115: Lord Daniel Finkelstein: Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival

This is a story of moderation, to use our history of oppression to resist fascism, anti-Jewish hate and uphold the rule of law and maintain hard-fought for liberties. Russia led by Stalin and Germany by Hitler were gruesome, murderous, evil regimes. Yet Soviet Russia’s crimes aren’t acknowledged in the same way as those perpetrated by the Germans and their accomplices across Europe. But they certainly are in this engaging chronicle of Lord Daniel Finkelstein’s own family history, “Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival”. Danny’s parents, like my own grandparents and great uncles and aunts resisted victimhood to rebuild their family lives here in England. I’m getting a taste for handing over the interview microphone because a previous interviewee now becomes the interviewer. In episode 113, Dr. Bea Lewkowicz was interviewed by Jonathan Freedland as she knew both young men who escaped Auschwitz and warned the world of the horrors going on within. These are new details so rich in our podcast that Jonathan updated his bestseller, The Escape Artist. Here Bea interviews Lord Danny Finkelstein about his book with a series of searching questions. Bea also knew both Danny’s parents and interviewed them for her AJR Refugee Voices Archive, where she’s director. Danny says his parents held Bea in high regard and like him, she is also the child of two Holocaust survivors. That lived-in knowledge, that shared experience makes Danny delve into his own family story deeper than anything you might’ve seen or heard about his book so far. Tell your friends and share my podcast with them. It’s in the Top 5% Most Shared Podcasts in the world, and for that I thank you so much. This is Bea Lewkowicz, director of AJR refugee voices, in conversation with Lord Daniel Finkelstein, author of Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices