Mala's Cat: A Memoir of Survival in World War II

by Mala Kacenberg

Overview

The incredible true story of a young girl who navigated dangerous forests, outwitted Nazi soldiers, and survived against all odds with the companionship of a stray cat.

Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest, Mala Szorer had the happiest childhood she could have hoped for. But at the age of twelve, as the German invasion begins, her beloved village becomes a ghetto and her family and friends reduced to starvation. She takes matters into her own hands and bravely removes her yellow star, risking sneaking out to the surrounding villages to barter for food.

It is on her way back that she sees her loved ones rounded up for deportation, and receives a smuggled letter from her sister warning her to stay away. In order to survive, she walks away from everything she holds dear to live by herself in the forest, hiding not just from the Nazis but hostile villagers. She is followed by a stray cat who stays with her—and seems to come to her rescue time and time again.

"Malach" the cat becomes her family and her only respite from painful loneliness, a guide, and areminder to stay hopeful even when faced with unfathomable darkness.

Filled with remarkable spiritual strength that allows readers to see the war through the innocence of a child's eyes, Mala's Cat is a powerful and unique addition to the Holocaust canon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639363827
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	76,717
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mala Kacenberg (nee Szorer) was born in Tarnogrod, Poland in 1927. As World War II broke out, Mala found herself having to fend for herself at the tender age of 12. Surviving by her wits, courage and the help of a guardian angel (her cat Malach), she was the sole survivor of her family. Mala immigrated to London with other Jewish refugees after the war, where she raised a large beautiful family, living long enough to be blessed with many grandchildren.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Book 1 Flight

1 The River Runs Peacefully 3

2 Strange Lessons at School 8

3 A Varied Education 11

4 Summer Turns to War 17

5 A Different Kind of Soldier 20

6 My Guardian Was an Angel 30

7 A Dark Plan 35

8 A Young Provider 41

9 Ransoming the Men 48

Book 2 Shelter in the Forest

10 Goodbye, Family; Goodbye, Childhood 55

11 Auntie Aniela 65

12 The Forest and the Partisans 75

13 The Survivors in Tamogród 84

14 The River and the Raft 89

15 The Final Round-up 99

16 Respite with the Gromykas 110

17 A Last Look at Tarnogród 119

18 The Labour Exchange 126

19 A Run-in with Zosia 141

Book 3 Amid the Enemy

20 Alias Stefania 153

21 Letters from Home 168

22 Aroused Suspicions 176

23 Besting an Officer 192

24 Glimmers of Hope 196

25 Shared Secrets 209

26 A Jewish Soldier 217

27 My Name Is Mala Szorer 223

Book 4 Return to Poland

28 Followed by Trouble 239

29 The Soldier Sanford 260

30 The Yeshivah 266

31 The Girls in Dom Mondziejowski 269

32 The Final Escape 271

Book 5 A New Life

33 Journey to England 277

34 Finding Relatives 288

35 A Shidduch 294

Glossary 305

Editorial Reviews

Despite the difficulties that inhere in Holocaust memoir — we believe we know this history, and its subject matter defies language — Mala’s Cat is fresh, unsentimental and utterly unpredictable. The memoir is a chronicle of Kacenberg’s astonishing creativity, intelligence, courage, and plain old chutzpah. She is wise beyond her years, knowing when she needs to eat and sleep and grieve, and even when she needs to do what is not wise. The stories of the 25,000 Jews who survived the war in the woods of Eastern Europe are just beginning to come to light. This memoir, rescued from obscurity by the efforts of Mala Kacenberg’s five children, should be read and cherished as a new, vital document of a history that must never be allowed to vanish."

Julie Orringer

"An unforgettable memoir, "Mala's Cat: A Memoir of Survival in World War II" by Mala Kacenberg is a compelling true life story of remarkable spiritual strength that allows her readers to see the war through the innocence of a child's eyes. "Mala's Cat: A Memoir of Survival in World War II" is a powerfully written, extraordinarily, compelling, invaluable and unique addition to the World War II Holocaust canon."

Midwest Book Review

"A remarkable tale of survival, in which Jewish life in pre-war Poland and the atrocities of the Holocaust appear through an almost dreamlike lens of childhood memory."

Jeremy Dronfield

★ 11/01/2021

In this gorgeous debut, Kacenberg shares her harrowing and courageous story of surviving the Holocaust. In 1942, after returning from a trip to find food outside her Polish hometown of Tarnogrod, 15-year-old Kacenberg was told by a neighbor that her family had been rounded up for deportation by the Nazis. “If I were to survive,” she realized, “I would have to behave like a grown-up and fend for myself.” Accompanied by a stray cat she named Malach (the Hebrew word for angel), Kacenberg went into hiding, and, as she writes, Malach lived up to her name, emanating “a shield of protection” around her, even once clawing the face of a German man who threatened them. Blonde, blue-eyed, and resourceful, Kacenberg eventually took the alias of Stefania Iwkiewicz and managed to evade capture by convincing the Nazis she was a Christian and escaping to Germany, where she lived until the war ended. As she devastatingly describes, she wasn’t spared from the war’s unimaginable atrocities, including the killing of her entire family. Still, against all odds, Kacenberg lived to serve as a witness for those who were less fortunate, eventually marrying a fellow war survivor in 1949 and raising five children in the United Kingdom. This moving account is a welcome addition to the canon of WWII memoirs. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"A haunting saga with classic potential."

Daisy Styles

This amazing memoir of a Jewish girl’s survival in Poland and Germany from 1939-45 is perfectly narrated by Kristen Atherton. Mala Szorer lost her family, but through a series of miracles she was able to survive in the forest around her village. A stray cat named Malach (Hebrew for “angel”) becomes her companion and on many occasions saves Mala from harm. Mala is Torah-observant and throughout the memoir gives glory to “HaShem” (“The Name”—God) for her survival. After the war ends, she survives in several refugee camps, meets relatives in England, and, finally, is married in 1949. Atherton’s pacing, inflection, expression, energy, and pronunciation (including German and Yiddish) are all perfect. It’s hard to stop listening to this once one begins. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile

This amazing memoir of a Jewish girl’s survival in Poland and Germany from 1939-45 is perfectly narrated by Kristen Atherton. Mala Szorer lost her family, but through a series of miracles she was able to survive in the forest around her village. A stray cat named Malach (Hebrew for “angel”) becomes her companion and on many occasions saves Mala from harm. Mala is Torah-observant and throughout the memoir gives glory to “HaShem” (“The Name”—God) for her survival. After the war ends, she survives in several refugee camps, meets relatives in England, and, finally, is married in 1949. Atherton’s pacing, inflection, expression, energy, and pronunciation (including German and Yiddish) are all perfect. It’s hard to stop listening to this once one begins. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile