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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Never Again: A Story to Read

Last summer, my family met up in Belgrade. Miss Em had been teaching English on a Fulbright in Novi Pazar , Serbia. It was an emotional trip for me. My mother and her family had passed through Belgrade in 1938 on their way to the United States from Vienna. In Belgrade lived one of my grandmother's sisters, who had married a Serbian man, Nicky Petrovic.

We met one of our few relatives there: Ildi Ivanji, the widow of my mother's first cousin George. Amazingly, she still  lives in the same house once owned by Nicky and Julchi Petrovic (my grandmother's sister). Though somewhat decrepit, it is an elegant home with still elegant furniture.

 Ildi is in her 80s. She had a distinguished career as a journalist and writer. She was imprisoned  in two concentration camps as a child, Terezin, which had a large population of artists and children, 90% of whom died there, and Bergen-Belsen, where Anne Frank died. Her parents--both doctors--were shot by the Nazis in mass killings.

 Ildi's brother Ivan Ivanji, also survived the war. He too was in two concentration camps. He is quite a distinguished writer and was Tito's translator. 

We met Ivan and his wife at Ildi's house. Communication was difficult because he speaks German and a number of East European languages, but not much English or French, the languages of our family. 

Ivan is a survivor of Auschwitz, whose liberation is being commemorated today. Little of his writing has been translated into English. I found only a very short piece, which is autobiographical. It doesn't read like a translation and is both beautiful and painful to read. Please read Games on the Banks of the Danube.

6 comments:

Duchesse said...

Thank you, will read.

Also, want to mention Bernice Eisenstein's "I Was a Child of Halocaust Survivors", a graphic novel-memoir that was written by an acquaintance, and is also powerful, tender, moving memoir.

JJP said...

Thank you for this link. It is a beautiful and poignant short piece. Still looking for the "word"...

Rosa said...

That essay is something else. I haven't read anything like it in a long time, if ever. Thanks for posting the link.

Terra Trevor said...

An important story. Thank you for posting this.

Jai Brast said...

A gem of an essay. Thanks so much for posting it.

Frugal Scholar said...

@All--Thanks so much. I am so happy to be able to bring this beautiful piece to readers.