Sailing Against the Current. Part 1: 1941 to 1955

This memoir intrigued me for several reasons – firstly, I also was born in Belgium and together with my family was trapped when the Belgians surrendered to the Germans. But we managed to escape Belgium during WW II. And there our lives and that of the Edelson family split off into very different directions and narratives.

As a writer I applauded the author's recounting of autobiographical events in a ship's logbook format. This choice by Albert Edelson avoids many of the sentimental and overly written pitfalls of the first-time diarist. The text is clipped, precise and enhanced by maps, documents and photographs; many of the graphics illustrate aspects of the Holocaust that to this reader had been unknown. The text also is peppered with intellectual and literary references – Bernard Lewis, Albert Camus, historical references to Belgium's colonial history – that widen the scope of the author's story.

Albert Edelson's cover indicates that this book is "Part 1: 1941 to 1955".

Definitely recommended.