Ilse's Fate, a novel takes place in Germany between 1913 and 1945. It incorporates my parents' experience, their family and friends' experiences before and during the Nazi Holocaust. The thesis of this fictional tale is that we are all endowed with seeds for good and evil behaviors. Sometimes conditions including insecurity enhance latent bad behavior. For some horrendous conditions evoke good and courageous action. Living a secluded childhood at a manor until age six, until the family lost their estate during World War One, Ilse and her unwelcoming, widowed father move into a small Munich apartment. As a young teenager seeking confidence and acceptance among her peers to survive in a hostile world, she becomes involved in the Nazi movement. Coexisting conflicts between good and evil within her, lead Ilse into heart wrenching experiences that eventually destroy her both emotionally and physically. Throughout the novel she encounters good people as well as uncouth and depraved individuals. The Epilogue documents what transpired to those in Ilse's Fate who survived the Nazi/Holocaust era. The Afterword details how the experiences of the real people are portrayed through specific characters in the novel. For example, I show how my father's Report on Dachau, describing his experience as a prisoner at the concentration camp, is portrayed in the story, as well as its impact on his life after Dachau.

Ilse's Fate

David O. Solmitz

Page Publishing, Inc.

“This haunting autobiography is a major contribution to the newly growing body of Holocaust-survivor-children's memoirs. Its two-part title says much: Piecing Scattered Souls highlights the care in the centripetal organization of the three-generation narrative dealing with the author's survivor parents, his own generation of Holocaust-survivor children and their wives, and the next generation of his four children. The tome's subtitle, Maine, Germany, Mexico, China, and Beyond, highlights the macrocosmic venue in which the events unfold. David O. Solmitz's evocation of his professor-father, Walter Solmitz, a survivor of the post-Crystal-Night weeks-long incarceration in Germany's first concentration camp, Dachau, is comprehensive: In his analytical portrayal, Solmitz is sensitive to the all-pervasive survivor guilt that led to his father's suicide in his fifties. Employing Helen Epstein's path-breaking work, the author convincingly shows how that survivor guilt was projected onto Walter's only child — leading to David's lifelong activities as community organizer, teacher, and peace activist. The rich collection of firsthand documentary material throughout the memoir makes the narrative real and believable. Particularly compelling is the detailed, comprehensive report by Walter Solmitz that serves as the volume's first appendix: a rare account of the Jewish prisoners' daily lives in Dachau at the end of 1938. The words I would use to characterize this unique volume are: 'honest,' 'engaging,' 'self-probing,' and 'thoughtful.' Not only was Walter Solmitz a philosopher in the best sense of the word, his son, David, is one as well.” —Steven Cerf, George Lincoln Skolfield, Jr., Professor of German and Holocaust Studies, Bowdoin College

Piecing Scattered Souls: Maine, Germany, Mexico, China and Beyond

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Books by David O. Solmitz

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by David O. Solmitz. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ilse's Fate

Piecing Scattered Souls: Maine, Germany, Mexico, China and Beyond