Page 22 - Jewish News_April 2020

22A April 2020 JEWISH INTEREST

Bearing witness: Andrea Simon’s Bashert marks

an important addition to the Holocaust canon

Book review by Philip K. Jason, Special to The Jewish News

Bashert: A Granddaughter’s Holocaust includes Andrew Gross’s Paramount is the inde- much of concentration
Holocaust Quest, by Andrea Simon. disturbing The Fifth Column and Tara pendence and improvisa- camps and death in the
Vallentine Mitchell. 300 pages. Lynn Masih’s unforgettable My Real tion handed down to the gas chambers, but rather
Trade paperback $24.95. Name Is Hanna. author by her grandmother of pogroms and mass
Several of the narratives above Masha, whose life seems to shootings at Volchin,
amuel D. Kassow’s highly ap- were written by children or grandchil- be a series of unexpected Brest, the Brona Gora
plauded Who Will Write Our His- dren of survivors. And the survivors outcomes. Masha’s jour- forest and elsewhere. Si-
Story came out in 2007, following themselves were able to contribute ney was a long one: from mon discovers, over and
a long silence in the publication of Ho- stories of their relatives and friends Volchin – the largely Jew- over, that there are few in-
locaust history. It tells the story of how murdered by Hitler’s minions – in too ish village of her birth nocent bystanders.
Polish historian Emanuel Ringelblum many cases, aided by the neighbors of in present-day Belarus Her chapters are num-
created the Oyneg Shabes scholarly those victims. – to escaping the death bered, but more crucially,
group to capture Andrea Simon’s astonishing Bash- marches, moving to the U.S., then on they are given one-word titles that
and preserve the ert: A Granddaughter’s Holocaust to Israel and Berlin. Andrea follows trace the movement from concept to

experiences of Quest, first published in 2002 and re- her grandmother vicariously and, in concept: protest, connection, longing, Dr. Rachel Dulin
those trapped in cently re-released, tells not only the her travels, chronicles the trails and collaboration, isolation, annihilation,
the Warsaw Ghet- stories of what her research and inter- trials of her family’s large, segmented response and survival. These are the
to. The project, views uncovered, but also – and per- odyssey. steppingstones along a meaningful
which began in haps more importantly – the story of Her research shifts the balance path that was clearly meant to be.
1940, is some- her determined, compulsive journey to within the world of Holocaust his- This review fi rst appeared in the
times known as discover the truth about her extended tory. It is no longer haunted solely Washington Independent Review of
“the archives hid- family’s past. Both those who perished by the sorrows and annihilations of Books and is reprinted by permission.
Phil Jason den in milk cans.” and those who survived. Jews from Poland, Austria, Hungary Philip K. Jason is Professor Emeritus
The answer to Kassow’s provoca- What drove the author? What and Germany itself. The material and of English from the United States Na-
tive title question has emerged. More were her victories and what were her cultural landscape is pulled in anoth- val Academy. He reviews regularly for
than a decade later, it has led to a blos- defeats? What kept her going? The er direction, taking us to Czarist and Florida Weekly, Washington Indepen-
soming of Holocaust narratives. These memoir dimension of this brave and Communist Russia and their satellites. dent Review of Books, Southern Lit-
include Judy Stone’s uplifting book an- For the Jews who found their way erary Review, other publications and
Resilience: One Fam- swers these ques- to these places only to run into the the Jewish Book Council. Please visit
ily’s Story of Hope and tions and serves as Germans’ often successful attempts to Phil’s website at www.philjason.word
Triumph over Evil; D.Z. a model for similar absorb them, Bashert is a story not so press.com.
Stone’s No Past Tense: projects.
Love and Survival in the Perhaps all of S
Shadow of the Holocaust; these confrontations enior is looking to purchase precious metals,
Debbie Cenziper’s Citizen and breakthroughs diamonds, time pieces, coins, antique
865: The Hunt for Hitler’s were fated; that is, and estate jewelry, and some collector plates.
Hidden Soldiers in Ameri- meant to be. Such
ca (reviewed in a previous terms are the usual Over 60 years Of experience.
issue); and Heather Dune translations of the
Macadam’s 999: The Ex- Andrea Simon Yiddish word bash-
traordinary Young Women of the First ert that titles Simon’s book. Bashert, Please call Marc at 941.321.0707
Please call Marc at 941.321.0707

Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz as well, were dozens of unexpected
(also reviewed in a previous issue). outcomes of adventures (and misad- persOnal and cOnfidential

Recent historical fiction about the ventures) that wind through the book.

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