10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE November 11, 2005

eveningsout

How personal hardship can change a life, or the world Two young gay men land on doorsteps, one to his father's diner, one to the Holocaust

by Anthony Glassman

Hardship defines the human experience. Much like with coal, extreme pressure can either create a diamond or, more likely, a handful of black dust.

Personal tragedies forge children into the adults they will become, whether they're something as everyday as helping an ailing father or as historic as the Holocaust.

Two true stories, one an intimate look at an event used to justify one of the most horrific atrocities in history, the other a first-person narrative of learning of life by being there for family, illustrate the effects

of hardship.

In Harlan Greene's

The German Officer's

other's arms.

As news of the tribulations faced by Herschel's family reached him, though, he became increasingly desperate to convince Ernst Vom Rath to help him bring them to France. Eventually, he went into the embassy

The German Officer's Bov

Boy (Terrace, $26.95, hardcover). young Herschel Grynszpan is sent to Paris to live with relatives as the antiSemitism in his native Poland grows

worse.

While there, he began a relationship with a minor bureaucrat at the German embassy. They would meet. have sex. part ways. It was not that involved an affair, although both men were probably very emotionally involved in it.

to see his paramour, pulled a gun and threatened to kill himself if Vom Rath wouldn't help.

In the ensuing struggle over the gun, Vom Rath was wounded. According to Greene's research, however, Grynszpan did not kill him, as the world was told. Agents of Joseph Goebbels killed Vom Rath, so they would have more propaganda to use against the Jews by blaming the young man for his death.

The result was Kristallnacht a sweeping wave of anti-Jewish violence that destroyed countless businesses and lives.

a bir yemping

LUNCHEON

This was not a particularly permissive age, and the Jew and the Nazi were discovering the true meaning of "any port in a storm" in each

ETTE AMEMOR

STEVEN SOREENTEAD

Grynszpan, how-

ever, was never

brought to trial. The German authorities wanted to hold off on a show trial, afraid that the story of a Jew and a German in a homosexual relationship would ruin its value to further whip up antiSemitism.

As the tides of the war shifted, Herschel later disappeared. De-

spite efforts over the ensuing decades to find him, he was never seen again.

Correspondence between Goebbels and

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Hitler indicates that the young man was alive after he was last seen. There is no mention in diaries or letters that he had been killed, so his fate remains an enigma.

Steven Sorrentino's hardships were less earth-shattering, but also had a happier out-

come.

In his memoir Luncheonette (Regan, $24.95, hardcover), Sorrentino recalls being drawn back into his childhood home in New Jersey when his father, a West Long Branch city council member and diner owner, becomes mysteriously paralyzed from the chest down.

He has to take over his father's luncheonette until dad is able to reclaim his throne, if he

ever can.

Out of the country

Sorrentino gives up a budding career as a performer and cater-waiter in New York City, loses his maybe-boyfriend, but gains insight into his father's ability to overcome the most daunting obstacles.

Yes, he feels a great amount of resentment at many points in the book, becoming almost suicidally depressed. However, through it all, he is amazed at his father's cheer, even though he knows he can never again walk, then is unable to speak for a month after a stroke, then loses his best friend to a heart attack.

Eventually, Sorrentino uses the strength he gains from weathering the tribulations to make something of his life. Perhaps, given the mysterious nature of Grynszpan's disappearance, there is hope that he did as well.

TERRY MICHELLE

Denise Astorino performs The Club, a monologue by playwright Linda Eisenstein, as part of "Living in Exile," a collection of one-act plays presented by Wild Plum Productions.

The event continues the LGBT arts organization's month-long exile at Asterisk Gallery, 2393 Professor Avenue, in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. Many of Wild Plum's previous shows have been at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center.

In addition to The Club, the evening includes Identity Shopping and Exile from the Funnyhouse by Maria Miranda, Gentrification by Eisenstein, SGF: A Single Queer Girl's Guide to Online Dating by Astorino, and Prairie Dogs by Scott Plate.

The show is at 8 pm on November 18 and 19. There is no fee to get in, although donations will be accepted.

There is an opening reception for "Exile at Asterisk" on November 11 from 6 pm to 10 pm, held as part of the Tremont Art Walk.

The reception will feature music by DJ Christine Hahn of stonecoldbikini on WRUW 91.1 FM, and short films by Johnny Wu.

Wild Plum Productions is a cultural organization run under the auspices of the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center, which acts as its fiscal agent.

For more information about "Living in Exile," or the "Exile at Asterisk" exhibit, call 216-651-5428 or go to www.lgcsc.org/wildplum.html.

-Anthony Glassman

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