Alaine Polcz is the foremost child psychologist in postwar Hungary. After more than forty years of silence, she sat down one day and wrote these memoirs of her life as a young woman in Hungary during the war. The result is an extraordinary window into the decay of the German occupation of Hungary, and the "liberation" by the Soviet Red Army. There is no other book quite like this--ranking (with Agate Nesaule's Woman in Amber as one of the finest firsthand accounts of mass rape ever written.

This book is an autobiographic account of the experiences of a woman in the closing months of WWII. It had a huge effect on me: the inhumanity and cruelty made me both angry and sad but at the same time, the honest voice of the narrator touched me deeply. Even the most horrible details of rape and humiliation are told in a very straightforward manner and you often wish this whole story were only made up. But the fact that it's not what makes this book so remarkable. You get to know a woman who, despite all the terrible things, survived and not only survived but had the inner strength to face and, by telling her story, re-live her past. Before reading the English translation, I was a little bit skeptical because Hungarian literature doesn't translate easily into English (or any other languages for that matter). And then came my surprise: Mr. Tezla did a perfect job with the translation! I think people all around the world would find reading this book an unforgettable experience!

Ms. Virginia White's book about Hungary is indeed a valuable edition to the genre, and I congratulate her for this volume and her splendid life.

Virginia White tells two equally engrossing tales in her fascinating new book: that of Hungary as it makes a difficult transition from Communism to western style capitalism and her own personal story full of adventures, mishaps, warmth, wisdom and humor. As a "senior" Peace Corps teacher in Hungary in the early 90s, White was well-positioned to observe the unprecedented turn-around in that country, and her insights into the politics, economics, and society of the time are right on the mark. But it is her talent as an observer of everyday details and her fascinating interactions with her new neighbors, friends, and students that make this book so hard to put down. One looks forward to reading the further adventures of someone who is far from being "over the hill."

I enjoyed reading this book and found that I could not put it down. I have shared it with many friends who have enjoyed reading the book as well.
The story is written with heartwarming strength and it touched me deeply. Thank You Eva....

This story touches your heart when you read it. In parts of the book you just think. Why did this happen to these people. This is a very good story because you're learning about history and there's a story behind it. I recomend it strongly.

I picked-up this book by accident as I had never heard of the Aston Magna Academy. I certainly know about them now. They have produced a book that is a must read for those interested in either Vienna in the late 18th and early 19th century or Franz Schubert & the arts. It is a collection of essays by prominent experts arrayed in three sections;Politics and Social Life, Musical Life and The Other Arts. These different essays give the reader a broad view of the times and influences that gave us the extraordinary music that we enjoy today. A bibliography at the end of each essay points to further resources. This is a fascinating and effective format for presenting history.

Anne Frank wrote "If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly in hand before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer". This is the very sensation I have when closing this book.

Schubert's Vienna is a must-read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the man behind the music. This wonderfully written and masterfully edited book details nearly every aspect of life in Vienna during the time of Franz Schubert. The age is defined historically, politically, socially, and even culturally (referring to the other arts). This makes the book an engaging read even for those who have only a casual interest in the composer but are interested in the city of Vienna or the Romantic era in general. A scholarly work that can be enjoyed by nearly any level student, I defy you to walk away without a sigh of nostalgia for the beauty of Schubert's Vienna.

I thank the editor and contributors for a lovely weekend, I was lost in another world.

for the Olympics. This is an excellent pre-travel reference for anyone planning to attend the Summer Olympics in Sydney this year. The historical background will help to bring the city to life, from its beginnings as a penal colony to its growth into one of the world's truly great cities.

Sydney started out as a landing place for convicts from Great Britain. But from those humble beginnings, it has grown into one of the world's great cities. This is a "must read" for anyone planning a trip Down Under any time soon. The insights provided by the author will help the Australian visitor have a much better understanding of the city before him. With the Olympics coming soon to Sydney, the timing of this release couldn't have been better. This is a book worth the investment of time and money. You'll enjoy it.

I have read this diary and could not stop! Imagine being able to ask today's military bosses, such as Colin Powell, what they REALLY think - and get the straight answer? Of course, you would'nt be able to get it. What Gen Bandholtz writes here is how he really feels about things. No punches pulled. Readers 80 or 90 years from now will get to see how Gen Powell feels about things.
This book shows how a man, just doing his job, comes to see injustice and underhandedness from all directions. Gen Bandholtz died a few years after this, but I'll bet his experience in Budapest stuck with him every day.

This is well worth your time and money.

Woodrow Wilson promulgated an idealistic solution for the problems of Central Europe: the right of national self-determination. This apparently simple and self-evidently just doctrine ignored a host of psychological, historical, geographical, and above all, political complexities. Sure enough, in the Versailles peace process following WWI, the major powers and minor players pulled and twisted the doctrine to tatters in order to promote their own interests. Nowhere was the result as geographically dramatic as in the case of Hungary. Harry Hill Bandholtz, the American Allied representative in Budapest during some of the chaotic years between the armistice of 1918 and the Treaty of Trianon of 1921, witnessed the conniving, skullduggery, venality, and sometimes brutality of both his allied "bretheren" and all the local nationalities at first hand. He stood alone, at times, trying to enforce order and justice. Thanks to a stroke of luck that put him at the head of the Allied Commission in the nick of time, he single-handedly saved Budapest from a complete sacking by the Romanian forces who occupied it briefly. His diaries display a straightforward military man of honor who nonetheless relishes the ironies and absurdities of events around him as he struggles to see the right thing done. Not only is it a critical primary source for an obscure but important piece of history, but it is a moving and, at times, screamingly funny read.

I really enjoyed this book. Piri, the main character, is a young girl who lives in Hungary with her family in WWII. Her family consists of her mother, 2 sisters and her brother. Her father is off at war, fighting in favor of the Germans. Piri and her family are Jewish. If you have studied the war you know that the Germans (Nazi) were against Jews and wanted to kill them all. This is a novel about the hardships of Piri and her family.

After many years of using The Diary of Ann Frank, teachers now have a chance to use an equally exciting book by Aranka Seigal, Upon the Head of the Goat. This book describes the trials and tribulations in the life of Piri Davidowitz, a young Hungarian girl of the Jewish faith, during the terrible years of World War II. Piri is unusual in that her grandmother lives in Ukraine, her father is from Czechoslovakia, and her mother is Hungarian. This book allows teachers and students to study the Holocaust and the geography of the region and cover the national standards in geography, history, and language arts. Students will learn about Piri and the hardships she and her family suffer, and they will discover that like many people of the Jewish faith, Piri and her family are sent to a concentration camp. Piri's life slowly desintegrates as Jews receive more and more restrictions with the coming of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascist group, to power in Hungary. As more restrictions come into play, Piri loses friends and family, chances for education, and freedom. Students will enjoy the suspense that is in the novel and will learn a valuable lesson on the Holocaust.

This Ballantine paperback printing is full of printer's errors, an insult to the author's fine work and vitally important topic.

It is regrettable, and a mystery to me how a book that it is so well-written and important can go out of print, but such is apparently the case with Kati Marton's book "Wallenberg". Reading this book is something I will never forget. It is the story of Raoul Wallenberg, a young Swedish diplomat whose heroic and selfless efforts saved thousands (some say as many as 100,000) Hungarian Jews from certain death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Budapest's Jews were among the last substantial population threatened by the Nazi's, and in July of 1944 Wallenberg was sent there by the Swedish Foreign Ministry in an effort to rescue the remaining 200,000 Jews from planned deportations. He issued thousands of Swedish Embassy-stamped "Schutzpassen" which were provisional or "protective" passports, granting the bearer not only an exemption from wearing the humiliating yellow star, but (more importantly) extending to them the rights of Swedish citizens, with the eventual intention of being "repatriated" to Sweden. With funds supplied from the War Refugee Board, Wallenberg also secured property which he then converted into "safe houses" for those rescued from deportations. Can you imagine? At times, Wallenberg put himself on the line and pressured SS officials into turning over to his custody "prisoners" who were already on board deportation trains! He then organized a network of hundreds of Jewish agents who managed the distribution of food and medicine to Jews in his shelters.

The tragic twist to this story is that after Budapest's liberation, Wallenberg himself was arrested by the Soviets on espionage charges and imprisoned, presumably until the rest of his life, for his fate remains shrouded in mystery. All attempts by his family and government to obtain his release were frustrated. To placate the mass of inquiries, Lubyanka Prison officials gave a date of Wallenberg's alleged death as being July 17, 1947. The end of Marton's book goes into many reasons why such an ending to Wallenberg's life seems suspicious. She explains how that Wallenberg was "quite possibly the Soviet's most important prisoner. His name and his legend were too powerful to release." A free Wallenberg would be a "living indictment" and would have presented a dangerous competition to the Communist party's most jealously guarded possessions: legitimacy and power.

The author says in chapter 10: "Wallenberg was imbued with a conviction that anything was within reach, any goal could be met if one just applied oneself, and all of one's God-given gifts to its fulfillment." Here where I live in the capital city of Canada there is a Raoul Wallenberg Park... and whenever I drive by it I am powerfully reminded of the importance of remembering this hero of humanity, who, in the name of the civilized world sacrificed his own freedom in a fight to hold the uncivilized portion of that world accountable to the last.

....because I find so many information about the Trapp Familiy which I don't know. I saw the two german movies from 1956 und 1958 and the american from 1965, and I like all this films.

The pictures make it easy to read.

But there is something, that I don't like. Martina, who died in 1951. Maria Augusta wrote only one and a half sentences about her stepdaughter. Why had she done that ?

Good, that I've read "Yesterday, Today and Forever", so I know the tragedy of Martina's death.

...

This book is a really great behind-the-scenes type book about the real Von Trapp family. Fans of the movie may not like it as much, because there isn't very much stuff written about the making of the SOM. However, it really gives you a very clear picture of the way the story reall was without detracting from the magic of the movie.

This book is the best analysis of Austrian identity on the market. If you have ever wanted to know what the relationship between Austrian and German is all about and what the term Austrian has meant in different historical periods, you will find the answer here. The book combines sophisticated historical methods with accessible language and is written in an admirably objective tone. It is innovative history writing at its best and has become an instant favorite of mine.