About:
The Jewish Hospital by Jonathan Hammel is tells about the only Jewish hospital to remain operational in Nazi Berlin. Mr. Hammel, a physician, used the experience of his grandmother to write this historical novel.
- 240 pages
- Publisher : Skyhorse
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1510786449
My rating for The Jewish Hospital - 5
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More books by Jonathan Hammel*
Thoughts:
The book is a profound examination of survival, and the impossible choices people must make. People trained to heal, are forced to operate and assist a system designed for destruction.
The Jewish Hospital by Jonathan Hammel shows an authentic, claustrophobic and stark reality through the eyes of a young nurse. The Holocaust is not a distant or abstract tragedy but is an immediate threat to every person in the hospital.
I wasn’t surprised to find out the author is a physician. The sensory overload of being in a wartime hospital, under constant threat comes through very clearly. Even though the physical aspects of the story shine, the psychological weight that the staff was under was the aspect of the story which was told very well.
One of the grimmest parts of a grim book is the selection process. The hospital management has to decide which of their workers is going to be sent to a concentration camp. This is a zero-sum game where there’s not a valid choice to be made.
Sophie, for me, was the most interesting character in the story. It’s a brilliant way to show institutional decay in a very personal way, while the hospital itself goes through the same process. She drifts into a self-preservation mode and shows how fear can corrupt even the most resilient humans.
This was a very intense book; the author doesn’t take it easy on the reader. He makes you a fly on the wall for all the despair, anger, and depression of being stuck in a living nightmare.
Synopsis:
Lena Schild, a Bavarian nurse, starts her job at the Jewish Hospital, the last one operating under the Third Reich. Almost immediately she realizes things are not right.
Sophie takes Lena under her wing; helps he makes choices that will keep her alive and deal with the enormous pressure. Together they are forced to question themselves, their religion, and their friendship.
Buy The Jewish Hospital from Amazon.com*
More books by Jonathan Hammel*
Mr. Hammel presents a world where the Jewish Hospital staff had to meticulously play by the rules of a tyrannical system just to sneak by and save a fraction of their people. When confronting systemic injustice today, do you believe it is more effective to operate quietly within the existing parameters to minimize harm, or is a total system shutdown and open rebellion the only true moral path?
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free.
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
