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Ruth Klüger's first book about growing up in an antisemitic society

Who doesn’t want freebies? Most of all, free books?

In this time of high prices and recession one after another it is nice to know that the city of Vienna is going to distribute 100,000 free books for the masses. The program “Eine Stadt, Ein Buch ^[2]” is on its seventh year, to coincide with the Lesefestwoche ^[3]and the International Book Fair ^[4]. I think this is Austria’s way to save one’s sanity during the darker months of November and December, read a book.

Starting today at noon Ruth Kluger’s “Weiter Leben” a story of her girlhood in the Nazi Austria, her deportation, the antisemitism that was the rage then, and the death of the family members falling as victims of the Holocaust. It is also the story of her survival, hence the phrase, “to live continually.”

November also marks the 70th anniversary of the horrible Reichskristallnacht ^[5]. The actors of this era are slowly dying and a stunning 30 per cent of Austrians today, mostly young people, voted for the rightwing parties, it is time to learn something from the past and think of the future.