Today I'm welcoming Janet Lee Berg and her book - Restitution - to my blog as part of the blog tour hosted by The Coffee Pot Book Club (founded by Mary Anne Yarde).
I'm delighted to share an excerpt with you all, but first I will introduce the book.
Restitution
“Restitution” is the riveting, multigenerational story of Sylvie Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor traumatized by the memory of her art dealer father forced to trade paintings with the Nazis in an attempt to save their large extended family. Sylvie’s adult life in 1970s New York is plagued by survivors’ guilt and bitterness. But when her self-destructive ways threaten to upend the life of her Vietnam-vet son, Sylvie finally needs to face her demons. She returns to Holland to confront her past and fight the Dutch judicial system for the return of the masterpieces, but the battle proves far more difficult than Sylvie imagined...
Weaving in tragic true events from her own family history, Berg offers a sensitive story of history, romance, and humor along with detail from the extensive research of Lynn H. Nicholas, the world’s leading expert on art pilfered during WWII. Over 80 years later, the real family still awaits justice and the return of artwork that continues to hang on museum walls, without noting their tragic history…
Series: Sequel to "Rembrandt's Shadow"
Author: Janet Lee Berg
Publication Date: 30th September 2020
Publisher: Koehler
Page Length: 262 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
You can buy a copy of the book via -
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Restitution-Janet-Lee-Berg-ebook/dp/B08GHG2HX2
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Restitution-Janet-Lee-Berg-ebook/dp/B08GHG2HX2
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/restitution-janet-lee-berg/1137466374
Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/search?filter=&id=8010669379714&query=janet+lee+berg
Now I'll share the excerpt -
“On October 20, 1942, we were escorted to the train depot . . . to the unknown. We waited on the cement platform for three and a half hours. It was windy and cold. My brother and sisters wore dead faces. My mother nearly passed out, and a stranger helped her to her feet. Then, there was that final moment of truth—the big trade.” Sylvie went off again into her own world.
A Rembrandt passing hands, unbeknownst to the late, great artist, himself—Rembrandt van Rijn—who saved innocent lives with the stroke of a brush.
“Talk to me, Sylvie,” the lawyer coaxed. “Tell me what happened before your escape.”
She thought about the crude cargo boat at the port in Spain where they eventually met other relatives her father’s negotiating had saved—twenty-five Jews in all—the biggest trade and his last one.
“Oh, so many times we were told we were the lucky Jews because we ended up at the British safety internment camp on the island of Jamaica in the West Indies. We were in the state of suspension there for three long years . . . where I was supposed to finish growing up.”
Actual photos from the Katz family’s WWII experience
No, no. Go back. You’re getting way ahead of me. Before the camp, before the occupation. What were some of your earliest fears? When did you start to feel threatened?”
“I don’t know. It’s all so vague. Sometime in the late 1930s my father spoke about going to America, to New York, to look at art galleries and museums and eventually running a branch of his art business in the United States. I had no idea it was where he’d try to salvage whatever art would be left.
“At first, the idea of going to America was exciting, especially going on a big boat. Later on, when I started to enjoy the freedom of being a teen, I didn’t want to leave my home,
and I especially didn’t want to leave Samuel.”
“Samuel?”
“He was my first love. You know . . . there’s nothing like your first love.”
“Yes, let’s not get off track again. We need to go even further back—when you first felt threatened?”
She still saw Samuel’s eyes in her mind, full of promise. She’d been crying hard when she told him with tears running into her mouth that she’d be leaving the country soon with her family—they’d be on the run. That was when she received her first kiss, her first salty kiss.
Sylvie tried to focus and recalled when she was a little girl in the early 1930s.
“There was a man by the name of Maxwell from Germany who came on a regular basis to our hometown gallery on Spoorstraat 32, only a few kilometers from our home. I kept that number forever in my head—32, my lucky number.”
“Go on. Tell me about Maxwell?”
“Then he stopped coming, Maxwell. Something to do with our being Jewish. We received reports from across the border that things were getting very bad for the Jewish population in Germany, only fifteen miles away from our home. And later, like the spread of a terminal disease, the Nazis expanded their power, country by country. The Germans implemented anti-Jewish policies immediately upon occupation in Holland, including the taking of Jewish property. You know that Holland lasted only five days before they surrendered. There was nowhere to hide—no mountains, no caves, no forests.” Sylvie tried to remember other names that Attorney Adelstein may find helpful.
“There was another man, Dr. Hans Posse, who came to our gallery. He’s the one who wanted to send my father’s art to the Linz Museum—for Hitler’s private collection. It was right after Uncle Nathan and my father were forced to register their business.”
She told Adelstein that according to documents in the trade register, non-Jewish business partners were appointed as directors who resigned after the war, and the Rosenberg brothers were to continue to do business with whatever was left.
“How did your father feel about losing his power?” Mr. Adelstein asked.
“Like a small dog giving up a big bone, that’s how he felt. My parents wondered what to do with us kids regarding the fate of his business. If he lost the art, his children’s futures would be jeopardized.”
Sylvie was getting more upset and started to look through her jar of sweets for a soothing lozenge to clear her throat.
Tension increased daily at the dinner table, but without questions. It was a rule—at the dinner table, we only talked about pleasant things.
“The servants were let go, and we had to deal with setting the table, eating our mother’s lousy cooking, clearing the table, and washing our own dishes. We passed the salt back and forth along the lavish length of our table under the pretense that all the unpleasantness would go away. As you know, things only got worse.”
She told her lawyer that the Dutch police got word from the Germans to give the Rosenbergs special treatment. But the Germans were growing impatient with the family.
“So, you felt the clock ticking?”
“Louder by the day…
The
“real” Sylvie Rosenberg and her children (Vogue, the author’s
mother-in-law).
Janet Lee Berg
Janet Lee Berg is a native New Yorker with a residence in Charleston, SC. She is also author of several other works of fiction and children’s books and has had her work featured in the local, regional, and national press. A journalist in the Hamptons, Janet Lee Berg has interviewed numerous celebrities and pursued an MFA in Creative Writing, under the direction of published professors including Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes.
You can connect with the author via -
Website: http://janet.dalitopia.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.berg.338/friends
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janetleeberg1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawgeared/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7123134.Janet_Lee_Berg
You can also learn more about the book and the author by visiting the other blogs on this tour -
That's it for now.
Till the next time.
Take care Zoe
