Schlepping through the Alps

Sam Apple

Apple is a Jewish comic writer, and in July 2000 he met Hans in New York. Hans, the son of a Jewish father and Gentile mother, was born in Vienna, became a shepherd, and developed a love for singing Yiddish songs. The following year Apple joined Hans in "schlepping" through various Alpine locations, tape recorder and sheep in hand. His account of that sojourn is whimsical, often hilarious, and often deeply disturbing. For Apple was not merely interested in an eccentric shepherd or in local folk culture. He was fully cognizant of the long tradition of Austrian anti-Semitism and of the role of Austrians in the Holocaust. So, while recounting delightful episodes with Hans and his sheep, as well as interesting observations on the lost world of Yiddish culture, Apple suggests that anti-Semitism maintains a tenacious hold in many small towns and villages in rural Austria. A funny book making serious points. paper back, 288 pages