LANGUAGE OF THIEVES

'The Story of Rotwelsch and One Family's Secret History'. This is the story of the coded secret language of Central Europe, a language of the road spoken by vagabonds, thieves, Jews and travellers, and which blended words form Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Romani, Czech and other European languages. You might have heard the saying 'you're in a pickle' meaning you're in a difficult situation. This is just one example of Rotwelsch, an ancient language of the road influenced by Yiddish and written in rudimentary signs, and also spoken by refugees and merchants since the European Middle Ages. Martin Puchner learned the language from his father and uncle, and when he inherited a family archive, it led him on a journey not only into the history of this extraordinary language but also into his family's connections to the Nazi Party who wished to stamp out Rotwelsch and did so vehemently. Only as an adult did Puchner discover in a poisonous 1930s tract on Jewish names that his own grandfather had been a committed Nazi who despised this "language of thieves". The book is a compelling story of the mindset and milieu of Central Europe and of the way language can be used to evade oppression, and is also a deeply moving reckoning with a family's buried past. Photos and illus, remainder mark. 278 pages.