THE INSIDE STORY OF AN OUTSIDER

Intense and dramatic without being a horror story, this is a dispassionate picture of Europe and World War II seen by a German intellectual. Schoenberner was editor- in 1933- of an anti-nazi periodical, Simplicissimus, and always about one jump ahead of the Gestapo. The personal story of the Schoenberners is a fascinating one, and closely linked with that of other intellectuals, as in a concentration camp in southern France they waited in terror and uncertainty for the sweep of Hitler's armies over France. Prior to that was Switzerland, then the French Riviera, ""eight years in the waiting room""- in and out of concentration camps. Backgrounding this period is France of the occupation-and Schoenberner has done a masterly analysis of the French mind. A meeting with Gide is unforgettable. He dissects the mental attitudes of various intellectuals, among them Thomas Mann. Then- with Petain in a seat of doubtful power- the miracle happened, a chance to go to America. Red tape, delays, heartbreak, but finally they arrived, and found the opportunity to make a new start. A beautifully written, profound book, which those who knew the old Europe will, perhaps, cherish most.