Hunting the Truth
Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld
Translated by Sam Taylor
Synopsis
2018 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD BOOK OF THE YEAR
In this dual autobiography, the Klarsfelds tell the dramatic story of fifty years devoted to bringing Nazis to justice
For more than a century, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld have hunted, confronted, and exposed Nazi war criminals, tracking them down in places as far-flung as South America and the Middle East. It is they...
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Reviews
"Riveting . . . absorbing . . . As their memoirs make clear, these militants of memory never lost sight of their goal." —Benjamin Balint, The Wall Street Journal
"Exceptionally relevant . . . an awe-inspiring account of one couple's relentless pursuit of Nazi criminals . . . The Klarsfelds are reluctant memoirists, Serge explains, but their fidelity to accuracy and their humility regarding monumental triumphs of justice serve as urgent messages to us all." —Elizabeth Rosner, San Francisco Chronicle
"Assertive . . . Hunting the Truth] helps us understand how these two otherwise ordinary individuals—a nonobservant Jewish Frenchman and a gentile German woman—came to devote themselves with such single-minded daring to the cause of achieving both justice and commemoration for the French victims of the Holocaust . . . The Klarsfelds’ success has been undeniable." —Robert O. Paxton, The New York Review of Books
"Hunting the Truth is an important book, with an immeasurable educational value. At the narrative level, the authors have written a history primer about the unimaginable cruelty of the Nazis and their willing French collaborators, whom the Klarsfelds helped bring to justice. Alongside the narrative stratum, however, they have compiled a moving treatise based upon their personal experiences." —Mordechai Ben-Dat, The Canadian Jewish News
"A riveting record . . . Anti-semitic hatred, in Sartre’s formulation, “is first of all a passion.” By presenting their many years of struggle for a “great, just cause,” the Klarsfelds’ memoir affirms a far higher and more enduring passion." --Peter E. Kornblub, Jewish Book Council
"Remarkable . . . Throughout their harrowing work, [the Klarsfelds] maintained a home in Paris and remain to this day devoted to and inspired by each other. A masterful work of historical importance." —Booklist (starred review)
"At its best [Hunting the Truth] gives an exhilarating picture of amateurs assuming investigative duties in search of long-overdue justice." —Publishers Weekly
"With bravery and chutzpah, a husband and wife demonstrate that there’s no moral compromise with history." —Kirkus
“This inspiring memoir of persistence and staying true to one’s beliefs will remind all readers that although it may be slow, justice will triumph.” —Library Journal
"The Klarsfelds, by their assiduous research and documentation, helped in the identification and capture of Nazis and others responsible for those crimes . . . The Klarsfelds will be remembered for their emphasis on using the legal system to try the perpetrators of the Holocaust and to prevent their rehabilitation as honored citizens.” —American Thinker