Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor

Among the many published accounts of the Holocaust, Seed of Sarah stands out for its amazing clarity, its portrayal of courage in the face of unprecedented crimes against humanity, and for its optimism despite those crimes. Not many first-hand accounts of the death camps center on the perspective of women. This one does, but it is also universal in its appeal and the genius of the author is that she allows the reader to be with her during the worst of the experience and to survive, as she has done, with love. If you are teaching or taking a course on the Holocaust or on World War II, this book is essential.

I'm amazed that someone who has endured a tragic event in their life has found the stength to speak, and write about it. These survivor's had their businesses, properties and personal belonging taken from them, because they were Jewish!! The treatment in the camps was horrendous. I'm not even sure how they managed to survive. You can spend your life reading and studing the Holocaust, however unless you were there you will never really know. This book bring you as close as you can get.

In November 1976, the Bates College Dean of Students - Judith Magyar Isaacson - was invited to give a talk on the Holocaust at her alma mater, Bowdoin College. For the first time since her concentration camp and forced labor camp experiences, she spoke about them in public. After that she knew she had to write her story, just as she'd planned she would while those events were happening to her. What does it mean to be a Hungarian Jew, in the years before the war? Judit Magyar, nicknamed Jutka, lives a happy and secure life as the only child of a middle class couple. That comfortable existence falls away piece by piece, as laws are passed that take away one right after another from the Magyars and other families like them. By the time Jutka and her remaining loved ones are deported, they've already survived being barred from working for a living - being deprived of their property - and being crowded into a ghetto, that used to be one of many neighborhoods where Kaposvar Jewish families lived. Wrenching though the rest of the book is, to me its most interesting aspect is Jutka's calm narration of how the city that once respected and valued her family gradually embraces Nazi-sponsored anti-Semitism. What happens when government institutionalizes hate, and makes it respectable, is all the more frightening because the culture thus poisoned is both ancient and thoroughly civilized. Brrr. Could there be a lesson in this for today's world?

The story that this woman has to tell about her experience is absolutely amazing. I work at a private school in Maine, and I have had the privilege of hearing her read one of her chapters aloud, and, along with the room of 300, I sat mesmerized by her powerful story of personal courage and perseverance. As she mentioned, the chance of hearing holocaust survivors tell their own story grows smaller each year. Listening to her tell her story, my husband and I realized that although she had suffered such inhumane treatment, she has not lost any of her humanity. She was truly inspirational, and the powerful message that she gave our students was to work for understanding and harmony while also enjoying the happy moments in their own lives. Despite the ups and downs, life is a wonderful gift. Hearing someone like Mrs. Isaacson tell you that you can look on the bright side of your life really puts everyday troubles into perspective.

This book is one of the greatest ive ever read. It is written so well, that the reader transforms himself into Jutka's life, and seems to experience this book as if it were his own experience. This is one fo the most stuningly realistic survivor books, ever written. There are no words that can express the power of this book, completely.