''Reunion'' (originally written in English) is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

Fred Uhlman Fred Uhlman (19 January 1901 – 11 April 1985) was a German-English writer, painter and lawyer of Jewish origin. Biography Fred Uhlman was born in Stuttgart, Germany, into a prosperous middle-class Jewish family. He studied at the Universities ...

, set in Germany, seven years before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The novella was first published in 1971 in an edition of 700, plus 50 hors commerce signed and numbered by the author.

Presentation

The book tells the impossible friendship between the narrator Hans Schwarz, son of a Jewish doctor, and Konradin von Hohenfels, a young aristocrat, during the rise of the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

(in 1932) in Stuttgart. Hans and Konradin manage to become friends despite their differences. Hans invites his friend several times to his house and is surprised that Konradin does not do the same. Finally, Konradin invites Hans to his home, but each time without the presence of his parents. Hans, annoyed, asks for an explanation. That's when Konradin tells Hans that his mother hates Jews. Hitler's rise to power causes Konradin to abandon Hans. Hans' parents, who suspect the harassment suffered by their son in high school, decide to send him to the United States to live with his grandparents, where he studies law at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in Massachusetts and becomes a lawyer. His parents commit suicide as a result of Nazi persecution. He tries to forget the hell of his past. Long after his studies, Hans receives a letter from Germany from Karl Alexander Gymnasium, his former high school, accompanied by a booklet containing a list with all the names of former students who died in the war. He recognizes the names of former students in his class but he does not want to look at the letter H for fear of finding the name of his friend Konradin. Just before throwing the booklet away, he decides to look at the H and discovers the name of his friend, and that is when one understands the true meaning of friendship found. Indeed, his friend Konradin was executed by the Nazis after his participation in the assassination attempt against

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

on 20 July 1944.

Adaptations

The director

Jerry Schatzberg Jerry Schatzberg (born June 26, 1927) is an American photographer and film director. Career Schatzberg was born to a Jewish family of furriers and grew up in the Bronx. He photographed for magazines such as ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', ''Esquire ...

made a film adaptation, released in 1989, under the same title: ''

Reunion Reunion may refer to: * Class reunion * Family reunion Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to: Places * Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean * Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion Holocaust literature English-language novels 1971 novels