Visitors to Berlin often ask, “Where was the Wall?” And many people think removing the Wall was a mistake. OPC member Eva Schweitzer remembers the Wall in The Berlin Wall Today: Remnants, Ruins and Remembrances [New York: Berlinica Publishing]. Schweitzer illustrates her book with more than 100 color photos she took of what remains of the Wall with a textual description of each scene. The book takes the reader on a tour of the last traces and fading memories of the historic symbol of the Iron Curtain—to memorials, parks, hidden back yards, old train tracks, factory buildings, churches, and Prussian cemeteries. Justinian Jampol, director of the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, wrote, “This book presents the story of the Wall from many perspectives – it’s not just a guide, but a commentary on the significance of the Wall. It highlights the dark history of the Iron Curtain, as well as its political and artistic legacy as a canvas and cultural landmark.” Schweitzer covers media, entertainment, Broadway and Wall Street for the German publications Die ZEIT, Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau. She divides her time between Berlin and New York City, where she lives in a former Times Square hotel that once housed Lee Harvey Oswald.
Examine a nation through its people, not through the headlines. That is what OPC member Ronda Robinson does in Beyond Politics: Inspirational People of Israel [Jacksonville, Florida/Jerusalem, Israel: Mazo Publishers]. Her book features 19 Israelis who are making a difference in the lives of others. They range from the first Ethiopian to be a Knesset member to an Iraqi-born pediatric heart surgeon who saves the lives of children who come to Israel from all over the world. Another character is the “Chicken Lady of Jerusalem,” Clara Hammer, who in her 70s started a charity fund out of her own pocket to give poor Jews a chicken dinner on the Sabbath. Her mitzva grew until she was feeding 250 families a week, with the support of donors worldwide.
Beyond Politics shows life in Israel behind the headlines. It offers a balance to the way Israel often is presented in the news. It puts a human face to Israel with stories of people who take a stand for their dreams. These portraits, with photos by David Silverman, a news photographer in Israel for Reuters and Getty Images, capture a variety of secular and religious Israelis of all backgrounds.
In the preface, Robinson, an American, writes about her life and the goal of her book. “I have been searching for home all my life. I found it on my first trip to Israel in 1994. My soul immediately felt comfortable there.” “It seemed that [American] reporters used tanks, bus explosions, suicide bombers and security walls to convey the world of Israel.” “My intention is to make a complex land approachable by introducing some of the colorful personalities who inhabit it.” Robinson, a former foreign correspondent in Israel, now is a writer/editor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. She has written for national and international publications including American Profile, Hadassah, Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Report, Ms., Rolling Stone, Travel & Leisure, USA Today, The Washingtonian, Woman’s World and CNN.com.