Pierre Van Paassen

Pierre Van Paassen was in Palestine and provides a graphic account of the 1929 pogrom against the Jews of Hebron in his book Days of Our Years. Van Paasen shows that the Mufti of Jerusalem was behind the riots and slaughter and accuses the British administration of aiding and abetting the Mufti. - Amazon.com I found this perhaps, the most stimulating and challenging roving journalist's story since Vincent Sheean's. Not as easy reading, not as adventurous as some, but cutting deeper into the facts behind what he saw and felt and reported. A commentary on the world today, and what brought it about. Dutch, trained in a hard Calvinist school and destined for the ministry, journalism was more or less an accident, and a fortunate one for those who have followed him. His work -- and interests -- took him far from beaten tracks. He has had opportunities -- and made the most of them -- in interviewing the men who have moved the chessmen of Europe's board. His is not a conventional reporting. He veers sharply from accepted positions, and in this book, reveals some pretty sensational things. Controversial, undoubtedly -- the explanation of the women and children of the Alcazar will cause fur to fly; the inside picture of actual conditions in Ethiopia; the revelations from Italy, Germany, France, England show plenty of clay-footed idols. Read for yourselves. And be sure, the book will sell. - Kirkus Review.

Van Paassen became interested in Jewish affairs after interviewing a Rabbi from New York who had just returned from Mandatory Palestine. From this point on, Van Paassen took a great personal interest in the issues of Palestine and the plight of European Jewry. In 1933, Van Paassen, a fluent German speaker, reported on the Nazis and courageously exposed the doctrines and policies of Hitler's fascist regime. Van Paassen spent quite some time in Palestine and wrote extensively; when one reads this book today, one notices how profound and ironic it is, that the times which Van Paassen describes of his generation are now repeating themselves, the only differences are the players' names.

Memoirs in which the author recalls his youth in Canada, continues through the World War, with a controversial analysis of conditions in West Germany today.