Holocaust Literature and Jewish Horror

[bendk]

As soon as I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it. It is such a perfect fit for TLO and this thread. Despite its 180 pages, I breezed through it in two days.
Although this short novel is advertised as being geared toward a younger audience, the themes it deals with are very mature and disturbing. The book begins with this epigraph:

"The decision had to be made to annihilate... every Jewish child and to make this people disappear from the face of the earth. This is being accomplished."
-Heinrich Himmler, chief hangman of the Nazi Holocaust, and leader of the dreaded German SS squads, in a 1943 speech. Strutting about in black uniforms, SS killers wore death-skull insignias on their caps.

The novel is set just after World War II. The story revolves around an American soldier who remains in Europe after the war. He is a ventriloquist, but not particularly talented. One day, he discovers in his closet that his dummy is inhabited by the ghost of a young boy named Avrom Amos Poliakov —a dybbuk, which is a Jewish ghost or spirit. Avrom was killed by the Nazis during the war, and he has unfinished tasks. Determined to complete them, Avrom asks him if he can inhabit his body during performances. He reluctantly agrees, and suddenly, his ventriloquist act becomes a great success with Avrom’s presence. The crowds grow larger as Avrom uses these opportunities to seek out his killer among the audience.

There is some levity in the banter with the dummy.

An interesting aside. I read something that Jon could enlighten us on. It was this passage:

.. he opened the wicker suitcase to put a black blindfold over the dummy's eyes for the night. It was tradition. The ancient Greeks believed the spirit of the dead escaped through the eyes. It was the least a ventriloquist could do.

I initially couldn't find the passage, so I asked ChatGPT is if it could remember what it said. This was its reply:

Certainly! In the novel “The Entertainer and the Dybbuk” by Sid Fleischman, there is a fascinating detail about placing an eye mask on a ventriloquist dummy when it is stored in its case. The protagonist, Freddie, discovers that when he covers the dummy’s eyes with a mask, it prevents the dybbuk (the ghostly presence inhabiting the dummy) from seeing the world. This clever technique allows Freddie to control when the dybbuk can observe and interact with the surroundings. By covering the dummy’s eyes, Freddie effectively limits the dybbuk’s awareness, ensuring that it remains dormant until needed for performances or other purposes. It’s a small but significant element in the story, adding to the eerie and mysterious atmosphere of the novel.

I didn't remember any of this, so I reread it. Nothing like this is in the book. It was completely made up by the AI. wtf?

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE