Gad Beck’s Memoir: A breath of fresh air in these cynical times
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Like so many of us, I read The Diary of Anne Frank as a young child. Her narrative of confinement and death haunted me for years - especially at night, with dreams of boots and loud knocks that left me wide-eyed and shivering. Beck's memoir of heroism and survival, An Underground Life, offers an invigorating counter narrative.
As a gay Jewish man, Beck was the target of persecution; yet he worked tirelessly to save lives and help Jews escape Nazi Berlin. Beck's delightful perspectives on sexuality, love, and family; his energy, and his unfailing devotion to humanity serve as refreshing antidotes to these cynical times.
Beck was a Jewish member of a loving Jewish-Christian family, a marriage of cultures quite similar to my own. He comments that his family’s relationships reflected, “Such a devoted, open, and serene form of Christian-Jewish ecumenism, full of good heartedness, could have forged new directions for Central European culture if Hitler had not destroyed it all.”
When Beck was arrested with his father and sister, Christian family members, including one in uniform who had recently returned from the front joined other families to demand their release.
Beck died in 2012, and was celebrated as “an activist, leader, and inspiration.”
Stephen Greco's review of his biography might persuade you better than I can that this book is a "must-read." You'll find the review here.
And here’s a handy link if you want to purchase the book on Amazon
