War and Remembrance (197 page)

“The Paradise Ghetto” in Terezin, or Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, was known about during the war. Nothing is invented or exaggerated in this account, though the parts played by Natalie and Dr. Jastrow are fictitious. The SS officers are all real, as are the High Elders Eppstein and Murmelstein. The general history of the ghetto is true. The “Great Beautification for the one visit of neutral Red Cross observers is a well-documented fact, in all its bizarre details, as is the visit itself. A fragment of the film “The Führer Grants the Jews a Town” survives in the Yad Vashem archive in Jerusalem. The making of the film took place as described, but the film was never exhibited.

The scenes in Oswiecim, or Auschwitz, are based on a study of the available documents and literature, as well as on consultations with survivors. These scenes have been meticulously reviewed for authenticity by eminent authorities on this terrible subject. Oswiecim may be forever beyond the grasp of the human mind, now that nothing is left of it but a dead museum. It is hoped that living survivors of Auschwitz, comparing their recollections with this fictional Remembrance, created by one who was not there, will see an honest effort to make the vanished horror live for all the world that was not there.

The march of Soviet prisoners from Lamsdorf to Oswiecim, the episodes of cannibalism, the experimental gassing of these Soviet prisoners of war with Zyklon B to test its efficacy for killing Jews en masse: all. these are facts. An important source is the memoir of the Commandant himself, Rudolf Hoess, written while he was awaiting trial after the war. He was found guilty of the mass murders, which he freely admitted, and was hanged in Auschwitz.

The other SS officers are real people, except that Klinger is fictitious. The inspection visit of Himmler, and his viewing of the gassing process from beginning to end, took place as described; in July, however, not in June. The construction of the crematoriums, the general picture of the Auschwitz Interest Area with its industries and agricultural installations, the treatment of prisoners who attempted to escape, the roll calls, “Canada": all facts.

Kommando 1005, the roving German unit that exhumed and eradicated the mass graves, is a matter of history. SS Colonel Paul Blobel is an actual person. The mutiny of Mutterperl is fictitious. The mass escape of some prisoners is improvised out of accounts of such escapes from SS slave gangs.

Berel Jastrow’s fictitious journey from Ternopol through the Carpathians to Prague is based on several such incredible journeys, made by Jews who escaped from the death camps with photographic and documentary evidence, and crossed all of Nazi-held Europe to bring the revelation to the outside world; only to encounter the almost universal “will not to believe.” The fictitious partisan bands of Nikonov and Levine are derived from existing partisan literature. Reference is made in this passage to some actual partisan bands.

The treatment of the landing craft and atomic bomb programs is factual. There was a conflict over priorities involving a coupling. Victor Henry’s part in it is of course fictitious; Dr. Oppenheimer’s visit to Oak Ridge is a fictional scene; and Kirby, Peters, and Anderson are fictional characters. It is a fact that Dr. Oppenheimer recommended the very late introduction of the Navy’s thermal diffusion system into Oak Ridge, to provide enriched feed for the electromagnetic separation process; and that this made possible the production of one U-235 bomb for use in the war, over Hiroshima. The Nagasaki bomb of plutonium was produced in the Hanford reactors. It is also a fact that no other bombs were available from the Manhattan Project when these two were dropped.

The account of the FM sonar, “Hell’s Bells,” and of its use late in the war, is factual.

To sum up: the purpose of the author in both
War and Remembrance
and
The Winds of War
was to bring the past to vivid life through the experiences, perceptions, and passions of a few people caught in the war’s maelstrom. This purpose was best served by scrupulous accuracy of locale and historical fact, as the backdrop against which the invented drama would play. Such at least was the working ideal.

Herman Wouk

1962-1978

Also by Herman Wouk

The Winds of War

“Wouk is a matchless storyteller with a gift for characterization, an ear for convincing dialogue, and a masterful grasp of what was at stake in World War II.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“First-rate storytelling.”

—
New York Times

“With the whole world as its setting,
The Winds of War
tells the intimate story of an American family — a Navy family — caught up in the vortex of world conflict…. World history comes to life at a personal, eyewitness level.”

—
Philadelphia Inquirer

And the magnificent saga, encompassing two novels, that brings brilliantly to life the epic adventure of Israel’s founding and struggle to survive:

The Hope

“Inspiring and full of excitement….
The Hope
seamlessly weaves epic events into everyday life.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“One of our best writers today — a modern Charles Dickens — is Herman Wouk….
The Hope
is not only a good read, but it also causes a good think.”

— William Safire,
New York Times

The Glory

“A sprawling, action-packed novel….
The Glory
is gripping historical fiction. Wouk’s portraits of historical figures are altogether convincing.”

—
Philadelphia Inquirer

A MASTERPIECE OF HISTORICAL FICTION—
THE GREAT NOVEL OF AMERICA’S “GREATEST GENERATION

Herman Wouk’s sweeping epic of World War II, which begins with 77ie Winds of War and continues in War ancf Remembrance, stands as the crowning achievement of one of America’s most celebrated storytellers. Like no other books about the war, Wouk’s spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events—and all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II—as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war’s maelstrom.

“Brilliant…. An outstanding novel and at the same time a great work of history Wouk has more than recaptured the period; he has given it life.”

—
H
ENRY
K
ISSINGER

“Moving, thrilling fiction…. Wouk is a magnificent storyteller.”

—
B
OSTON
G
LOBE

“One of the great narratives of our time What is so extraordinary about this novel is the sense of authenticity which it conveys whether at the scene of great battles or eavesdropping on the dialogue of historic personages Quite simply, I haven’t read a novel in years full of so many moving episodes.”

—
C
HRISTIAN
S
CIENCE
M
ONITOR

“Those who lived through World War II can most fully appreciate the resonances in this uncommonly readable book. But it is clearly meant-and recommended-for those who did not.”

—
T
IME

HERMAN WOUK’s acclaimed novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Caine Mutiny; Marjorie Morningstar; Don’t Stop the Carnival; Youngblood Hawke; The Winds of War; War and Remembrance; Inside, Outside; The Hope; and The Glory.

^*
ln German this is
run together as one word; acronym RSHA.— V.H.

^*
German:

^*
Roon is in error. The
printed excerpts from the top-secret “Victory Program,” a resources analysis. — V.H.

^*
Army advocacy was less than unanimous. My memorandum in support of Raeder survives in my files. Generals on the Russian front tended to scorn the Mediterranean strategy as a “fantasy.” It was no more a “fantasy,” as it turned out, than the notion of beating the Soviet Union. — A.v.R.

^*
ln fact, a Chicago newspaper did dig out and print the story of the code-breaking. The Japanese missed it, evidently. President Roosevelt wisely ignored this treason, instead of prosecuting it in a blaze of publicity. — V.H.

^*
General von Roon wrote in prison. — V.H.

^*
German:

^*
The code name was altered to
(Brunswick) during the campaign. This translation retains “Blue” throughout. — V.H.

^*
German
a military term borrowed from tennis. — V.H.