War and Remembrance

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War and Remembrance
First edition cover
First edition cover
Author Herman Wouk
Country United States
Language English
Series Winds of War series
Genre(s) War novel
Publisher Little, Brown & Company
Released October 1978
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 1042 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-316-95501-9 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by The Winds of War
Followed by Inside, Outside

War and Remembrance is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1978, which is the sequel to The Winds of War. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on December 15, 1941 and ending on August 6, 1945.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

Wouk describes this two-part novel as his trying to 'throw a rope around the Second World War'. The Pacific theater receives more extensive coverage than the European theater. This is in part because the novel is written by an American who was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Another part is because the Pacific war was of less ethical complexity, and presented fewer moral problems. (The ethics of the United States' unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan are briefly examined in Byron Henry's arguments with Carter Aster about shooting men in the water). While Victor Henry and his sons serve in the Pacific throughout the book, the reasons for the war with Imperial Japan are not explored. To an American, this is clear; the attack on Pearl Harbor was the cause of the war. The political importance of the Pacific war is covered, with note to the failing global influence of the European powers. Clearly, Winds of War and War and Remembrance have the moral disaster in Europe as their ethical center. The coming of the Atom Bomb is covered, but not the ethical implications of its use. It may be that Wouk wished to hint to a division of history here.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Characters in "War and Remembrance"

[edit] The Henrys

Henry obtains a promotion to rear admiral in early 1944. During this period, Rhoda obtains a divorce and he is able to marry Pamela. He does not do so until he takes part as a battle division commander aboard the USS Iowa during the Battle of Leyte Gulf under Admiral William Halsey. The novel goes into this battle in greater detail than the miniseries does, including discussion of what were Halsey's operational mistakes.
Victor marries Pamela in April 1945. Upon the death of President Roosevelt, President Harry S. Truman makes him his naval aide.
Victor is a straightforward, honest man, which gains him the respect of political leaders such as Roosevelt and Hopkins, and the admiration of Hack Peters.
The novel notes that Henry retired from the Navy and lived in Northern Virginia after the war. He spent his retirement translating Armin von Roon's book.
  • Rhoda Henry – (played by Polly Bergen) The war, and their time apart, puts a strain on Victor Henry's marriage to Rhoda. She ends her relationship with Palmer Kirby, only to fall in love with an army officer. Both the novel and the miniseries show her drinkingproblem getting worse. Victor, meanwhile, becomes more attracted to Pamela Tudsbury.
  • Warren Henry – Victor's son continues to serve as a naval pilot until his death on the last day of the Battle of Midway. He scored a hit on one of the japanese carriers in the first day of the battle and his rear gunman shot down atleast one Zerofighter. His death affects the Henrys deeply. Victor's thoughts parallel the lament of King David for his son, Absalom.
  • Byron Henry – Byron starts the war as an officer on the fictional USS Devilfish. When the captain, Branch Hoban, breaks down under the strain of an attack, the executive officer, Carter "Lady" Aster (played by Barry Bostwick) takes over and leads the attack. Aster becomes commander of the ship, with Byron his executive officer. While on leave in Hawaii, Byron is aware that Janice, his brother's widow, is acting strangely. He does not know that she is having an affair with Aster.
Byron wants to see Natalie; when possible, he wangles duty in the European theater. He serves as a courier to the U.S. mission to Vichy France and tries to get Natalie to leave with him. She refuses on the grounds that while they could cross Poland in a war in 39, they didnt have Louis. Byron and Nathali agree that Nathalie and Louis and Aaron should wait to get a passport from the US consulate in Marsielles while Byron travels dirct to Lisbon and book a room. Byron arrives in Portugal just as operation Torch begins and the plans has to be scrapped.
Byron returns to the Pacific theater and rejoins Aster on the fictional USS Barracuda. Aster is severely wounded in an air attack and to save the ship, orders Byron to submerge. (This event did occur to Commander Howard W. Gilmore of the USS Growler (SS 215) on February 7, 1943. Gilmore won the Medal of Honor).
As a Naval Reservist, Byron feels mixed about his role in the war. He is competent, but doesn't enjoy fighting. However, in one engagement, he is forced to surface and fight a battle against a Japanese destroyer. When told he will win the Navy Cross, he replies, "Killing Japs gave Carter Aster a thrill. It leaves me cold."
Shortly before the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Byron visits his father aboard his flagship. The meeting is strained, because Byron blames Pamela for the breakup of his marriage. In the miniseries, his sister, Madeline, straightens him out about the causes of the breakup; he and his father become reconciled.
In April 1945, Natalie is found in Weimar, Germany. Byron presses the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, for an assignment in Europe so he might reunited with his wife. He is assigned to investigate the technical details of captured German U-boats and leaves for Europe to join his wife, now recovering in a hospital, and to find his son, Louis. After a long search throughout Europe, Byron reunites with Louis, who was in an orphanage, only to find Louis is so traumatized he will not talk. However, when he reunites Louis with Natalie, Louis begins to sing with her. This occurs on August 6, 1945, the date of the first use of the atom bomb in warfare.
  • Madeleine Henry - daughter's Victor and Rhoda Henry; wife's Simon Anderson

[edit] The Jastrows

  • Aaron Jastrow – (played by John Gielgud) Aaron Jastrow is urged by the German government to broadcast propaganda; when he refuses, he leaves his villa in Siena and escapes to Vichy France. When Vichy is occupied following the Allied landings in Africa in November 1942, Jastrow is interned with the U.S. diplomatic group. He is tricked into staying behind and is sent to Theresienstadt with Natalie and Louis. He is forced to become a member of the Council of Elders by Adolf Eichmann, then to take part in the Beautification, a Potemkin village ploy to convince the Danish Red Cross that conditions are excellent in the camp. When his usefulness is ended, he is taken to Auschwitz and killed in the gas chambers. However, despite the degradation of his body, Jastrow's soul is rekindled with what it means to be a Jew. He leaves behind a diary, A Jew's Journey, which is quoted throughout the book.
  • Berel Jastrow – (played by Topol) Berel, Aaron's cousin, is captured with the Red Army in 1941 and sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner of war. He is transferred to a work kommando led by a Jew named "Sammy", who is planning to escape. Sammy grabs a weapon and kills several German guards. Berel, shortly after, escapes and joins the Czech underground in Prague. He enables Louis Henry to escape, but is killed in the latter part of the war.
  • Natalie Henry – (played by Jane Seymour) along with her son and uncle, travel through various routes across Europe, trying to get home while evading the German government. She refuses a chance to escape with Byron in 1942, then ends up in Theresienstadt. She becomes a member of the Zionist underground, and only when threatened with the murder of Louis does she agree to take part in the Beautification. Another uncle, Berel Jastrow, enables Louis to get out of the ghetto. Natalie is sent to Auschwitz in the same transport as her uncle, but survives the Holocaust and is sent to recover in a U.S. military hospital. She and Bryon reunite.

[edit] Others

  • Leslie Slote – At the beginning of the war, Slote is attached to the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland. He receives a photographed copy of the Wannsee Conference from a German opponent of Hitler. Slote devotes himself to trying to prove to the American government what the Nazis are doing to the Jews. When the State Department proves to be apathetic, he resigns and becomes a member of the OSS Jedburgh paratroopers and is eventually killed in France. In the book he flys in a bomber from America to Berlin
  • Armin von Roon – The fictional General Armin von Roon serves as a member of the German OKW, in direct contact with the Fuehrer, and seeing the gradual deterioration of Hitler as the war goes worse for Germany. Von Roon flies from Berchtesgaden to Normandy to observe the German reaction to the Normandy invasion, but finds Hitler rejecting his observations. Von Roon is wounded in the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler; he walks with a cane for the remainder of the miniseries. Von Roon himself was involved with the conspiracy, but he had advocated Field Marshal Rommel arresting Hitler, and assuming power. He managed to escape retribution when the endeavour to kill Hitler failed, whereas Oberst Stauffenberg (executed by firing squad), and Field Marshal Rommel (compelled to take poison) did not. Von Roon's character is sent on various fact-finding missions in the novels, and his memoirs serve as a useful dramatic device to explain facts to the reader succinctly.
In April 1945, Von Roon is assigned the role of operations officer for the defense of the Zitadelle in the Battle of Berlin. Toward the end of the battle, he is ordered by Hitler to assist and oversee Albert Speer in a demolition effort intended as a scorched earth policy of Berlin. Both men however are unwilling to carry out the order, because of the effect it would have on future Germans. Speer eventually confesses that he disobeyed. Speer is pardoned for his services, while Von Roon is forgiven because (as far as Hitler knows) he has been nothing but loyal. In the end Von Roon has the duty to inform Adolf Hitler that the Zitadelle can hold only 24 hours more (in real life, von Roon's commander, General Krebs, did this); and he is a witness to Hitler's farewell, suicide, and cremation.
Von Roon is sentenced to prison for war crimes (presumably by the Nuremberg tribunal) and writes Land, Sea, and Air Operations in World War II,, which is translated (by Victor Henry) as World Holocaust. Von Roon presents the German viewpoint of events; Henry, as translator, provides a rebuttal when required.
  • Harrison (Hack) Peters – Peters, a colonel in the Army, meets Rhoda Henry and falls in love with her. His work on the Manhattan Project involves working with Victor Henry in a very strained relationship. He marries Rhoda in late 1944.
  • Sime Anderson – Anderson, a naval lieutenant, works on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos under Hack Peters. He marries Madeline Henry.
  • Alistair "Talky" Tudsbury – Tudsbury is in Singapore when the Pacific war breaks out. He speaks about the possibility of the island falling in a subversive BBC broadcast, then leaves on the last boat. Tudsbury is killed by a landmine in the aftermath of the Battle of El Alamein. A fictional correspondent's report, Sunset at Kidney Ridge, reflects on the decline of the British Empire; it serves roughly as the emotional midpoint of the book.
  • Janice Henry (played by Sharon Stone) - The wife of Warren Henry. After the death of Astor she disapers from the miniseries, in the book she is given a few sentances more and she ends up with a politician

[edit] Historical Characters

  • Adolf Hitler – As a speaking character, Hitler appears in the miniseries in a more prominent role than the novel.
  • Erwin Rommel – Again, because of the requirements of television, Rommel plays a more prominent speaking role in the miniseries than in the novel. The story of Rommel's death becomes a dramatic element in the miniseries.
  • Claus von Stauffenberg – The plot against Hitler, including von Stauffenberg's placing of a bomb, is more prominent in the miniseries than in the book, because of the visual drama.
  • Adolf Eichmann – Eichmann appears in two sections of the novel and miniseries. In both cases, life for the Jastrows becomes worse. In the first, he orders Dr. Werner Beck, a German diplomat and Aaron Jastrow's former student, to figure out a way to convince the Italian authorities to deport Italian Jews into German control. In the second scene, he and a crony beat and bully Jastrow into accepting a position as a figurehead elder in Teresienstadt. A goof in the mini-series is that Eichmann appears in 1944 as a full SS-Colonel (SS-Standartenführer) when, in reality, Eichmann never rose above the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel).
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Harry Hopkins – Hopkins represents the person who carries out Roosevelt's grand policies.
  • Winston Churchill
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower – General Eisenhower appears in the miniseries, and briefly towards the end of the novel, when he and Capt. Henry discuss aspects of the Normandy landings.
  • William Halsey -- Admiral Halsey's operational mistakes late in the Pacific war are discussed.
  • Miles Browning - As Herman Wouk was a U.S. Navy man, Captain Browning is given proper credit for his role in the decisive U.S. victory at Midway.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Major themes

There are two major topics in War and Remembrance: the United States' war against Japan, as seen through the point of view of the Henrys, and the Holocaust, as seen through the point of view of the Jastrows. Minor topics include the American Home Front; the Soviet war against Germany; the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin; and the plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Quotes from two fictional books, World Holocaust by General Arnim von Roon, and A Jew's Journey by Aaron Jastrow, frame for the major topics.

In the novel, the sections about Auschwitz are written in the present historical tense, to provide a shift in voice and to bring the reader closer to this terrible experience.

[edit] The Miniseries

Since Wouk was happy with the Winds of War-adaptation he allowed Dan Curtis to adapt the sequel as well. The story became a successful mini-series on the ABC television network in 1988 in which several main characters were played by different actors than in The Winds Of War. The series at the time was praised as stunning, but long. It had to be broken into two segments, chapters I-VII and VIII-XII ("The Final Chapter") of a combined running time of about 30 hours. Former concentration camp internee Branko Lustig was production designer on the series. The visual design and cinematography was praised for its unflinching presentation.

The series broke ground in its depiction of the Holocaust. Curtis himself first had to get ABC to promise him that he would be able to show the full brutality and horror of the Holocaust without being edited. The crew also got permission to shoot the Auschwitz-scenes on location.

Main Holocaust-scenes include:

  • An introduction to the Auschwitz-Birkenau-camp and its commander Rudolf Hoess where the decision to use Zyklon B as a first test on Soviet POW is made.
  • A visit of Heinrich Himmler to Auschwitz in May 1942. This gruesome sequence followed the procedure from the arrival of the Jewish victims in trains to the disposal of the bodies, with extreme violence and nudity. This segment was also shown without commercial interruption.
  • The building of the crematorium in Auschwitz.
  • Aktion 1005, the German attempt to cover all traces of mass-executions in the east by digging up the graves and burning the bodies.
  • Babi Yar-massacre
  • Theresienstadt-ghetto is featured prominently in the "Final Chapter"-episodes.
  • A long sequence shows the travel by train from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, the arrival, the final selection and the death in the gas chamber of Aaron Jastrow.
  • A mass slaughter of Jews and Czechs outside Prague by machine gun fire.

There were two general criticisms levelled against this series. First that star Robert Mitchum, while able and well cast, was by now too old at 71 for the May-December romance between his character and Pamela Tudsbury. In the novel he would have been approximately 50, having served on destroyers in the Atlantic during WWI. Still, his star power balances the grim subject of the European theatre.

The other is that Jane Seymour, who replaced Ali McGraw as Nathalie Jastrow in the series, lacks the combination of fire and intellectualism McGraw managed to capture. Another criticism was that McGraw and Seymour did not even remotely look alike. It is probable that Curtis thought that the now 50 year old MacGraw was too old for her role.

Cast

Several other actors were changed between The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Actor John Houseman played Aaron Jastrow in Winds of War, but was too frail for War and Remembrance's lengthy production schedule. He died of spinal cancer in 1988, the year W&R was broadcast. He was replaced by Sir John Gielgud. Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, an interview with whom is notably absent from the Winds of War miniseries DVDs, was busy in American television series as an action lead(Airwolf). It is hinted in the featurette on the Winds of War DVDs that Vincent's drinking made him difficult on set. He was replaced by Hart Bochner. Other major replacements include Sharon Stone as Janice, Leslie Hope as Madeleine, Michael Woods as Warren, Robert Morley as Alistair Tudsbury, Barry Bostwick as Aster and Steven Berkoff replacing Gunther Meisner as Adolf Hitler.

A major sponsor of the miniseries was Ford Motors. Another was Nike.

[edit] Major cast of characters

[edit] Making the miniseries

This huge two part miniseries was said to have been the 'last of the miniseries.' War and Remembrance had a multi-year production timeline, and took over ABC's broadcast schedule for two one-week periods in 1988. Miniseries had been major events on American television, reserved for 'important' stories like Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1968). Shortly after this period, cable television began the fragmentation of the US broadcasting audience in earnest, leaving War and Remembrance as the last of the giant miniseries. In previous years, there were only the Big Three broadcasting networks in the United States, ABC, NBC and CBS.

The former's decision to dedicate two weeks of its broadcasting schedule to War and Remembrance was a big financial investment. It became the costliest single-story undertaking in US television, costing $104 million and totalling 30 prime-time hours.

Filmed from January 1986 to September 1987, the 1,492 page script contained 2,070 scenes. There were 757 sets: 494 in Europe, including France, Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, West Germany, England, and Poland, and 263 in the United States, Hawaii, and Canada. There were 358 speaking parts were included in the script, 30,310 extras were employed in Europe and 11,410 in the United States. It was the first film production granted permission to film inside Auschwitz concentration camp. Scenes set in Russia were filmed in Montreal in temperatures reaching 40 degrees below zero Celsius.

[edit] Awards

War and Remembrance received 15 Emmy Award nominations and won for best miniseries, special effects and single-camera production editing. The miniseries was nominated for Emmy Awards for best actor (John Gielgud), actress (Jane Seymour) and supporting actress (Polly Bergen).

[edit] Trivia

  • The Battleship USS New Jersey was used for filming. Sharp-eyed viewers can spot missile tubes in the background, a modernization to the ship since it saw action in WW2. In addition, the battleship shows a 50-star jack at the stern, another anachronism.
  • Because the miniseries was shot out of sequence, producers could not cut Jayne Seymour's hair for the scenes in the concentration camp. Make-up artists took shears to a full scalp wig for her to wear for those scenes instead.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • DVD-featurettes of "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance"-DVD
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