Life

Born in 1931 to a secular Jewish family in Poland, Irit Amiel grew up in the city of Czestochowa with its significant Jewish community of 30,000. She survived the Second World War having escaped from the ghetto and living under false Aryan papers, in various places. In the autumn of 1945 and at the age of 14, she set on a brave journey to the Middle East. She escaped from Europe via illegal smuggling routes and displaced persons camps in Germany, Italy, and Cyprus, finally reaching Eretz Israel in December 1947. She settled in a kibbutz and participated in the joint effort of building the country with native Israelis and Shoah survivors. There she met the love of her life, a charming Israeli Palmachnik of Moroccan heritage, Chuzy Amiel. Together they started a new life and raised a family. Only when her grandchildren reached their teens was she ready to tell her story, understanding her experiences are unique and that the passage of time will erase the memories of yesterday. Irit talks to herself throughout the book, and in her unique style of writing each chapter is both part of the whole and an individual story at the same time. In this way her individual voice becomes the voice of her generation. [Subject: Holocaust Studies, Israeli Studies, Immigration, Memoir]