Review: THE LAST WITNESS by Jerry Amernic

THE LAST WITNESS is a novel of extraordinary impact, and is definitely a Best of 2014. I fear that author Jerry Amernic is not only vastly talented, but also prophetic. George Orwell was prophetic when he penned NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR and we see indications of that all around us. 66 further years of history have supplied Mr. Amernic with further fuel and fodder for prediction. In this novel, the entire history and experience of the Jewish Holocaust of pre-World War II and throughout the War, is mocked, scoffed at, and declared false. In 2039 (a scant 14 years ahead of us) "what you see is what you get" is the rule--or, "if it happens in my lifetime it's fact," and whatever happened before--never occurred. In a society in which media spin is all, a society which already in some quarters denies the Holocaust--contemporary society--how easily could Mr. Amernic's 2039 come to fruition?

The world is rife with atrocities of great and small scale. News reminds us of this every day. In fact, it’s possible to get inundated with tragedies to the extent of becoming callous. And yet there is one great tragedy of not so distant past that is absolutely undeniably guaranteed to produce an emotional reaction, WWII and the Nazi’s horrific extermination of the millions of Jews. Of all the atrocities wars bring that has got to be possibly the worst. This novel set in the not so distant 2039 is about a world that for various, utterly self serving reasons has chosen to reedit its past to minimize or even omit from books and records the genocide of the World War II. Although not if the Last Witness, a 100 year old eponymous protagonist, has his say, incredible character, on whose shoulders this novel rests almost entirely. The narrative splits between young Jacob’s past and his survival in Auschwitz to 2039’s Canada where tragic events bring him and his story to public attention. Interesting book, very compelling, exceptionally timely for a world all too eager to let nationalism and jingoism frame their views down to a very narrow, very ignorant, very intolerant perspective. Not to proselytize, one might argue the book does enough of that. Actually not too much for me, but it does have a moral. Of course, it has a moral, a good story should. Those who do not remember their past are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to fail again and again. Never quite understood how someone can deny genocide (especially one of such magnitude) like what’s the actual argument behind it. The author does a credible job of demonstrating such abhorrent thinking, so you can get a glimpse of such perverse logic without getting into a conversation with Mel Gibson or something. It’s scary to see how such minds function and, unlike the recent controversial NYT article, this is far from a compassionate depiction. So from that perspective it was darkly fascinating. And the book itself is quite good with a terrific main character. The only thing is…when I referred to him as incredible earlier, that wasn’t an exaggeration. I know extraordinary circumstances produce extraordinary reactions, but what Jacob as a 4 and 5 year old kid seems…I don’t know…exceptional? preternaturally advanced? Granted I don’t know kids that age and modern ones would probably just be confused or paralyzed without their gadgets, but can a kid that young really do all that? And, more importantly, remember all that in such detail 95 years later? Even as a terrifically spritely old man in great shape? Anyway, this is fiction, after all. Some suspension of disbelief is required. In this case, it just distracted me from the story somewhat. The writing was good, otherwise, only occasionally flashing some lack of experience. The author has a respectable nonfiction experience, fiction’s just a different beast. Either way, it was a good read, compelling story, had my attention, went by pretty quickly, considering the page count. Anyone interested in that specific historical era would particularly enjoy this one. Thanks Netgalley.

In the year 2035, Christine Fisher, a teacher of 8th grade History, wonders why "The Great Holocaust" mentioned in her history books is the 2009 annihilation of 50,000 Christians by Muslims in Turkey 40 years ago. No mention of the REALLY Great Holocaust that happened 100 years ago. She knows about the Holocaust of the 1940's because her great-grandfather, Jack Fisher, lived through it. He was born in 1935, spent time in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, and ultimately ended up in a concentration camp where he was liberated at age 4.

As the debates swirl around her, Christine becomes more and more determined to set the record straight, before her history class becomes yet another example of the rewritten history of George Orwell's "1984". Dark forces close in on Christine and on her great-grandfather, who is befriended and championed by wonderfully competent NYPD Lieutenant named Jack Hogson.

If you think you've read every single thing about the Holocaust, written from every single perspective imaginable, I'd like to suggest that you read this novel. It will absolutely be worth your time.

I read this Ebook courtesy of NetGalley and Books Go Social pub date 10/01/14

This is such a sad book. So little hope and it’s aleshs dashed. There is a truth about the book because it is so honest it did happen and happen during the war.
The legacy of grief will never leave us and the physical emotional and mental demolishment of lives forever always gets into my heart and soul.

What if the world forgot about the Holocaust? What if those groups who claim that it's all a lie and the camps were just internment camps and no death camps and all the sites would be closed, history books would leave out the horror of the Holocaust. At the moment this does not seem possible and I doubt it will be within the next 20 years, but that's the premise for The Last Witness.
A radical group of white christians is killing the last survivors of the Holocaust. Jack seems to be the last one alive, he hasn't forgotten anything and finally starts to talk.
No, we must not forget, we all need to learn from history or else it will repeat itself. And we need to each it in school, the world needs to overcome racism in all its forms.

Controversial subjects galore, murder, mystery, flashbacks.... all set in the future. This book kept me wanting to read more. It starts with a grizzly scene which sort of had me wondering if I wanted to proceed. I'm glad I did. This was interesting through and through with great characters, good story line, and an excellent mix of past/future. I give this 4 stars because of the ending. The rest of the book was so good that the end just seems to fizzle a little. Still a great read.

Really good book, new author. Great writing and really easy to get into the story.

Doomed to repeat the Great Holocaust

I fear the evil of what we can do to each other will be repeated because we don't remember what we have done to each other already! Read this and remember; great job of writing here.

I am an avid reader of WWII stories. Even though this story is a fictional account, it gives a most accurate and sometimes disturbing view of events that most likely occurred during the war as witnessed by a survivor. The storyline is set in the future, in the year of 2039 with flashbacks of Jack’s as a child in the ghetto in the 1940’s and then in the camps. Jack is just turning 100 years old and is close to being the last survivor.
The writing is excellent, the story flows easily, you are drawn in and learn to care about all of the characters. It is interesting and sometimes unsettling on how the future retains the memory and events of the Great Holocaust during WWII.
This is a very believable scenario, not really too farfetched. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, even though there were some scenes that were hard to take. I highly recommend if you enjoy WWII stories. This is a 5***** book. Well done.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Books Go Social through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

3.5 stars

The year: 2039
The times: a push to forget the Jewish Holocaust
The protagonist : Jacob (Jack) Fisher

This was an interesting premise, one that given the times we are now in, could possibly happen. With the rise of antisemitism, we are seeing a resurgence of crimes against Jews, the appearance of Nazi symbols on Jewish businesses, the attacks on Jewish people, and a push to simply relegate the Holocaust to a page or less in history books. Even here in America, we have people in Congress who express their antisemitic sentiments from a position of power. It's shocking and yet it is happening.

In this story we have Jack Fisher, one of the last survivors of Auschwitz telling his story, one that this future world wants forgotten. The deniers are abundant, and Jack with the help of a beloved great granddaughter, try to make sure that history, this history must never be forgotten.

There are sinister forces in the world who not only want to deny the Holocaust, but also want to ensure that the survivors of concentration camps who are still alive die, making sure the legacy of their suffering is forgotten.

Sounds pretty far fetched right? However, as we look at today's world there has been a push to forget history, to succumb to a revisionist look at events, a blurring of lines, and eventually obliterating that event, those people or person, from being acknowledged. We can't always be proud of our history but we must always remember it, for if not we will be doomed to repeat that history that should shame us once again.

This book offered a different view and although long winded at times, it was a view that was certainly current and fascinating.
Thank you to Jerry Americ, BooksGoSocial, and NetGalley for a copy of this story.