Two Lives, Vikram Seth

Two Lives
by Vikram Seth

Throughout my adult reading life, I have avoided books about persecution, either of individuals or of groups of people. I have found that books describing persecution are too upsetting, and I find myself feeling depressed for weeks after reading them. I can do nothing to change those situations, most of which occurred long ago, but some of which are continuing today.

As a student growing up, I learned about persecutions of American Indians and slaves here in America, and I found the subjects too depressing to continue to contemplate. Later I also learned of persecutions of ethnic groups in other countries, and I found that reading about those events also caused me to feel very depressed. I have also carefully avoided reading about the American Civil War, World War I and World War II, and other wars as well.

Because it had received such high ratings, and because it was available one day when I was shopping at Costco, I did read Suite Francaise, a book about the French during the invasion by the Germans during World War II, and of course, I read about the life and death of the author. I was deeply depressed after reading that book. And now, after read Vikram Seth’s book, Two Lives, again I find myself saddened.

Two Lives is a double biography about the author’s uncle, Shanti, and his wife, Henny. I found Shanti uninteresting and at the end, pathetic, but the story of Henny was deeply moving. Henny was a Jew. Seth based his description of Henny on conversations with Shanti and others who had known Henny (she was already dead by the time Seth wrote this book) and a trove of letters between Henny and her friends.

In describing Henny’s life, Seth described the plight of Jews in Germany before World War II, the changes in their lives at the start of the War, during the War and after the War. Describing the daily lives of individuals had much greater meaning for me than descriptions of the plight of an entire group of people.

As I grow older and as I continue to read and learn, I continue to be amazed at how little I know of history. I have always felt that Hitler was completely insane, and that he was able to gain control of a country and take it in a horrible direction. Many people in Germany probably would not have agreed with Hitler, but found themselves unable to oppose his police and military machine. Many people in America have also opposed the direction that our current government has taken us, but also find ourselves unable to modify it. Just as our Congress authorized our current government to take whatever action it deemed appropriate, the German parliament authorized Hitler to take any action he deemed appropriate. In both situations, once virtually complete power had been transferred to the leader, possible opposition was limited and was constrained even further by the power of public opinion that was manipulated by the government.

This Spring, I took a trip to Europe – a river cruise on the Danube and Rhine rivers, from Budapest to Amsterdam. The boat stopped at seventeen places along the river, and in each town, a walking tour was conducted in which the history of the town was described. During those walking tours, I learned in an immediate way the violent history of the spread of “Christianity” through the slaughter of all those who did not accept it. (Similar exterminations were carried out by the church here in America.) I learned how during times of drought or other natural disasters, “Christian” leaders frequently ordered the burning at the stake of women they identified as witches as the cause of the disaster.

During my trip, I also learned that persecution of the Jews was long-standing throughout European history, led by “Christian” leaders. I was shocked to learn how Martin Luther had preached and written about the need to exterminate Jews. Thus, I came to realize that the concept of the Holocaust was not dreamed up by an insane man, but was something that had been carefully and thoroughly taught in churches for centuries by “Christian” leaders who were themselves completely insane. Today, we focus our condemnation of the Holocaust on Hitler and the Nazi party, but really, the deeper cause was the “Christian” church, particularly the Lutheran Church. It is unclear to me why society has not focused its condemnation on the church. It is also unclear to me how society can depict Martin Luther as a peace loving man of God, rather than a raving lunatic. Indeed, as I learn more of the history of “Christianity”, it is unclear to me how anyone can believe anything taught by the church.

Thus, the combination of my trip to Europe and my reading of this book has had a profound effect on me. I continue to oppose persecution and oppression of people anywhere, and the institutions that teach that such persecution and oppression are acceptable.