I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family’s Story of Exile and Return

In this understated debut, journalist Goldenberg explores her Jewish family history during WWII. Her grandparents, Hansi and Helga Feldner-Bustin, had survived the Nazis and immigrated in 1955 to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to work as doctors, and a year later returned to Vienna, where they remained. Goldenberg learned that Hansi had left behind in Vienna folders of documents, and used them as a starting point to reconstruct her grandparents’ lives and understand their choices. Through family photos, school report cards, letters, and Nazi documents detailing the liquidation of Jewish businesses, Goldenberg presents a vivid picture of life in Vienna under Nazi rule. Her relatives had markedly different experiences: Helga suffered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp for years but managed to escape death before that camp was liberated in 1945. In contrast, Hansi, who was taken in by a Catholic doctor, was “constantly out and about” on the streets of Vienna, visiting lending libraries, taverns, and university classes. Goldenberg uncovered the surprising reason the Feldner-Bustins decided to return home: the “rigid, racist social conventions” the couple encountered among their non-Jewish friends in Poughkeepsie. Goldenberg’s thoughtful research and engaging style make this a valuable addition to Holocaust literature . [em](June) [/em]