The pity of it all

The Pity of It All is the compelling, moving story of the German-Jewish people from the eighteenth century until the eve of Third Reich, tracing their journey from a persecuted clan of outcasts and peddlers into a dazzling community of writers, philosophers and scientists. From Moses Mendelssohn, who entered Berlin through the gate reserved for Jews and cattle and went on to become one of Europe's greatest men of letters, to Rachel Levin, the famed hostess of glittering salons; from the decadent Weimar and the genius of Einstein to philosopher Hannah Arendt's terrified flight from the Gestap in 1933, this is the untold story of nearly 200 years of astonishing creativity and fragile integration. Evoking a tragically lost work, The Pity of It All is the unique collective biography of a people.