Remember Who You Are: Stories about Being Jewish ANNOTATION
Ester Hautzig has written dozens of books for young readers, including the highly acclaimed The Endless Steppe, about her experiences growing up in Siberia. These stories reflect the challenges and solace that come with being Jewish.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this collection of twenty true stories set in Vilna during World War II, in the United States, and in Israel, Esther Hautzig, the author of The Endless Steppe, explores the challenge and solace of her faith." "Remember Who You Are presents a shimmering reflection of Esther Hautzig's multifaceted life, one that has gained its richness from listening to and retelling stories about being Jewish. In "Margola" she tells of her vibrant young aunt who sacrificed her life so that her own mother would not die alone in the Shoah. "Mrs. S." recounts the story she had heard from an effervescent octogenarian in Florida, one of 6,000 Jews rescued in 1940 through visas given by Chiune Sugihara, the remarkable Japanese Consul in Lithuania. During visits to Israel she learned the stories of "Barry," a drug-addicted musician who was transformed by Orthodox Jews, and of "Ada and Eddy," whose lives were saved by righteous gentiles during the Holocaust.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Born in the ancient, peaceful town of Vilna, then part of Poland, in 1930, Hautzig was deported to Siberia with her immediate family by Russian communists shortly before the outbreak of WW II, an experience she recorded in The Endless Steppe. This poignant sequel consists of 20 stories about survivors and victims of the Nazi Holocaust and Siberian imprisonment. There are moments of intense drama, as when Hautzig's 90-year-old grandmother deliberately willed herself to die in her sleep rather than being herded away by the Nazis, or when her governess miraculously rejoined her in Siberia in the mid-1940s. The story of a cynical friend, now living in Jerusalem, who was saved by a Nazi soldier during a death-march in the final days of the war underscores the terrible ironies of survival. These deceptively casual, gracefully written sketches reverberate with heartbreak and courage. (May)
School Library Journal
YA-- As many people read these stories, the inevitable thought will arise: ``there but for the grace of God . . . '' For these are stories of Jews whose lives were fatefully altered because of where they happened to be in Europe during the 1930s. Readers of The Endless Steppe (Crowell, 1968) will remember that young Hautzig and her family were banished from their home in Poland and sent to Siberia for being ``capitalists--enemies of the people.'' After the war, Hautzig became a collector of oral tales, true stories of the experiences of others who lived and died during the horror of the Holocaust. She records these stories faithfully, simply, with no attempt to idealize, judge, or moralize. The selections speak for themselves: young Mussik, Esther's childhood companion who was left to roam the streets of Vilna when his parents were killed; loyal and loving Margola, who sacrificed her own life so that her mother would not die alone--these and more are told with simple eloquence. --Jacqueline Gropman, Richard Byrd Library, Springfield, VA
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