Book Review: What it felt like to be a Jewish family in Austria amid the rise of Hitler

By reconstructing – through letters, photos, and archival documents – the specific experiences of her family, Meriel articulates a revealing, often heart-breaking insider’s perspective that illuminates the broader narrative.

A worker clearing broken glass of a Jewish shop following the anti-Jewish riots of Kristallnacht in Berlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

• The Lost Café Schindler: One Family, Two Wars and the Search for Truth
• Meriel Schindler 
• Hodder & Stoughton, €23.45