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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Politics & government

THE SHORT, STRANGE LIFE OF HERSCHEL GRYNSZPAN

Jonathan Kirsch

A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris

This is the thrilling, untold story of a boy assassin and the world he changed forever.

On November 7, 1938 a 17-year-old German/Polish refugee by the name of Herschel Grynszpan was ushered into the Paris office of a Nazi diplomat named Ernst vom Rath. He then drew a revolver and, with five fatal shots, suddenly brought himself—and the plight of his fellow Jews—to the attention of the world. Here, Jonathan Kirsch, author of the bestselling Harlot by the Side of the Road, explores some of the most troubling and provocative mysteries of the case, examining whether Grynszpan was a crazed lone gunman or a brave partisan fighter, and whether the young man and his victim shared a personal connection before their fateful encounter. The book also explains why the Nazis, and Goebbels in particular, became so obsessed with the case. He describes in chilling detail how, after the assassination, the Nazis proceeded to inaugurate an organized campaign of terror against Jews in towns and cities throughout Germany that would become known as Kristallnacht. Part page-turning historical thriller, part fascinating true biography, The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan promises entrance any reader of Erik Larson or Mitchell Zuckoff Jonathan Kirsch is the author of thirteen books, and has contributed book reviews to the Los Angeles Times for more than 30 years. He currently serves on the adjunct faculty of NYU’s Professional Publishing Program and has served three terms as President of PEN USA.

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Book Published 2013-05-01 by Liveright

Comments

Kirsch expertly picks through the murky details to shed new light on the historical significance. A compelling study.

Kirsch has eloquently and carefully remedied a gap in the historical literature and provided a dramatic real-life mystery with potentially broad appeal. His concluding meditations on the nature ofresistance, ofwhich this rnay (or may not) be a compelling example, are thoughtfhl and illuminating.

Kirsch's investigation of its international history invites us to chart the troubling boundaries of responsibility for atrocity.

With a storyteller’s touch and a lawyer’s insight, Kirsch elevates this tragic tale and makes it read like a legal and moral thriller.

An excellent account…Reading this excellent, thought-provoking biography, one is all too easily reminded of Camus's 1942 novel, The Stranger.

No novelist could invent a story with as many twists of history and character as the one Jonathan Kirsch tells about Herschel Grynszpan…The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan illuminates the countless short and tragic lives of eastern European Jews running for shelter in the terrible days leading up to World War II.

In his well-crafted study… Jonathan Kirsch manages to put some meat on the skinny frame of his protagonist and also to put a human face on his victim. In so doing, Kirsch has made a valuable contribution to our understanding of Kristallnacht, whose 75th anniversary falls this year.

Herschel Grynszpan wanted nothing more than to be remembered for his rash, heroic actions. In Kirsch, he has finally found an objective, yet passionate, chronicler.