Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (Illini Books Edition)

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Summary: Could there be a lesson in this for today's world?
Review: 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?


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Summary: An unbelieveable story
Review: 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.

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Summary: Quintessential book for trying to comprehend the Holocaust
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great story!
Review: This was a great book! It really told about her experiences during the whole war and what many people had to go through. I would definitely recommend it!