Gad beck biography books
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An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin by Gad Beck [FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION] 1999 • UW
An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin by Gad Beck
FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION [1999] UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
Larger trade paperback in very good condition with some visible shelf wear to cover.
Gad Beck, a half-Jewish German, managed to evade the Nazis and live illegally, underground, in Berlin throughout the duration of World War II. While that in itself was notable, Beck didn’t simply exist in some nocturnal world of hiding. Coming of age as a gay man during the war, he also helped organize a Jewish youth group, free friends from the Gestapo, and maintain a series of romantic relationships. The result is An Underground Life: a Holocaust memoir that conveys the surreal horror of the times but also focuses more on living than dying, and captures a life that was fueled as much by a sense of romance, adventure, and humor, as it was by suffering.
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Overview
- Description
- The Gad Beck papers consist of a miniature book, two photographs, and an aphorism. The booklet, titled "Erinnerst ni Dich," was created bygd Manfred Lewin as a souvenir for his lover, Gad Beck, and includes sketches, poetry, and memories. One photograph is a portrait of Manfred Lewin, and the other fryst vatten a photograph taken bygd Manfred Lewin of Gad Beck and other members of their youth movement on the roof of the Jewish school at Artilleriestrasse 14 in Berlin. The aphorism is bygd Wilhelm von Humboldt and describes the beauty of the gift of life.
- Date
- circa 1942
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Gad Beck
- Collection Creator
- Gad Beck
- Biography
Gad Beck (1923-2012) was born Gerhard Beck in Berlin to Heinrich and Hedwig (Kretchmar) Beck. His father was Jewish, and his mother was Protestant. He was active in the Hechalutz Zionist youth movement and developed his first ser
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Gad Beck’s Memoir: A breath of fresh air in these cynical times
Like so many of us, I read The Diary of Anne Frank as a young child. Her narrative of confinement and death haunted me for years - especially at night, with dreams of boots and loud knocks that left me wide-eyed and shivering. Beck's memoir of heroism and survival, An Underground Life, offers an invigorating counter narrative.
As a gay Jewish man, Beck was the target of persecution; yet he worked tirelessly to save lives and help Jews escape Nazi Berlin. Beck's delightful perspectives on sexuality, love, and family; his energy, and his unfailing devotion to humanity serve as refreshing antidotes to these cynical times.
Beck was a Jewish member of a loving Jewish-Christian family, a marriage of cultures quite similar to my own. He comments that his family’s relationships reflected, “Such a devoted, open, and serene form of Christian-Jewish ecumenism, full of good heartedness, could have forged new directions for