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“This is a meticulous and finely written account of Dina Gold’s struggle to seek belated justice for her mother, with all the twists and turns one would expect from a fictional detective story — but it is all true.”

—E. Randol Schoenberg
Attorney (“Woman in Gold”)

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About the Book

When Dina Gold was a little girl, her grandmother told her stories about the glamorous life she had led in pre-war Berlin and how she dreamed of one day reclaiming the grand building that had housed the family business.

Dina’s grandmother died in 1977, leaving behind no documents, not even an address, to help locate the property or prove its ownership. But when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Dina had not forgotten her grandmother’s tales and set out to find the truth.

In 1990, Dina marched into a German government ministry at Krausenstrasse 17/18, just two blocks from Checkpoint Charlie, and declared:

“I’ve come to claim my family’s building.”

And so began her legal struggle — to reclaim the building that had belonged to her family.

The six-story office block had been the headquarters of the H. Wolff fur company, one of the most successful Jewish fashion firms in Germany. Built by Dina’s great-grandfather in 1910, it was foreclosed on by the Victoria Insurance Company in 1937. Ownership was transferred to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, Hitler’s railways, that later transported millions of Jews to death camps.

Today the Victoria is part of ERGO, a leading German insurance company. Few are aware that the Victoria was once chaired by a lawyer with connections to the top of the Nazi party. The Victoria was also part of a consortium that insured SS-owned workshops using slave labor at Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

Dina has delved deep into archives across the world and made shocking discoveries. What she found has repercussions even in today’s Germany.

In a major victory, Dina persuaded the German government to put up a plaque in July 2016 acknowledging in both German and English the history of “The Wolff Building.”

But the story is STILL not over.

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Chicago Book Review – Summer 2015

Written by Administrator on June 1, 2015. Posted in Media

Read this excerpt from the list of recommended books for Summer 2015.

I am delighted to be included in the books to read over the coming months:

A hammock, a tall glass of something cold, and a book. That sounds like pretty much the perfect summer day.

With so many books coming from so many local authors and publishers, you can fill your beach bag with a summer-full of reading material (from your local bookstore, of course) and #ReadLocal all season long.

Here at Chicago Book Review, we once again asked area publishers to share information about some of their hottest upcoming titles. The result is CBR’sSummer 2015 Preview, a month-by-month listing of some of the most exciting books coming out from local authors and local publishers between now and Labor Day. In the list below, you’ll find information about books covering an interesting array of subject matter, fiction and nonfiction, for adults, young adults, and children alike. CBR’s Summer 2015 Preview promises something for every reader—books from local authors and publishers that are sure to please, whether you’re at the beach, at the cottage, or hanging out on the back porch or at the pool.

Happy Reading!