Diversity of Perspectives in Holocaust Memoir: Bruno Schwebel's As Luck Would Have It

Toward the end of his life, the Mexican broadcaster Bruno Schwebel recounted his life story in the form of an autobiography. Schwebel's memoir is part of a relatively new movement to broaden the scope of Holocaust narratives. Historians have widened their focus to include the accounts of individuals, such as women and children, who were not considered central to our understanding of Nazi persecution initially. Ruth Kluger's ground-breaking autobiography, Still Alive, represents this shift toward a more inclusive understanding the Holocaust and Schwebel's book is in that same vein. He recounts his early life in the working-class Viennese neighborhood of Brigittenau and his father's involvement in the Social Democratic party. It was both this political affiliation and his father's Jewish origins that imperiled Schwebel and his family, and they are a dual focus in his autobiography. Keywords: Bruno Schwebel, Refugee, Social Democrats, Child Holocaust Survivor, Mexico, Holocaust Memoir