The Days and the Seasons: Memoirs

The Days and the Seasons is the personal memoir of Jewish historian Evyatar Friesel. He chronicles his varied life, from his childhood in Nazi Germany, to his escape to Brazil, and finally, to his settlement in Israel. Colorful descriptions and keen observations mark Friesel's narrative as he skillfully describes, analyzes, and reflects upon the most significant happenings of his generation. Friesel, who has made important contributions to the study of the modern Jewish experience, seeks to make sense of his life within the larger framework of Jewish history. In particular, he comes to recognize that two events, the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, shaped the lives of millions of Jews of his generation and influenced his personal destiny in very direct ways. The persecution against German Jewry made him a refugee, and the creation of Israel gave him a country in which he built his career, formed a family, and shaped a new identity. One of the important contributions of this memoir is the strikingly sober presentation and original analysis of German-Jewish relations after the Holocaust. Stressing that the moral burden of the historical catastrophe has not lost any of its significance, he suggests new ways to confront the German-Jewish issue, taking into account the unique characteristics of the current generation of Jews and Germans and the social and political reality of the day.