Publishers Weekly Review

As a young man in occupied Europe, Vorshirm survived Nazi prisons, then fought alongside the Italian partisans; years later, in the Dominican Republic, he served in the government of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. His rough but readable autobiography tries to make sense of his fascinating life. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, Vorshirm and his Jewish family—Austrian citizens—were deported from Antwerp to France. After a series of arrests, the author found refuge in Switzerland while his family was murdered in Auschwitz. As the war drove on, Vorshirm fought the Nazis—first with the Italian resistance, then as a paratrooper with the U.S. forces. After the war ended, Vorshirm visited the Dominican Republic and fell in love with a woman there; he because first a successful salesman, then a father, then part of the D.R.'s growing arms industry. By 1954, he had become a major in Trujillo's army, and then a diplomat dealing with economic issues. Hoping for a peaceful change of government, he watched from Brussels in 1959-61 as the Trujillo regime fell apart. Vorshirm's prose is often clumsy, or purple, or both, and he's given to crashingly obvious generalities in places where readers will want more details. But the events of Vorshirm's tumultuous life make his short memoir worthwhile: readers who want to learn more about Europe in wartime, or the D.R. under its notorious strongman, might well dig in.

From Hitler to Trujillo

Alfredo F. Vorshirm

Publishers Weekly

September 4, 2000

BOSON BOOKS



		From Hitler to Trujillo by Alfredo F. Vorshirm Review by Publishers Weekly September 4, 2000 As a young man in occupied Europe, Vorshirm survived Nazi prisons, then fought alongside the Italian partisans; years later, in the Dominican Republic, he served in the government of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. His rough but readable autobiography tries to make sense of his fascinating life. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, Vorshirm and his Jewish family—Austrian citizens—were deported from Antwerp to France. After a series of arrests, the author found refuge in Switzerland while his family was murdered in Auschwitz. As the war drove on, Vorshirm fought the Nazis—first with the Italian resistance, then as a paratrooper with the U.S. forces. After the war ended, Vorshirm visited the Dominican Republic and fell in love with a woman there; he because first a successful salesman, then a father, then part of the D.R.'s growing arms industry. By 1954, he had become a major in Trujillo's army, and then a diplomat dealing with economic issues. Hoping for a peaceful change of government, he watched from Brussels in 1959-61 as the Trujillo regime fell apart. Vorshirm's prose is often clumsy, or purple, or both, and he's given to crashingly obvious generalities in places where readers will want more details. But the events of Vorshirm's tumultuous life make his short memoir worthwhile: readers who want to learn more about Europe in wartime, or the D.R. under its notorious strongman, might well dig in. BOSON BOOKS