Krystyna Carmi
Autor de The Strange Ways of Providence In My Life
Obras de Krystyna Carmi
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- female
- Nacionalidad
- Poland (birth)
Israel - Lugar de nacimiento
- Obertyn, Poland
- Ocupaciones
- poet
memoirist
Holocaust survivor - Biografía breve
- Krystyna Carmi, née Sorger, was born to a Jewish family in Obertyn, Poland (present-day Ukraine). Her father was a professional photographer. She attended a Ukrainian school and had both Polish and Ukrainian friends as a child. She was living a normal, happy life that was brutally interrupted by the start of World War II. The town was invaded first by the Soviet Union, then by Hungary, and finally by Nazi Germany. Krystyna, aged nine, her parents and sisters, her grandparents, and the other Jews from Obertyn were forced into the ghetto in Kolomyja.
She escaped from the ghetto with her parents and they lived in hiding, suffering hunger, thirst, and fear. Later her sisters were murdered and her parents were executed.
In 1944, after the loss of her entire family, she was adopted by the non-Jewish Gaczyński family. In March 1945, when the Ukrainian Bandera increased persecution of Poles, the Gaczyńskis had to return to their original home in Brzesko in southern Poland. Krystyna went to the orphanage at Jordanow, where she attended high school.
In 1958, she was given permission to leave for the State of Israel. She married and had two children. She wrote a memoir of the war years called The Strange Ways of Providence in My Life, containing more than 100 pictures taken by her father.
Miembros
Reseñas
I received a free advance e-copy of this book and have chosen to write an honest and unbiased review. I have no personal affiliation with the author. What an amazing memoir. The author gives the reader a stark and realistic view of life of a child as a Polish Jew as she becomes an adult before, during, and after WW II and how her experiences shaped her life. This book is a true testimonial to her courage, strength and will to live. You feel every emotion, horror, and tragedy that she experiences. This is an amazing and extremely well written true story that everyone should read. The pictures added to the story. Let us never forget the Holocaust, the horrors, tragedies, and the survivors.… (más)
Review can also be found in https://chillandreadblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/18/the-strange-ways-of-providence...
God looks after the orphans.
Krystyna Carmi was born in Obertyn, Ukraine as Sonia. In the time of Sonia’s childhood the territory would host Ukrainians and Poles, Jews and Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox believers. They would live along a quiet life, having their jobs, their daily tasks, their friends and families. Just like any other place in the world those days.
Her memoir starts with her early childhood before the war. She was gifted with an amazing memory and is in place to tell the story of her family and hers, transferring the atmosphere, smells and feelings through the pages of this book. Even as a little girl Sonia describes how her family lived along with their neighbors, have them be Ukrainians, Poles or Jews. Her father was a professional photographer and sonia was able to save many of his photos that have now become part of her memoir. We can see the beautiful family with the three daughters of which only the little one miraculously survived.
This is a survivor’s memoir, yet there is nothing about concentration camps, only about the Kolomyya ghetto, where Sonia’s family was transferred when Jews were ordered to evacuate Obertyn. Even though she was not transferred to a concentration camp she has gone through many horrors as a child and that is a traumatic experience for a little girl like Sonia was.
Some may be minded by the way the story is described. However it is more authentic as it took a lot of time for the author to allow herself to remember and speak of those days, so some memories may have faded along the way. Others may have been pushed deep down in her conscious mind that she is not able to remember anything more than a blank between memories. It is a protection mechanism of the brain to repel traumatic memories into unconscious.… (más)
God looks after the orphans.
Krystyna Carmi was born in Obertyn, Ukraine as Sonia. In the time of Sonia’s childhood the territory would host Ukrainians and Poles, Jews and Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox believers. They would live along a quiet life, having their jobs, their daily tasks, their friends and families. Just like any other place in the world those days.
Her memoir starts with her early childhood before the war. She was gifted with an amazing memory and is in place to tell the story of her family and hers, transferring the atmosphere, smells and feelings through the pages of this book. Even as a little girl Sonia describes how her family lived along with their neighbors, have them be Ukrainians, Poles or Jews. Her father was a professional photographer and sonia was able to save many of his photos that have now become part of her memoir. We can see the beautiful family with the three daughters of which only the little one miraculously survived.
This is a survivor’s memoir, yet there is nothing about concentration camps, only about the Kolomyya ghetto, where Sonia’s family was transferred when Jews were ordered to evacuate Obertyn. Even though she was not transferred to a concentration camp she has gone through many horrors as a child and that is a traumatic experience for a little girl like Sonia was.
Some may be minded by the way the story is described. However it is more authentic as it took a lot of time for the author to allow herself to remember and speak of those days, so some memories may have faded along the way. Others may have been pushed deep down in her conscious mind that she is not able to remember anything more than a blank between memories. It is a protection mechanism of the brain to repel traumatic memories into unconscious.… (más)
The author really details her childhood. This was nice. There is nothing worse about reading a memoir then to get the feeling that the author has only given the readers the bare bones of their story. Not that every, little detail needs to be provided. Yet, when I am reading a memoir I am wanting to feel like I got to know the author or the subject matter that the memoir is written on.
In this book, I really did feel like I got an clear image of what life was like for Krystyna growing up. When she talked about her family, I felt like I wanted to be a part of her family. The pictures that are featured in this book are great. I like how the author placed them throughout the book; instead of all in the center of the book or at the end. Not that I really needed the images to tell the story as I got an instant image in my head reading the book. However, the images helped with the story. Due to the placement of them, they enhanced the story more.
Not all great memories but you can't expect that when people are dying in the ghetto. You really appreciate life more when you read stories like Krystyna's. This book is easy reading. If you enjoy reading memoirs than you have to check this book out.… (más)
In this book, I really did feel like I got an clear image of what life was like for Krystyna growing up. When she talked about her family, I felt like I wanted to be a part of her family. The pictures that are featured in this book are great. I like how the author placed them throughout the book; instead of all in the center of the book or at the end. Not that I really needed the images to tell the story as I got an instant image in my head reading the book. However, the images helped with the story. Due to the placement of them, they enhanced the story more.
Not all great memories but you can't expect that when people are dying in the ghetto. You really appreciate life more when you read stories like Krystyna's. This book is easy reading. If you enjoy reading memoirs than you have to check this book out.… (más)
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 1
- Miembros
- 22
- Popularidad
- #553,378
- Valoración
- 4.4
- Reseñas
- 4
- ISBNs
- 3
We teach about the Holocaust in our eighth and ninth grade English Language Arts Classes. This is definitely a book I will put on my shelves at school. It is another voice added to so many. Yet this is told in a manner my students will definitely be able to understand. I highly recommend this book.… (más)