By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Ben Kamin has written a remarkable summary of the Holocaust years, as seen through the compassionate eyes of survivor Lou Dunst.
In My Bargain With God, Kamin follows Dunst’s journey through the horrors of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Ebensee, the latter concentration camp being where Dunst came within a few tortured breaths of death even as liberators from General Patton’s Army were busting down gates. Kamin skillfully weaves into the narrative both historical and religious sources.
Having attended some of the peripatetic Dunst’s lectures in San Diego County, where they both live, and having watched him interact with school children, service club members, and even with hardened criminals, Kamin is able in this book to juxtapose the past and the present. In the process, Kamin draws a compelling portrait of a kind-hearted man whom we Jews call a “mensch” and whom Christians might be tempted to pronounce a “saint.”
But for a few details about the steep slopes of the Mauthausen stone quarry to the top of which prisoners mercilessly were required to carry heavy stones–sometimes as heavy as 100 pounds–there was little about the Nazi brutality with which I did not already have a passing acquaintance.
For me, at least, the true value of Kamin’s book was in encountering the grace with which Dunst led and continues to lead his life. From Kamin’s excellent biography, we understand why so many people consider Dunst to be a role model and exemplar of love overcoming hate.
The title is My Bargain With God and I don’t think it will upset either Dunst or Kamin if I tell you what that bargain was. If Ha-Shem, as Dunst prefers to call the Divine One, if Ha-Shem would allow him to survive, he would tell the story of what had happened the Jews and other victims of the Nazis whenever and wherever he could
Now, with Kamin’s talent as a fine writer and the pending publication of this book, Dunst seems destined to tell that story to an even wider audience.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com