“There is much to recommend in this family history for interested students and scholars of modern German and German-Jewish history and the Holocaust. It is a penetrating look into the culture of successful upper-middle-class German families of Jewish descent prior to Hitler's assumption of power in January 1933… It is an inspiring story of the survival of a strong, loyal, forward-looking, albeit well-placed and well-connected family under the most difficult circumstances.”  ·  Central European History “W. Paul Strassmann's genealogical account of his own family's history is an excellent case study detailing the successes and setbacks of a single remarkable German-Jewish family during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries…The most valuable contribution of his book is the wide range of personal sources he gathers…Strassmann's book makes important contributions to the source basis for the study of fields such as migration, Jewish history, and medical history. This work will be especially useful for breathing life into the larger narrative of Jewish and European history. In this respect, it stands as an invaluable tool for instructors and lecturers.”  ·  H-Net Reviews “This book shows once again how significant was the contribution of the small Jewish minority to the achievements of the German bourgeoisie before the devastation of the Nazis barbarism…W.Paul Strassmann tells [his family’s history] soberly, without pathos, yet with much warmth.”  ·  Berliner Tagesspiegel “What this book offers is a thick description of German-Jewish everyday life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mild irony is a great stylistic device, used here to great effect by the author who observes his forebears with empathy but also with scholarly detachment.”  ·  Archiv für Sozialgeschichte