Kahn & Engelmann

By Hans Eichner

Book Overview

A critical and commercial success in German, Kahn & Engelmann tells the story of a Jewish family from rural Hungary, their immigration to Vienna in the great days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, their loves, business ventures and failings, and their eventual tragic destruction. Narrated by Peter Engelmann, who wishes only to forget his past, this highly original novel recreates a vanished Vienna with salty humour and humanity. In a voice which is appealing without being sentimental, Peter describes his escape from the Nazis through snowy woods, his attempts to start a new life in England and Canada, and his decision to immigrate to Israel. Written by an eminent scholar, himself a survivor of Nazism, Kahn & Engelmann is both an entertaining novel and a major work of Holocaust literature.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1897231547
• ISBN13: 9781897231548
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Biblioasis
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Novel!

If you are looking to read a novel that encompasses decades of Jewish life leading up to World War II, and post World War II, then Kahn & Engelmann, by Hans Eichner is the book for you! Eichner has masterfully written a story that is based in part on his own family, and their experiences as Jews in Vienna. Kahn & Engelmann is a tribute to all of the Jews of Vienna who had to leave their homes, leave their country, in 1938, because of the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. This novel is a compelling saga. The narrator is a man named Peter Engelmann, and as the reader peruses the pages they become aware that he is laden with guilt for having survived the Holocaust (this is not an unusual experience). Engelmann reflects back on his life, and the lives of his grandparents, beginning in the current 1980, moving backwards to 1880. His voice becomes the voice of his ancestors, and their stories, struggles and journeys resound strongly throughout the novel. The opening lines of the book begin with a Jewish joke, and in Engelmann's own words regarding the joke, "But precisely because it is a travelling joke, it is also a Jewish joke; for who has travelled (or, as is mostly the case, has fled) more often than the Jews?" And, there begins a journey through a span of three generations of his familial tapestry. Eichner weaves the threads of time with brilliance, leaving no detail untouched or unturned. From the most poignant moments, and the intimate moments, to the humorous moments, our senses are completely filled with their life stories, sweat, blood and toil. The word imagery is magnificent, vivid and masterful, almost poetic in spots. The scenes of Engelmann's grandparents and their emigration to Vienna from Tapolca, Hungary are absolutely astounding. The struggles they endured, on foot, no less, leave the reader with saturated images, images that in and of themselves, are striking for the mind to absorb. From the horse and cart with its heavy load, to the adverse conditions, weather elements and indigenous environmental situations in which they walked and traveled through, Eichman's writing leaves the reader gasping for breath. That they were able to make it to Vienna is incredible, but their perseverance was the driving force behind their journey. The reader becomes consumed with the characters and with the story line. Actually, his grandmother was the driving force behind the journey. Her character is one of strength and determination, no matter the situation they encounter. And, it was her forcefulness and her strong will that led them to return, to the city they left behind. Engelmann is caught in a quandary. He reflects because he must, because he has a strong need to constantly remember the events that occurred before him, beginning with his grandparents, yet he is a man in emotional turmoil due to his need to also forget. Engelmann relates his own story and escape from the Nazis within the confines of his ancestors. He emigrates