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An unputdownable tale of one man's quest to recover his family's property, plundered by the Nazis. Menachem Kaiser's brilliantly told story is set in motion when the author takes up his Holocaust-survivor grandfather's former battle to reclaim the family's property in Sosnowiec, Poland. Here, he meets a Polish lawyer known as 'The Killer' who agrees to take his case and becomes involved with a band of Silesian treasure-seekers, all the while piecing together his family's complex history. Propelled by rich, original research, Kaiser immerses readers in profound questions that reach far beyond his personal quest. What does it mean to seize your own legacy? Can reclaimed property repair rifts among the living?Plunder is both a deeply immersive adventure story and an irreverent, daring interrogation of inheritance - material, spiritual, familial, and emotional.
About the author
Menachem Kaiser holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and was a Fulbright Fellow to Lithuania. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Summary
An unputdownable tale of one man’s quest to recover his family’s property, plundered by the Nazis.
Menachem Kaiser’s brilliantly told story is set in motion when the author takes up his Holocaust-survivor grandfather’s former battle to reclaim the family’s property in Sosnowiec, Poland. Here, he meets a Polish lawyer known as ‘The Killer’ who agrees to take his case and becomes involved with a band of Silesian treasure-seekers, all the while piecing together his family’s complex history.
Propelled by rich, original research, Kaiser immerses readers in profound questions that reach far beyond his personal quest. What does it mean to seize your own legacy? Can reclaimed property repair rifts among the living?
Plunder is both a deeply immersive adventure story and an irreverent, daring interrogation of inheritance — material, spiritual, familial, and emotional.
Additional text
‘Plunder is considerably more than a thriller and intentionally raises more questions than answers … There is still space for one more book in the Holocaust quest library. Preferably by Kaiser.’
