Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure by Menachem Kaiser is a unique “descendent of a Holocaust survivor going to an Eastern European town for a journey of discovery” for unlike many books in this genre, this author does not veer away from the problems inherent in this venture.
Kaiser examines the whole fraught enterprise. The nature of human memory and forgetfulness, of collective and individual responses to trauma, of collective responsibly and justice, or collective revenge and anger (just to name a few), of bureaucracy and anti-Semitism.
Kaiser’s book shows that seventy-six years
after the end of World War Two, both what the Holocaust wrought and its legacy continues. Anyone who takes this trip into the blank
spots of their family tree realizes this quickly enough.
Also, I think the epilogue is a piece of 'fiction.' Golden eggs?
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