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Rose Recalls Ruchele
Ruchele--Sixty Years from Szatmar to Los Angeles by Rose Farkas gives an eye-witness account of history that changed Europe--and the world--forever. A record of a young girl's experience of the Holocaust, Ruchele is of social significance, but it is also a personal look at the traditions, language, and day-to-day lives of a Jewish family.
Divided into three parts, this memoir recalls growing up Jewish in Szatmar, Romania; surviving the Holocaust and World War II in Budapest, Hungary; and then leaving Europe and emigrating to Southern California. In the course of this journey the author experienced changes and upheaval of all sorts, including the shifting of national borders, the emerging powers of Europe as Nazism spread, and the erupting of official anti-Semitism that culminated in the Holocaust.
But this story is not entirely devoted to world-shaking events. It is also rich in quiet moments. Ruchele tells the story of girlhood and young womanhood and romance and marriage. It presents Jewish family life and society and the daily economy of people in small business in a small city. It is the story of a family that lost everything, and it is the story of a couple who came to America and rebuilt their fortunes from nothing into prosperity.
Full of charming illustrations, colorful Yiddish expressions (translated in a glossary), humorous anecdotes, and narrative scenes that run the gamut from heartwarming to spine-chilling, Ruchele is a testament to the continuity of Jewish life through the worst of trials, and to survival. It is also a valuable social document, a witness to atrocity that must never be repeated, as well as a keepsake of times forever lost.
Rose Farkas lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Alex. |
