THE BOOK FAIR
READ AND FULFILL YOUR LIFE
Vivian Jeanette Kaplan
TEN
GREEN BOTTLES
Author: Vivian Jeanette Kaplan
Published: 2004
Genre: Non-Fiction
Cover: E-Book
Pages: 316
Review:
Eloquently written, beautifully described, Vivian Kaplan penned the biography, “Ten Green Bottles”, in honor of her family. Vivian’s mother, Gerda Kosiner or “Nini,” was born and raised in Vienna. Vivian’s father, Leopold, or “Poldi,” immigrated to Vienna to escape the German invasion of Poland. Ms. Kaplan details life in Vienna before the German Anschluss of Austria, and the efforts of the Austrian government to keep Austria independent. Austrians believed Vienna the cultural center of the world, and prized the stunning architecture, the libraries, the universities, the Viennese Orchestra, the colorful gardens, the lush parks and the fancy restaurants offering delicious delicacies and cafes offering world famous coffees, pastries and chocolates.
The author describes the rise of anti-Semitism in Vienna, and the slow death knell for the Jews as one freedom after another was discarded. The author depicts the population’s steady march towards violence which culminates in Kristallnacht. Ms. Kaplan relates the fear in the Jewish community and the desperation to escape.
The author recounts her family’s eventual departure to Shanghai, an unknown place, but the only city willing to accept Jews without restrictions.
Ms. Kaplan chronicles the events in Shanghai, the determination to work, the constant struggle for food, and the effort to survive in a place so foreign to all that is customary. The author describes the fear and terror of the Germans as they pressure the Japanese to eliminate the Jews of Shanghai, and their subsequent exile to the Hongkew Ghetto. Ms. Kaplan relates the daily struggle of life in the Ghetto, the events which led to the end of the war, the rebuilding of Shanghai, the rise of Communism, and of her family’s eventual departure to Canada.
The biography, historically informative, offers exquisite, colorful, vivid scenes, as well as depictions of occurrences both disturbing and graphic. Recommended.
BLIND VISION
Author: Vivian Jeanette Kaplan
Published: 2013
Genre: Non-Fiction
Cover: E-Book
Pages: 442
Review:
Vivian Jeanette Kaplan’s intelligent, informative and descriptive novel weaves together two tales of crypto-Jewish families. The first story takes place in present day Mexico as a young man, about to wed into a prominent, devout Catholic family, learns a disturbing secret from his dying aunt. The second story relates the tale of the Jewish community and particularly of a Jewish family during the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of the Jews from Spain during the 1490’s.
The well researched novel expounds on the history and repercussions of the Blood Libel, the pogroms of 1391, the Church’s focus on converting Jews, the Church’s harassment of Conversos, the tortures of Inquisition and the emotional devastation of the expulsion for the Jews.
Kaplan’s intent is to bring light and support to the Anousim, millions of crypto-Jews not only in Central and South America but world-wide, who live in fear of anti-Semitism by accepting their heritage.
Though the everyday details of the Calle family are fictitious, all the major events are real; the novel is highly informative, intensely descriptive, and many of the characters are historical personages.
The author’s claim that Christopher Columbus/Cristobal Colon was a crypto-Jew is based on the research of Uruguayan historian, Professor Alfredo de Mello. However, other authors such as Mascarenhas Barreto and Manuel Juciano da Silva also support the claim. A number of Spanish Scholars such as Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, having studied Cristobal Colon’s diaries, concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, a Jew forced to convert to Christianity.
Facts of interest:
Columbus’s signature matches inscriptions on headstones in Jewish cemeteries in Spain. Cristobal Colon’s real name was Salvador Fernandez Zarco, a Jewish name, and two Converso Jews financed Columbus’s voyage, Luis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez, also both personages portrayed in the novel and not the Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Spanish Monarchs set the day for expulsion on July 31, 1492, however, August 3, 1492 was the finalized date, which would match the Commemorative Day of Tisha B’Av, important in Jewish history as it was the same date of the Destruction of both the First Temple and the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the First Temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans, in 70 CE, done symbolically to inflict more pain on the Jewish people. Edward I also expelled the Jews from England in 1290, on Tisha B’Av. Kaplan assets in the novel, Columbus sailed a few days earlier to avoid the exact date. Recommended.