And the world closed its doors

Much has been written about the West's unwillingness to attempt the rescue of tens of thousands of European Jews from the hands of the Nazis. Now David Clay Large gives a specific human face to this tragedy of bureaucratic inertia and ill will. In this masterpiece of Holocaust literature, Large tells the wrenching story of Max Schohl, a German Jew who in the years preceding World War II could not find a government that would allow his family to immigrate, despite wealth, education, business and family connections, a job offer from an American university, and herculean efforts by himself and his American relatives. After repeated but fruitless efforts to gain entry first to the United States, and then to Britain, Chile, and Brazil, Max died in Auschwitz, and his wife and daughters were sent to hard labour in Wiesbaden. Max left behind a unique collection of family letters and documents, which Large has brought together into a gripping, personal commentary on the evolution of the Holocaust in Europe and the hopelessly inadequate response from abroad.