The Embarkation

by Murray Gitlin

Overview

What makes a Jew a Jew? This question is often heard among young American Jews who have not been brought up to understand the spiritual values which the Jews gave to the world. "The Embarkation," Murray Gitlin's emotional novel, first published in 1950, gives to a certain extent a psychological answer to this question.
The central figure in the novel, Martin Tester, is an American soldier who is forced to become a deserter due to the anti-Semitism of his commander. He wanders around for two years in Italy, knowing that a court martial awaits him if he ever returns to the United States. An American who works for British Intelligence in Italy discovers him and guarantees that everything will be forgiven and forgotten, provided he spies on ships carrying "illegal" Jewish immigrants from Italy to Palestine. Having no choice, he accepts the offer. However, coming face to face with the first transport of Jewish refugees, he decides to help rather than denounce them to the British agents. He is helped in this by an Italian girl who falls in love with him and by other Italians of good will, who ask no questions…
"The book is very well-written and makes absorbing reading."—The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787209862
Publisher:	Valmy Publishing
Publication date:	02/27/2018
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	135
File size:	625 KB

About the Author

Murray Gitlin was a white Jewish-American political activist. During World War II he worked as an official with the non-Communist philanthropic organization United Jewish Appeal. It was during this time that he met and married Thyra J. Edwards, a Texan-born black social worker, journalist, labor organizer, and advocate for women's and civil rights. The couple moved to New York City after the war.
In 1947, the United Jewish Appeal appointed Gitlin as deputy director of a branch of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to work with Jewish refugees in post-war Italy. There he spent five years with his wife Thyra, and wrote his book The Embarkation, which was published in 1950.
Gitlin and Edwards returned to the United States in 1952, dividing their time between West Hartford, Connecticut, where Gitlin's family lived, Edwards' hometown of Houston, Texas, and New York City, where Edwards died of cancer in 1953, aged just 56.
Murray Gitlin was also the author of All the Voices, published in 1960, which tells the moving story and thought-provoking story of an extraordinary white man married to a unique black woman.

In 1947, the United Jewish Appeal appointed Gitlin as deputy director of a branch of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to work with Jewish refugees in post-war Italy. There he spent five years with his wife Thyra, and wrote his book The Embarkation, which was published in 1950.
Gitlin and Edwards returned to the United States in 1952, dividing their time between West Hartford, Connecticut, where Gitlin’s family lived, Edwards’ hometown of Houston, Texas, and New York City, where Edwards died of cancer in 1953, aged just 56.
Murray Gitlin was also the author of All the Voices, published in 1960, which tells the moving story and thought-provoking story of an extraordinary white man married to a unique black woman.