Come to This Court and Cry by Linda Kinstler
Come to This Court and Cry by Linda Kinstler – How the Holocaust Ends – offers interesting views on pro-war attitudes when it came to Nazi crimes. While researching a well-known case in Latvia regarding the so-called “butcher of Riga,” Herberts Cukurs, Kinstler discovered that her own family was involved, but not as a victim. Her grandfather Boris served in Cukurs’s killing unit. He might have been involved with the KGB too. The book is mainly about Cukurs, but, by telling his story, she touches on other things, such as the limitations of the law when the body of evidence is composed of tens of thousands of dead bodies, but in an unclear way.
The title of the book refers to the closing speech of the chief British prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal at “After this ordeal to which mankind has been submitted, mankind itself . . . comes to this Court and ‘These are our laws—let them prevail!’” These words were left on the body of Cukurs, when he was shot by Mossad.
The lack of a trial for Cukurs meant that facts were questioned, which added an extra layer of difficulty as the survivors who could be called as witnesses were dying due to old age. The book is about how history is distorted over time, about the limitations of the law, and it makes the reader wander what justice really means.
I enjoyed the book and I think it is well worth reading because this particular case might be about someone from Latvia of whom I never heard before reading this book. The topics of justice and law are fascinating and the book does emphasise the limitations these place. I am not sure why I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5. I felt like a 4, so don’t be put off my rating, the book is very good.
Come to This Court and Cry by Linda Kinstler
Details about the picture: –
My rating: 4/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Bloomsbury Circus
Year it was published: 2022
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): History
Pages: 284
About the author: Linda Kinstler received her Ph.D. from the Department of Rhetoric at U.C. Berkeley in August 2023. This is her first book for which she won the 2023 Whiting Award in Nonfiction. She was also a finalist for the Kukula Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Book Reviewing.
Website & Social Media Links: lindakinstler
You’ve read a lot of heavy stuff in the last year or two. I guess justice can be subjective, depending on laws and cultures. In some cases it might be difficult to draw the line between justice and revenge.
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You are right on both issues, I do read a lot of heavy stuff and justice is subjective. I think there is a societal need to have their perpetrators judged, in situations like the Holocaust, to accept their collective responsibility and repent, to be able to move on.
It’s not easy to accept ones’ responsibility as part of a nation, but without this, it will happen again and again.