Malka's Story

Home, to Malka, is a Jewish shtetel in pre-war Poland. There life centered around tradition and holidays which were kept and maintained in the same unchanging way for thousands of years. Her father, lord and master of the household, imbued the family with Torah values as he tried to shelter them from the faith-destroying ideologies of the twentieth century. The colorful Yiddish expressions her mother always used imparted wisdom and masked tragedy under the guise of laughter. Moments of happiness and frustration were etched in time, moments she would remember into her old age. Though life in a shtetel seems far removed from ours, human emotions and interactions are timeless. Like young girls throughout history she dreamed of independence, marriage and children. Written in a poetic style, sprinkled with Yiddish songs and expressions, "Malka's Story" evokes the tales portrayed by Sholom Aleichem Then World War II breaks out and the Wehrmacht, the German army, enters the shtetel. They are soon followed by the SS squads who burn and kill and torture and bring an end to their quiet lives. Unshakable faith and sheer chutzpa keep them alive as they are expelled from their town and fate guides them through Nazi fire and death to Siberian ice and starvation. The second and third section of the book, the war years in Siberia, and post war years in Communist Poland, are told from a child's point of view. Malka's daughter, the baby born at the outbreak of war and the author of this book, takes up the tale. She is a child whose first awareness of this world is one of fear and want and war. With childish innocence she accepts it as a given and wonders dispassionately if she would live to be five. The post-war years in Communist Poland shape the author's childhood. Her innocence is shattered by tales of horror told by survivors, by voices of hatred directed at them as they walk the streets. She witnesses broken souls and shattered lives. But the voice that breaks through and dominates the others is one of love of life, of hope and faith, of courage and drive to rebuild.