Review of "The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis"

Train rides are always the best time for me to catch up on reading and on my recent travels to Washington, DC via train, that gave me that opportunity.  One of the older books on my TBR pile was this one on a tennis player whom I never heard of, but had a story that should be told - and it was by her granddaughter. 

Title/Author:

“The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis” by Felice Hardy

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  The story of Liesl Herbst, as told by her granddaughter Felice Hardy in this family memoir, is one that is at times compelling, at times inspiring but for the most part tragic.  Liesl came from a Jewish family in Vienna with some wealth – but being Jewish in a country so close to Germany, there were rumblings of trouble when the Nazis rose to power.  Before this however, Liesl wanted to channel her athletic talent into tennis and follow her idol, Suzanne Lenglen into the sport. 

Through extensive research (by herself and other researchers in Austria and Czechoslovakia), Hardy is able to not only find out about her grandmother’s tennis career but is also able to describe in great detail about the escape from Austria that Liesl and her daughter Dorli (Hardy’s mother) were able to accomplish and settle in London.  Because Liesl was a former tennis champion in Austria, she wanted to compete again and was able to do so at Wimbledon.  She and Dorli became the only mother/daughter team to compete at Wimbledon and while they may not have advanced far in the tournament, it was a testament to their athletic ability and their determination in both athletics and survival.

However, this book is not all positive.  The rest of the family members did not escape the Nazis and all perished at various points during their imprisonment.  These passages, which were more of the book than Liesl’s tennis accomplishments, were difficult to read, but really were necessary for both the reader and the author.  Hardy should be commended for remembering all members of her family, not just her famous grandmother.

There are many conversations that are quoted in the book and given the time frame and lack of ability to verify these from survivors, one must consider these as conversations that Hardy believed these people would have had when either making their escapes or being captured. The journey of David, Liesl’s husband, to London after sending his wife and daughter there almost reads like a survivalist story.  While this is not to question any of the authenticity of this and other similar accounts, it does appear that some of this is what Hardy believes her family members did and said. However, that doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the book.  It is one that is a very good read and while tennis is a part of the story, the takeaway after reading is how much suffering people endured at the hands of the Nazi party during the Holocaust.

I was provided a review copy via NetGalley and the opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis: From Vienna to Wimbledon, one family’s struggle to survive and win: 9781802471199: Hardy, Felice: Books

 

 

Review of “The Fighter of Auschwitz”

 Having not read a boxing book for a while, this title intrigued me. It turned into a story on a topic much more important than boxing or sports. Here is my review of “The Fighter of Auschwitz”

Title/Author:

“The Fighter of Auschwitz” by Erik Brouwer

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Leendert Josua Sanders was a middleweight European boxing champion from the Netherlands in the 1930’s. Even avid boxing fans and historians may have trouble remembering much about his boxing career as he wasn’t one to avidly promote his fights. He was also a Jewish boxer in Rotterdam and this was the time when the Nazis were gaining power in Europe. 

Sanders, who would often fight under the name “Lee” or “Leen” to try to mask his Jewish identity, would eventually be captured with his family and sent to Auschwitz. This excellent book by Erik Brouwer covers both of these segments of Sanders’ life.

Sanders wasn’t keen to pursue the sport at first but with some encouragement from his family, including his brother who became his trainer and manger, Leen did work his way up in weight and prestige, with his biggest boxing accomplishment winning the above mentioned title.

But once Sanders and his family were arrested in Rotterdam as the Netherlands fell to Nazi occupation, this book gets even better. There are many books that describe the brutal conditions Jewish prisoners faced at these concentration camps and this one is just as graphic. Sanders is spared the worst treatment, conditions and work detail when it is learned he was a professional boxer.

Boxers and other prisoners who had special talents that could be used by the SS guards in the camps would receive privileges that other prisoners could have, such as better food and clothing ans special detail such as the kitchen or laundry. Because Leen beat a well-known fighter in one of the Sunday boxing matches held for the “entertainment”of the guards, Leen became one of these privileged prisoners and as such, received this type of detail. 

However, as Brouwer tells in vivid matter-of-fact detail, the other prisoners had much harsher conditions and more brutal work. Leen would help out many less privileged, especially new arrivals to Auschwitz, by providing extra food, clothing or blankets. This was done at great risk to his own safety as if he were caught, he would certainly have faced swift execution. This went on for nearly two years, until Leen and other survivors of the evacuation of Aucwitz were rescued by advancing Allied troops. For a final touch, to make this book complete, Brouwer informs the reader that Sanders had some good and bad experiences in his life after surviving Auschwitz. Even there , Sanders had struggles as he was wrongfully denied the Extraordinary War Pension he deserved until close to his death.

What I really liked about this book is that while the majority of it talks about his heroic feats at Auschwitz, it also gives the reader an inside look at his boxing success as well as his life in the concentration camp. It’s the complete story of a man whose story needed to be told.

I wish to thank Octopus Publishing US for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Link:https://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Auschwitz-incredible-Sanders-survive/dp/1788404300/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=