OUT OF THE FIRE

by Ernst & Edward Linn Papanek ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 1975

Papanek, an Austrian-born educator and child psychologist, was about to flee to America in 1938 when he was persuaded to become director of a home for Jewish refugee children in Montmorency outside Paris. Under his direction the first home -- sponsored by an originally Russian-Jewish organization, the OSE -- grew to four, accommodating some 250 children. By the fall of Paris in June, 1940, Papanek had assembled a dedicated staff and created a remarkable educational experiment -- not quite a wartime Summerhill, but a community based on comradeship and openness rather than authority. At the fall of Paris the children were evacuated to new quarters in then unoccupied territory, and Papanek was smuggled out through Spain, to arrange for their escape to America. His stories of indifference and infighting among various American charities (including Jewish organizations) are perhaps the most appalling part of the book. Of Papanek's charges, by now numbering 320, only 140 were rescued. He was able to keep or re-establish contact with some of the survivors, whose diaries, letters, and reminiscences are interspersed throughout the book. Papanek, who died in 1973, seems to have been a rare and gifted spirit; he manages to keep self-congratulation on his own enlightened attitudes to a reasonable minimum, and what comes through is a sense of esprit de corps with the human race.

Pub Date: April 28, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION