Mendelssohn is on the Roof by Jiri Weil

Description

On the roof of Prague’s concert hall, Julius Schlesinger, aspiring SS officer, is charged with the removal of the statue of the Jew Mendelssohn–but which one is he? Remembering his course on “racial science,” Schlesinger instructs his men to pull down the statue with the biggest nose. Only as the statue topples does he recognize the face of Richard Wagner. This is just the beginning in Weil’s novel, which traces the transformation of ordinary lives in Nazi-occupied Prague.

This darkly comic and deeply moving novel traces the transformation of ordinary lives during the Nazi occupation of Prague. Weil tells the story of the struggle to survive in a labyrinthine regime.