The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival

by Sara Tuval Bernstein

Overview

"From its opening pages, in which she recounts her own premature birth, triggered by terrifying rumors of an incipient pogrom, Bernstein' s tale is clearly not a typical memoir of the Holocaust. She was born into a large family in rural Romania...and grew up feisty and willing to fight back physically against anti-Semitism from other schoolchildren. She defied her father' s orders to turn down a scholarship that took her to Bucharest, and got herself expelled from that school when she responded to a priest/teacher's vicious diatribe against the Jews by hurling a bottle of ink at him...After a series of incidents that ranged from dramatic escapes to a year in a forced labor detachment, Sara ended up in Ravensbruck, a women' s concentration camp, and managed to survive...she tells this story with style and power." —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425166307
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/01/1999
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.01(w) x 7.94(h) x 0.96(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sara Tuval Bernstein was born in Romania and attended school in Bucharest before being expelled after speaking out against anti-Semitism. She was liberated from the concentration camp Bergau by the Red Cross and then volunteered to teach sewing to fellow displaced women. She is known for her memoir The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival. 

Table of Contents

Introduction by Edgar M. Bronfman
Maps
Part One
Prologue
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Epilogue
Afterword by Marlene Bernstein Samuels

Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"There are many recent accounts of Holocaust victims, but this work stands alone as a testimony to personal strength and an independent spirit." —-Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Seren Tuvel Bernstein (1918-1983), a brave and spirited Holocaust survivor, recounts the story of her prewar life, the Holocaust years, and her efforts to reconnect with lost relatives and create a better existence for herself and her family after the war. Includes some b&w photographs. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

A striking Holocaust memoir, posthumously published, by a Romanian Jew with an unusual story to tell.

From its opening pages, in which she recounts her own premature birth, triggered by terrifying rumors of an incipient pogrom, Bernstein's tale is clearly not a typical memoir of the Holocaust. She was born into a large family in rural Romania between the wars and grew up feisty and willing to fight back physically against anti-Semitism from other schoolchildren. She defied her father's orders to turn down a scholarship that took her to Bucharest, and got herself expelled from that school when she responded to a priest/teacher's vicious diatribe against the Jews by hurling a bottle of ink at him. Ashamed to return home after her expulsion, she looked for work in Bucharest and discovered a talent for dressmaking. That talent—and her blond hair, blue eyes, and overall Gentile appearance—allowed her entry into the highest reaches of Romanian society, albeit as a dressmaker. Bernstein recounts the growing shadow of the native fascist movement, the Iron Guard, a rising tide of anti-Semitic laws, and finally, the open persecution of Romania's Jews. After a series of incidents that ranged from dramatic escapes to a year in a forced labor detachment, Sara ended up in Ravensbrück, a women's concentration camp deep in Germany. Nineteen out of every twenty women transported there died. The author, her sister Esther, and two other friends banded together and, largely due to Sara's extraordinary street smarts and intuition, managed to survive. Although Bernstein was not a professional writer, she tells this story with style and power. Her daughter Marlene contributes a moving epilogue to close out Sara's life.

One of the best of the recent wave of Holocaust memoirs.

Kirkus Reviews

An engrossing history lesson as well as an important archive.”

New York Times bestselling author of Moon Music Faye Kellerman

"There are many recent accounts of Holocaust victims, but this work stands alone as a testimony to personal strength and an independent spirit." ---Library Journal

From the Publisher