Izabella Tauber stepped down from the train and instinctively put her hand out to steady herself against the steel pillar of Kistelek stations. She was aware her other hand was shaking. She looked at it, willing it to stop, willing herself to gather the strength to walk on. To finally walk home.
***
The horrors of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and labour camps were just the beginning of the struggle to survive for the Seiler family. As Hungarian Jews, they faced persecution of the very worst kind both from their own government and Nazi Germany. After liberation by the Soviets at the end of WWII they endured further punishment from the Stalinist regime concealed behind the Iron Curtain.
This memoir is drawn from a recently re-discovered cache of precious family letters and exclusive interviews with Marta Seiler, who translated those letters for the first time. Marta has supplemented the account with childhood memories and original photos.
The narrative is told through the voices of Marta, her mother Izabella and her father Lajos on a journey that takes us from 1935 to the present day. The reader is able to piece together the family's personal challenges set against the backdrop of international political conflict. Exploring themes of resilience, identity and inherited trauma, by the end of the book we learn how Marta rediscovered her forbidden Jewish identity, found her place within the community and has moved toward a place of tolerance. In the tradition of oral history, Marta told her remarkable family story exclusively to journalist Vanessa Holburn. For Marta it's important we learn the lessons of the past before they are lost for good.
***
This non-fiction title is an excellent example of how a horrific family story can be conveyed. The narrative is told succinctly and eloquently, and without recourse to dramaticism. The author has enabled the telling of Marta's family history, which she discovered through a collection of letters, photos and documents kept by her aunt.
Marta had been aware of these but it took the lockdown during the covid pandemic to make her focus on them and familiarise herself with the lives endured by her parents.
Like so many people, following their internment in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen they did not want to talk about their experiences. They wanted to look to the future and not to the past, and so Marta had never been made aware of how they suffered in the concentration camps, and later in Soviet occupied Hungary.
Not only did they endue the horror meted out by the Nazi's in the concentration/death camps but on returning to their homeland they further endured anti-semitism, Soviet occupation and Stalinism.
However, the overriding thing I took away from this book is that the Seillet's were not victims but survivors, and anyone who reads this book will be inspired by the way in which they were able to move forward whilst dealing with such a traumatic past.
Publishing in the UK today, I highly recommend this book.
ISBN: 978 1399062992
Publisher: Pen & Sword History
Formats: Hardcover
No. of Pages: 224
About the Author:
Vanessa Holburn is an author and journalist living in Berkshire in the UK.
Her publishing experience stretches over 24 years and her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and digital outlets. Her consumer press credits include The Daily Telegraph, Private Eye, The Mirror, The Sun, The Independent on Sunday, The Express, Vegan Living, Woman's Own, Yours, Bella, Dogs Today, Wunderdog and Ask The Doctor.
She is the author of three previous titles, How To Pick A Puppy, How to be an Activist and The Amritsar Massacre.
(ARC courtesy of NetGalley)
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