The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival (Book) - 4/23/2010 8:03:34 AM
Seren's memories, as published by her daughter in THE SEAMSTRESS, are totally engrossing because of her indomitable voice & the scope of her journey from peaceful childhood between the wars in Transylvania Romania to '50s America, with a detour in between called the Second World War & Hitler's Jewish Solution that killed 19 out of 20 women & almost demolished this fierce & feisty voyager.
Born to a Jewish lumber mill manager & his second wife, Seren had a set of older half-brothers & sisters & then her own siblings from her mother. Because of her father's work, they lived in rural valleys where each spring, village louts would go on a rampage: rioting called pogroms because they specifically destroyed Jewish life & property & occurred, for generations all over Europe, due to the Easter time instigation of Christian priests & pastors.
As Seren studied at school she dreamed of going on to college in far away Bucharest. Defying her father she did just that except her path veered off into a sewing school where she enjoyed a giddy coming of age among fellow workers & students, making friends & deciding never to marry... until in her mid-20s, the fuse of Germany's anger & greed erupted into her homeland with the ominous intention of eradicating anyone deemed tainted.
Along with ten thousand other women from her region, Seren was marked for Hitler's Jewish Solution & the bulk of her memories deals with how & where she was herded, what happened to her family & friends, what she learnt to survive & how she did it.
Suspend all your judgments & expectations otherwise you'll miss the many lessons THE SEAMSTRESS has to teach. Be not faint of heart, for if Seren made it without falling to pieces, then the least you, dear reader, can do is remember as you read the millions of grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters & daughters who didn't have a Seren to hold your hand, look out for you & keep you going until it was over & you could collapse, with the help of those wonderfully healthy Americans, then follow them home & make a new, a good life for you & yours.
More about females surviving male wars: THOSE WHO SAVE US: A novel by Jenna Blum; MY ENEMY'S CRADLE: A novel by Sara Young; LAUGHTER WASN'T RATIONED: A Personal Journey Through Germany's World Wars and Post War Years by Dorothea von Schwanenflugel Lawson.
