When Time Stopped
A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains
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In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the morgue book.
Of thirty-four Neumann family members, twenty-five were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who, to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo's eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn't bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened.
When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. Ten years later Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.
A "beautifully told story of personal discovery" (John le Carré), When Time Stopped is an unputdownable detective story and an epic family memoir, spanning nearly ninety years and crossing oceans. Neumann brings each relative to vivid life, and this "gripping, expertly researched narrative will inspire those looking to uncover their own family histories" (Publishers Weekly).
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 4, 2020 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797101231
- File size: 291370 KB
- Duration: 10:07:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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This audiobook about journeys is made even better by narrator Rebecca Lowman's captivating performance. Author Ariana Neumann describes how she discovered her father's secrets. The story describes her father's life in Nazi-ruled Czechoslovakia and Germany, as well as his journey to Venezuela, where he became a successful businessman whose past was never mentioned. Through it all, there is an optimism uncommon in most Holocaust-era biographies. Lowman's style is ideal. She conveys passion and empathy that make even the saddest moments feel warm and somehow optimistic. But it is Neumann's growing awareness of her father's experiences that provides the most memorable passages. Lowman captures every emotional nuance and conveys these moments with caring and warmth. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine -
December 16, 2019
Neumann, a former foreign correspondent for Venezuela’s Daily Journal, debuts with a deeply moving account of her father’s life during the Holocaust. Growing up as a girl of privilege in Caracas, Venezuela, Neumann formed a Nancy Drew–type sleuthing club with friends. By accident, she came across a box containing papers and other documents for a man named Jan Sebesta, but with a photo of her father, Hans. Soon, though, the box disappeared. It would be decades before Neumann rediscovered the photo, and it proved to be the springboard for a spy-worthy story of her now-deceased father surviving the Holocaust by living in plain sight in Berlin under an assumed identity. By poring over letters sent to her father from Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp near Prague, Neumann learns that of 34 members of the Neumann family living in Czechoslovakia during WWII, 25 were killed by the Nazis. Using the letters—as well as those written by her father—she searches for and meets cousins she didn’t know existed, who help fill in details, such as that her “father was a valued member of the fire brigade” in 1944. This gripping, expertly researched narrative will inspire those looking to uncover their own family histories. (Feb.)Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated the author's mother hid the box containing documents the author found as a child.
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