The Prince of West End Avenue

by Alan Isler

This is the story of Otto Korner (formerly Körner), who lives at Emma Lazarus, an old peoples' home in Manhattan, where a group of residents is in preparation of their yearly theater production. This year it will be Hamlet. But since the actors are all elderly, death has a say in the casting of roles and some roles have to be recast, which brings the production to a frequent halt.

Mr. Korner tells of the turmoil surrounding their Hamlet and also tells of his life in Europe during the years of World War I and time spent in a concentration camp during World War II, prompted by the arrival of a new nurse, Mandy Dattner. Ms. Dattner is a spitting image of his first great (and foolish) love, Magda Damrosch.

Whereas the current story of egos clashing over the casting are amusing and sweet, the memories Mr. Korner writes about are very sad in contrast:

How could I have been so blind, so insanely smug? Well, of course, I knew my Germans. One had to adjust his perspective to the larger view. Sporadic acts of anti-Semitism were no more than the initial exuberance of the Nazi triumph, a passing phase of the new Reich. Things were bound to get better, settle down. What were we if not Germans? We sprang from the German soil; we were Germans in our innermost souls. One could not, in any case, give in to female vapors. One had responsibilities. No doubt I believed all that.

Very good read.

6/10