Shalom Safranim,
I'm pleased to announce publication of the new book Mi'yarkete Tsafon ("From
the Ends of the Earth") - memoirs of my mother, Gitta Langleben-Klibansky.
The book chronicles Gitta's expulsion from Kovno a few days before the Nazi
invasion of Lithuania and her deportation to one of the most northerly areas
of Siberia at the Arctic Circle. This unique and thrilling account
illuminates aspects of the Second World War that are generally unknown to
typical readers and even to Holocaust researchers.
Below is a summary of the book. I hope it will interest you.
Publishing details: Elkana: "History of the Lithuanian Jewry", 2013; 408
pp., 3 color maps, in Hebrew, hard cover. The book can be ordered by e-mail:
[email protected]. Price: $28 + shipping.
Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky, Ph.D., M.Sc.
East-European Jewry researcher, The Institute for the History of Polish
Jewry in Tel-Aviv University
Summary:
The book opens with the author's vivid description of her life in a
traditional family in Lithuania in the 1920s and 1930s, her studies at the
Hebrew Gymnasium in Kovno, and the dramatic turn in her life as a result of
the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940. Only a few days before the first
gruesome massacres of the Lithuanian Jews, Gitta and her family are expelled
from their home by the Soviets. Although they escape the claws of the
murderous Nazis and Lithuanians, their destiny takes them to the terrifying
banks of the Arctic Ocean.
Gitta's account of life in Siberia is an extraordinary description of her
confrontation with the brutal climate and the flinty Soviet authorities --
but also of an establishment of a Jewish community which, with enormous
effort, attempted to reconstruct the spiritual-communal life it had known in
Lithuania. The kingpins of this new Jewish community were Gitta's father and
the mother of her future husband, who taught the youth Hebrew, organized
daily prayers, constructed Jewish calendars and initiated other activities.
Sixteen years later, following the long-awaited release from Siberian exile,
the author and her husband (my father) in Vilna attempt to gain permission
to immigrate to Israel. When their struggle runs into a brick wall, they
express their longing for the Jewish homeland by naming their children with
Jewish names and teaching them the Hebrew language openly. After thirteen
years of tedious efforts, their stubborn struggle succeeds in triumph. The
book ends with their landing in the Promised Land.
As the editor of this work, I have added to the memoirs a research wrapping
of relevant footnotes and a professional article at the appendix dealing
with the deportation of the Lithuanian Jews, based on NKVD documents that I
uncovered at the special archives in Vilna. This extensive research material
complements the author's memoirs from a scientific perspective and reveals
for readers and researchers quite a fascinating piece of Jewish history that
has disappeared until now into the shadow of Holocaust stories.
__
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
==================================
Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to:
[email protected]
To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here:
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected]
Ha-Safran Archives:
Current:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
Earlier Listserver:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
--
Hasafran mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
