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''War and Remembrance'' is a novel by Herman Wouk , published in 1978 , which is the sequel to '' The Winds Of War ''. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on December 15, 1941 and ending on August 6, 1945. PLOT INTRODUCTION Wouk describes this two-part novel as his trying to 'throw a rope around the Second World War'. The Pacific theater does not receive as much extensive coverage as the European theater. This is in part because the novel is written by an American who was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Another part is because the Pacific war was of less ethical complexity, and presented fewer moral problems. (The ethics of the U.S. unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan are briefly examined in Byron Henry's arguments with Carter Aster about shooting men in the water). While Victor Henry and his sons serve in the Pacific throughout the book, the reasons for the war with Imperial Japan are not explored. To an American, this is clear; the attack on Pearl Harbor was the cause of the war. The political importance of the Pacific war is covered, with note to the failing global influence of the European powers. Clearly, Winds of War and War and Remembrance have the moral disaster in Europe as their ethical center. The coming of the Atom Bomb is covered, but not the ethical implications of its use. It may be that Wouk wished to hint to a division of history here. PLOT SUMMARY CHARACTERS IN "WAR AND REMEMBRANCE" The Henrys
:Henry obtains a promotion to rear admiral in early 1944. During this period, Rhoda obtains a divorce and he is able to marry Pamela. He does not do so until he takes part as a battle division commander aboard the ''USS Iowa'' during the Battle Of Leyte Gulf under Admiral William Halsey . The novel goes into this battle in greater detail than the miniseries does, including discussion of what were Halsey's operational mistakes. :Victor marries Pamela in April 1945. Upon the death of President Roosevelt, President Harry S Truman makes him his naval aide. :Victor is a straightforward, honest man, which gains him the respect of political leaders such as Roosevelt and Hopkins, and the admiration of Hack Peters. :The novel notes that Henry retired from the Navy and lived in Northern Virginia after the war. He spent his retirement translating Armin von Roon's book.
:Byron wants to see Natalie; when possible, he wangles duty in the European theater. He serves as a courier to the U.S. mission to Vichy France and tries to get Natalie to leave with him. She refuses. :Byron returns to the Pacific theater and rejoins Aster on the ''USS Barracuda'' (SS 204). Aster is severely wounded in an air attack and to save the ship, orders Byron to submerge. (This event did occur to Commander Howard Gilmore of the ''USS Growler'' (SS 215) on February 7 , 1943 . Gilmore won the Medal Of Honor ). :As a Naval Reservist, Byron feels mixed about his role in the war. He is competent, but doesn't enjoy fighting. However, in one engagement, he is forced to surface and fight a battle against a Japanese destroyer. When told he will win the Navy Cross , he replies, "Killing Japs gave Carter Aster a thrill. It leaves me cold." :Shortly before the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Byron visits his father aboard his flagship. The meeting is strained, because Byron blames Pamela for the breakup of his marriage. In the miniseries, his sister, Madeline, straightens him out about the causes of the breakup; he and his father become reconciled. :In April 1945, Natalie is found in Weimar, Germany. Byron presses the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, for an assignment in Europe so he might reunited with his wife. He is assigned to investigate the technical details of captured German U-boats and leaves for Europe to join his wife, now recovering in a hospital, and to find his son, Louis. After a long search throughout Europe, Byron reunites with Louis, who was in an orphanage, only to find Louis is so traumatized he will not talk. However, when he reunites Louis with Natalie, Louis begins to sing with her. This occurs on August 6, 1945, the date of the first use of the atom bomb in warfare. The Jastrows
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In April 1945, Von Roon is assigned the role of operations officer for the defense of the Zitadelle in the Battle Of Berlin . Toward the end of the battle, he is ordered by Hitler to assist and oversee Albert Speer in a demolition effort intended as a scorched earth policy of Berlin. Both men however are unwilling to carry out the order, because of the effect it would have on future germans. Speer eventually confesses that he disobeyed. Speer his pardoned for his services, while Von Roon is forgiven because (as far as Hitler knows) he has been nothing but loyal. In the end Von Roon has the duty to inform Adolf Hitler that the Zitadelle can hold only 24 hours more (in real life, von Roon's commander, General Krebs, did this); and he is a witness to Hitler's farewell, suicide, and cremation. Von Roon is sentenced to prison for war crimes (presumably by the Nurenmberg tribunal) and writes ''Land, Sea, and Air Operations in World War II,'', which is translated (by Victor Henry) as ''World Holocaust''. Von Roon presents the German viewpoint of events; Henry, as translator, provides a rebuttal when required.
HISTORICAL CHARACTERS
MAIN THEMES There are two major themes in ''War and Remembrance'': the United States' War Against Japan , as seen through the point of view of the Henrys, and the Holocaust , as seen through the point of view of the Jastrows. Minor themes include the American Home Front; the Soviet War Against Germany ; the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin; and the plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Quotes from two fictional books, ''World Holocaust'' by General Arnim von Roon, and ''A Jew's Journey'' by Aaron Jastrow, framing for the major themes. In the novel, the sections about Auschwitz are written in the present historical tense, to provide a shift in voice and to bring the reader closer to this terrible experience. THE MINISERIES Since Wouk was happy with the Winds of War-adaptation he allowed Dan Curtis to adapt the sequel as well. The story became a successful Mini-series on the ABC television network in 1988 in which several main characters were played by different actors than in ''The Winds Of War''. The series at the time was praised as stunning, but long. It had to be broken into two segments, chapters I-VII and VIII-XII ("The Final Chapter") of a combined running time of about 30 hours. Former concentration camp internee Branko Lustig was production designer on the series. The visual design and Cinematography was praised for its unflinching presentation. The series broke ground in its depiction of the Holocaust . Curtis himself first had to get ABC to promise him that he would be able to show the full brutality and horror of the Holocaust without being edited. The crew also got permission to shoot the Auschwitz-scenes on location. Main Holocaust-scenes include:
There were two general criticisms levelled against this series. First that star Robert Mitchum , while able and well cast, was by now too old at 71 for the May-December romance between his character and Pamela Tudsbury. In the novel he would have been approximately 50, having served on destroyers in the Atlantic during WWI. Still, his star power balances the grim subject of the European theatre. To make him look younger, he performed plastic surgery for the role. The other is that Jane Seymour_(actress) , who replaced Ali McGraw as Nathalie Jastrow in the series, lacks the combination of fire and intellectualism McGraw managed to capture. Another criticism was that McGraw and Seymour did not even remotely look alike. It is probable that Curtis thought that the now 50 year old MacGraw was too old for her role. Cast Several other actors were changed between The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Actor John Houseman played Aaron Jastrow in Winds of War, but was too frail for War and Remembrance's lengthy production schedule. He died of spinal cancer in 1988, the year W&R was broadcast. He was replaced by Sir John Gielgud . Actor Jan-Michael Vincent , in an interview with whom is notably absent from the Winds of War miniseries DVDs, was busy in American television series as an action lead. It is hinted in the featurette on the Winds of War DVDs that Vincent's drinking made him difficult on set. He was replaced by Hart Bochner. Other major replacements include Sharon Stone as Janice, Leslie Hope as Madeleine, Michael Woods as Warren, Robert Morley as Alistair Tudsbury, Barry Bostwick as Aster and Steven Berkoff replacing Gunther Meisner as Adolf Hitler. A major sponsor of the miniseries was Ford Motors . Another was Nike . MAJOR CAST OF CHARACTERS
MAKING THE MINISERIES This huge two part miniseries was said to have been the 'last of the miniseries.' War and Remembrance had a multi-year production timeline, and took over ABC's broadcast schedule for two one-week periods in 1988. Miniseries had been major events on American television, reserved for 'important' stories like Jesus Of Nazareth (1987) and The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich (1966). Shortly after this period, cable television began the fragmentation of the US broadcasting audience in earnest, leaving War and Remembrance as the last of the giant miniseries. At the time, there were only the Big Three broadcasting networks in the United States, ABC, NBC and CBS . The former's decision to dedicate two weeks of its broadcasting schedule to War and Remembrance was a big financial investment. It became the costliest single-story undertaking in US television, costing $104 million and totalling 30 prime-time hours. Filmed from January 1986 to September 1987, the 1,492 page script contained 2,070 scenes. There were 757 sets: 494 in Europe, including France , Italy , Austria , Yugoslavia , Switzerland , West Germany , England , and Poland , and 263 in the United States , Hawaii , and Canada . There were 358 speaking parts were included in the script, 30,310 extras were employed in Europe and 11,410 in the United States. It was the first film production granted permission to film inside Auschwitz Concentration Camp . Scenes set in Russia were filmed in Montreal in temperatures reaching 40 degrees below zero Celsius. AWARDS ''War and Remembrance'' received 15 Emmy Award nominations and won for best miniseries, special effects and single-camera production editing. The miniseries was nominated for Emmy Awards for best actor (John Gielgud), actress (Jane Seymour) and supporting actress (Polly Bergen). TRIVIA
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