Why is a little book like this - a journal of a trip taken by a young mathematician and his wife in 1938 - important? Probably for various reasons both large and small, historical and personal. Because TRAVELING BETWEEN THE LINES is without question an important piece of scholarship.
In the preface to her father's journals and her responses and commentary, Rebecca McBride quotes the renowned writing teacher and prolific memoirist, William Zinsser, who "says, one of the saddest lines is, 'I wish I had asked my mother, or my father, about that.'"
When we are young we are often indifferent to who our parents were, and callously incurious about their lives before we came along. We become curious only when it is too late, when they are gone. Rebecca McBride admits these shortcomings in herself, but she was lucky enought to discover some notebooks of her father's after he died, a journal of a trip he and her mother took across a Europe on the brink of war several years before she was born. Now herself nearly twice the age of that young couple she never really knew, she used her father's trip journals as a way of finally getting to know him a little better. She transcribed his journals, wrote her own responses to his notes, and added astute commentary based on meticulous research she did about what was happening in Europe during those 3-4 months that Randolph's journals cover, a time when Hitler's war machine was gearing up and his 'final solution' to the 'Jewish problem' was already taking shape. Indeed the Randolphs' trip took place only a few short weeks before the infamous Kristallnacht which brought the persecution of the Jewish population out into the open.
Although her father's log makes few personal observations on what was happening politically and morally, McBride fills in the gaps, often posing questions to her young father, knowing of course she'll never know how he might have answered.
In fact, Randolph's journal is quite flat in its emotional tone for the most part. He was after all a mathematician, a man who loved numbers and measurements, calculations and plans. His journal is filled with ordinary observations about prices, foods consumed, distances traveled, sights seen. But there is very little offered in the way of opinions, or emotions felt. Randolph calls an air raid drill witnessed in Munich, which should have been ominous, "not very interesting." In Berchtesgaden near "the Fuhrer's house" he makes note of a great many workmen all over the mountain, and building of roads seemingly going nowhere. McBride fills in the hindsight knowledge that her father was witnessing the building of the infamous "Eagle's Nest" hideaway for Hitler. Later, Randolph comments on two young Jewish men they met on a a train en route to Switzerland, who were removed by Swiss and German officers before they reached the border. He seems quite incurious as to their fate, although he must have known something about how Jews were being mistreated even then. Randolph becomes much more agitated over some temporarily lost baggage than he does over these young men, suddenly "disappeared" from the train.
McBride too wonders what was going through her parents' minds as they witnessed these things, or when they chanced to cross paths with displaced Jews. And she can only wonder, because her father's journal gives no clues.
But Randolph's trip journal only serves as a starting point for the real importance of this book. Because his daughter makes the necessary and important connections through her research. She quotes from other sources that I want to follow up on. There is Henry Metelmann's memoir, A HITLER YOUTH: GROWING UP IN GERMANY IN THE 1930s. In the section on France, she references the recent international bestseller SUITE FRANCAISE, a novel of the experiences of Irene Nemirovsky, who died in a concentration camp. Then there is Marion Kaplan's BETWEEN DIGNITY AND DESPAIR: JEWISH LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY. McBride's bibliography and chapter notes are filled with important sources that will beckon to any serious student of history.
Rebecca McBride wrote this book because she wanted to know her father better. She ended up making a small but significant contribution to world history - one man's dispassionate but detailed look at Europe in a small window of time just before the next world war. This book could easily be read together with Erik Larson's current bestseller, IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLER'S BERLIN, or as a mini-companion piece to Nicholson Baker's blockbusting history, HUMAN SMOKE: THE BEGINNINGS OF WORLD WAR II, THE END OF CIVILIZATION.
I didn't know the Randolphs, but like McBride, I wish I'd known my own father better. In reading the profile of her father at the the back of the book I couldn't help but think what a marvelous and fascinating memoir he might have written himself. What McBride has created in TRAVELING BETWEEN THE LINES is a fine tribute to her father, as well as a fascinating personal window into a particular time in world history.
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In the preface to her father's journals and her responses and commentary, Rebecca McBride quotes the renowned writing teacher and prolific memoirist, William Zinsser, who "says, one of the saddest lines is, 'I wish I had asked my mother, or my father, about that.'"
When we are young we are often indifferent to who our parents were, and callously incurious about their lives before we came along. We become curious only when it is too late, when they are gone. Rebecca McBride admits these shortcomings in herself, but she was lucky enought to discover some notebooks of her father's after he died, a journal of a trip he and her mother took across a Europe on the brink of war several years before she was born. Now herself nearly twice the age of that young couple she never really knew, she used her father's trip journals as a way of finally getting to know him a little better. She transcribed his journals, wrote her own responses to his notes, and added astute commentary based on meticulous research she did about what was happening in Europe during those 3-4 months that Randolph's journals cover, a time when Hitler's war machine was gearing up and his 'final solution' to the 'Jewish problem' was already taking shape. Indeed the Randolphs' trip took place only a few short weeks before the infamous Kristallnacht which brought the persecution of the Jewish population out into the open.
Although her father's log makes few personal observations on what was happening politically and morally, McBride fills in the gaps, often posing questions to her young father, knowing of course she'll never know how he might have answered.
In fact, Randolph's journal is quite flat in its emotional tone for the most part. He was after all a mathematician, a man who loved numbers and measurements, calculations and plans. His journal is filled with ordinary observations about prices, foods consumed, distances traveled, sights seen. But there is very little offered in the way of opinions, or emotions felt. Randolph calls an air raid drill witnessed in Munich, which should have been ominous, "not very interesting." In Berchtesgaden near "the Fuhrer's house" he makes note of a great many workmen all over the mountain, and building of roads seemingly going nowhere. McBride fills in the hindsight knowledge that her father was witnessing the building of the infamous "Eagle's Nest" hideaway for Hitler. Later, Randolph comments on two young Jewish men they met on a a train en route to Switzerland, who were removed by Swiss and German officers before they reached the border. He seems quite incurious as to their fate, although he must have known something about how Jews were being mistreated even then. Randolph becomes much more agitated over some temporarily lost baggage than he does over these young men, suddenly "disappeared" from the train.
McBride too wonders what was going through her parents' minds as they witnessed these things, or when they chanced to cross paths with displaced Jews. And she can only wonder, because her father's journal gives no clues.
But Randolph's trip journal only serves as a starting point for the real importance of this book. Because his daughter makes the necessary and important connections through her research. She quotes from other sources that I want to follow up on. There is Henry Metelmann's memoir, A HITLER YOUTH: GROWING UP IN GERMANY IN THE 1930s. In the section on France, she references the recent international bestseller SUITE FRANCAISE, a novel of the experiences of Irene Nemirovsky, who died in a concentration camp. Then there is Marion Kaplan's BETWEEN DIGNITY AND DESPAIR: JEWISH LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY. McBride's bibliography and chapter notes are filled with important sources that will beckon to any serious student of history.
Rebecca McBride wrote this book because she wanted to know her father better. She ended up making a small but significant contribution to world history - one man's dispassionate but detailed look at Europe in a small window of time just before the next world war. This book could easily be read together with Erik Larson's current bestseller, IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLER'S BERLIN, or as a mini-companion piece to Nicholson Baker's blockbusting history, HUMAN SMOKE: THE BEGINNINGS OF WORLD WAR II, THE END OF CIVILIZATION.
I didn't know the Randolphs, but like McBride, I wish I'd known my own father better. In reading the profile of her father at the the back of the book I couldn't help but think what a marvelous and fascinating memoir he might have written himself. What McBride has created in TRAVELING BETWEEN THE LINES is a fine tribute to her father, as well as a fascinating personal window into a particular time in world history.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (plus d'informations)