THE CLAIMANT

by Hollis Alpert ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 1968

A capable, readable novel of a restitution case in Germany today as undertaken by Alfred Becker, an American lawyer, who also has some undeclared obligations to settle up--to his race as a Jew. Although largely as a token acknowledgement (rather than motivated by love), he had married the victim of a concentration camp after the war. Now he is sent to Germany to represent some ""sixty survivors of ""labor policies"" of a corporation called Zeller-Bricken, and the claim will stand up if it can be proved that there is a carry-over between the old firm and the new. As there is. Herr Weisse, one of its directors, is a former SS officer. This then deals with Becker's love affair now with Weisse's daughter, with the dissolution of his marriage--equably, with an attempt to find a Menorah of an Erfurt synagogue, and with his reassessment of the German guilt and survival sickness. . . . The novel, which owes more to sincerity than subtlety, integrates issues of personal and collective affiliations into a valid story.

Pub Date: March 16, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION