camp, while a local Nazi takes
possession of the house.
Under East-German rule the villa became a vocational school
for children with special needs.
With German unification, the ownership question arose anew.
The Russo descendants offered to give the school and factory
buildings to the municipality provided it stayed as a school,
but this was blocked by an opaque administrative act.
This process exemplifies difficulties that occurred with
unification. Political-historical facts and social-moral principles
were often disregarded. A fortunate turn meant that the
villa and outbuildings became a musical-artistic meeting place,
radiating new life, while also serving as a memorial to the
Holocaust.
»A work of tremendous force and emotion, beautifully written,
an important and original contribution to our understanding
of the impact of malevolence on a family and its home. A book
for our times, sadly.«
Philippe Sands, QC, Director of the Centre on International
Courts and Tribunals at University College London
Dr. Julia Nelki, grandniece of the owners Benno and Clara Russo,
describes in empathic detail this German-Jewish family history.
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Reviews:
Morning Star, Monday March 21 2022:
Neue Rezension von Gail Simon: