![Ivory_netsuke_of_the_Hare_with_Amber_Eyes_2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Ivory_netsuke_of_the_Hare_with_Amber_Eyes_2.JPG)
''The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance'' (2010) is a family memoir by British ceramicist
Edmund de Waal
Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, (born 10 September 1964) is a contemporary English artist, master potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or th ...
.
['Hare' chronicles unheard of Jewish family](_blank)
''Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle'' (6 September 2011) De Waal tells the story of his family, the
Ephrussi, once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty, centred in
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and peers of the
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
.
The Ephrussis lost almost everything in 1938 when the Nazis
confiscated
Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, o ...
their property,
and were unable to recover most of their property after the war, including priceless artwork; an easily hidden collection of 264 Japanese ''
netsuke
A is a miniature sculpture, originating in 17th century Japan. Initially a simply-carved button fastener on the cords of an box, later developed into ornately sculpted objects of craftsmanship.
History
Traditionally, Japanese clothing – ...
'' miniature sculptures was saved, tucked away inside a mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at
Palais Ephrussi
''Palais Ephrussi'' is a former ''Ringstraßenpalais'' in Vienna. It was built for the Ephrussi family of financiers by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, the architect of the Austrian Parliament Building. It is on the Ringstrasse, specifically the ...
in Vienna during the war years. The collection has been passed down through five generations of the Ephrussi family, providing a common thread for the story of its fortunes from 1871 to 2009. In 2021, ''The Hare with Amber Eyes'' was distributed in Vienna as a free book, with a print run of 100,000 copies.
Content
The narrator describes the lengthy research into various – long deceased – family members and concentrates his report on the touching story of a collection of 264 ''netsuke'', Japanese miniatures, carved from wood or ivory. This collection was acquired by
Charles Ephrussi
Charles Ephrussi (24 December 1849 – 30 September 1905) was a French art critic, art historian, and art collector. He also was a part-owner (from 1885) and then editor (from 1894) as well as a contributor to the ''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'', th ...
in Paris, came as a gift to Charles's cousin,
Viktor Ephrussi, and was hidden by a nanny named Anna when organs of the Nazi state confiscated the
Palais Ephrussi
''Palais Ephrussi'' is a former ''Ringstraßenpalais'' in Vienna. It was built for the Ephrussi family of financiers by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, the architect of the Austrian Parliament Building. It is on the Ringstrasse, specifically the ...
and the family's art collection there and returned to the family after 1945. The book is equipped with a family tree.
Response
The book is described by the literary scholar
Oliver vom Hove as an “unprecedentedly precise memory book”. However, it has been argued that the reported history of the
Ephrussi & Co. banking house does not correspond to historical facts. For example,
Alexander Weiner, the head of the bank from 1924, does not appear in the entire book. And there are other inaccuracies: The depiction of Ignaz von Ephrussi contradicts the documents that have been preserved in the inheritance file, which is in the Vienna City and State Archives. The social and economic historian
Roman Sandgruber comments on the wealth of Victor Ephrussis, who is characterized as the richest banker in Vienna after
Albert Rothschild: "De Waal also overestimates him. He was by no means the second richest banker in the city, but in 1910 ranked 258th on the income scale." Contemporary historian
Oliver Rathkolb
Oliver Rathkolb (born 3 November 1955 in Vienna) is an Austrian historian and professor for contemporary history at the University of Vienna.
Career
Rathkolb studied history and law at the University of Vienna and achieved his doctorate in 1982 ...
has dedicated his own search for traces to Anna, but without success.
Literature
* Oliver vom Hofe, ''Unersetzliche Kulturgeschichte. Vor zehn Jahren erschienen – und bald als Gratisbuch in Wien verteilt: „Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen“ von Edmund de Waal. Eine Wiederlektüre'', in: Wiener Zeitung, 30./31. Oktober 2021, S. 31-32.
* Peter Melichar, ''Wer war Alexander Weiner? In Edmund de Waals Erinnerungsbuch über die Familie Ephrussi fehlt einer für die Geschichte bedeutende Person. Eine Ergänzung'', in: Wiener Zeitung, 30./31. Oktober 2021, S. 33.
*
Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz/
Agnes Meisinger/
Tom Juncker (Hg.), ''Die Ephrussis. Eine Zeitreise/The Ephrussis'', Wien 2019.
* Peter Melichar, ''Neuordnung im Bankwesen. Die NS-Maßnahmen und die Problematik der Restitution'', Veröffentlichungen der Österreichischen Historikerkommission 11, Wien und München 2004.
* Peter Melichar, ''Bankiers in der Krise: Der österreichische Privatbankensektor 1928-1938.'' In: Geld und Kapital, Bd. 7 (= Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für mitteleuropäische Banken- und Sparkassengeschichte. Privatbankiers in Mitteleuropa zwischen den Weltkriegen 2003), Stuttgart 2005, S. 135-191.
Awards and honours
*2011
Ondaatje Prize
The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature. The £10,000 award is for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that evokes the "spirit of a place", and is written by someon ...
, winner.
*2011
JQ Wingate Prize
The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host '' Jewish Quarterly'' and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate. The award recognises Jewish and non-Jewish writers ...
, shortlist.
[Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2011]
*2011
ALA Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure.
* ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...
.
*2010
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
, winner (Biography).
*2010
Galaxy National Book Award, New Writer of the Year
*2010
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
, Best of the Month, September
*2010 ''The Economist'', Books of the Year list
Books of the Year, 2010
''The Economist''
Editions
*First UK edition: ''The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance'', Chatto & Windus
Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...
, Great Britain, 2010.
*First US edition: ''The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
, New York, 2010.
*German translation by Brigitte Hilzensauer: '' Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen. Das verborgene Erbe der Familie Ephrussi'', Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna, 2011,
References
External links
The Hare with Amber Eyes
author website.
Edmund de Waal
on YouTube, by Random Reads, June 29, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hare With Amber Eyes
2010 non-fiction books
Ephrussi family
History of Paris
Impressionism
History of Vienna
1940s in Japan
1950s in Japan
1990s in Japan
Netsuke
History of Odesa
History books about Jews and Judaism
Chatto & Windus books