The Seamstress

I finished yet another Holocaust survival memoir yesterday, The Seamstress. Out of all so far, I would recommend the Seamstress and In My Hands the most, although all I've read are good. This book is about a jewish girl in Romania, which was a new perspective for me, but she has to have the strongest spirit of any of the survivors I've gotten to "know" so far. This was also the book that showed me the most horrific side of this tragedy as well as the one that made me see my own ignorance and pride most clearly.

It's interesting what an emotionally moving book does to you, expecially in the days that follow reading it while the material is fresh, is still part of your thoughts. I was in the final two chapters yesterday when I stopped to make the kids lunch. I made a bunch of ham/turkey/cheese sandwiches en masse and stopped myself. I looked at all the food we were getting ready to consume and I felt ashamed. Embarrassed by all I had.

The most memorable lines in the book are these, at the moment the war was over and she (Seren Tuvel, 26 yrs old) arrived at a hospital:

"We were bathed and disinfected, our heads shaved to rid them of lice, and each given a clean pair of men's pajamas and straw slippers. Finally we were put on a scale to be weighed. I weighed 44 pounds, including pajamas.

"I was exhausted and sat down on the ground. Was the war over? It seemed to be, but I was not sure. I was too tired to care, more tired than I had ever been in my life. I closed my eyes.

"Then I felt myself being lifted up in two arms. I opened my eyes. One of the American soldiers was carrying me. I closed my eyes again. Drops of water began splashing on my cheeks and running down my neck. Is it raining again? I thought. No, we're inside now where it would not rain. Then I realized that the soldier carrying me was crying, his tears falling on my face".

It is always in the face of devastation that the most brilliant glimmers of compassion and humanity also come to light. I am truly in awe of people like Seren, who are among about 40 that survived Ravensbrok camp out of the original 10, 000 women taken there in 1943. And not only surviving but helping save a sister and a friend as well. I learned lessons with such impact through these recent stories; all true, by the way. Fortitude, intelligence, love and loyalty - they are all in there.

This book was published posthumously. We almost didn't have it! Seren used to record herself telling these stories and experiences from memory. After she died in America of cancer at age 65, her daughter decided to have them transcribed and gave them over to an author to compile. How grateful I am to them for bringing it to us!