Praise for The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage
“A book to restore one's faith in the possibility of
human goodness.”
—Rabbi Harold Kushner, author
of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“No one knows what this 21st century will bring, hope
or horror. The brave people Klempner profiles in this
gripping book show us there can be hope, even amid
horror.”
—Pete Seeger, legendary folk singer
“Like no other work I have read,
Klempner's deeply moving book puts a human face on
the Holocaust rescuers.”
—Christopher
R. Browning, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of Ordinary
Men and The Origins of the Final
Solution
“In these pages you will meet profound, uplifting people whose iron devotion to human caring compelled them to risk everything to shelter, hide, and save the vulnerable. You will not stop thinking about them after you finish reading, for Mark Klempner gracefully, hauntingly, invites the most intimate reflection on the moral struggles echoing from the Holocaust into the troubled present.”
—David K. Shipler, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land
“I read Mark Klempner's book with great interest, and with gratitude that
he collected these accounts from a generation of remarkable people who are now leaving us. It is so important that we hear their stories and tell their stories to young people again and again.”
—Lois Lowry, Newbery Award winning author of Number the Stars
“We need to know that there are transformed people,
even in the midst of a world that seems to avoid
renewal, resurrection, and transformation.
Hope becomes personal, concrete, and believable in
these marvelous stories.”
—Fr. Richard Rohr,
O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, author of Radical Grace
“A work of both agonizing history and hopeful
prophecy…Klempner's beautifully intimate
portraits illuminate the sanctuary of the loving heart,
the place from which the Dutch rescuers performed their
courageous deeds in quietness and
strength.”
—Rev. Mark I. Wallace, Swarthmore College, author of Fragments
of the Spirit
“An invaluable book for
anyone who seeks to learn—or relearn—the
art of compassionate resistance. With America tempted to empire as never before, Klempner's account of those who could have been players in the game of ‘Aryan supremacy’ but chose instead to subvert it comes at a crucial time. ”
—Garret
Keizer, author of Help: The Original Human
Dilemma
“Nothing enlivens history more than personal testimony. These oral
histories of individual resistance to Nazism in Holland are
extraordinary contributions not only to Holocaust Studies but to the
fields of psychology, sociology, education and political science. Told
by a wonderful assortment of men and women, they are also compelling
stories that elicit both laughter and tears.”
—Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust and Where She Came From
“Powerful stories that can inspire us in our current time. They remind us that even in the most difficult circumstances we still can make choices that matter.”
—Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time
©2017 Mark Klempner