Malka Owsiany Recounts... - by Mark Turkow

Book Synopsis

First published in Yiddish in 1946 and translated into Spanish in 2001, this is the first time that Malka Owsiany's story is available in English. Malka describes the horrors of the Holocaust but also the richness of Polish Jewish life and communities. We also learn about Malka rebuilding her life and marrying a fellow survivor, Meir. Meir and Malka built a family as well as an enduring legacy of strength and dedication to the Jewish community and Yiddish culture.

About the Author

Sandra Chiritescu is a PhD candidate in Yiddish Studies at Columbia University. She is writing her dissertation on Yiddish and second-wave feminism. She is a Yiddish teacher at the Worker's Circle and has translated Yiddish children's stories for the volume In the Land of Happy Tears (Penguin Random House, 2018)

Marc Turkow (1904-1983) was a journalist and writer born in Warsaw, Poland, who settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1930. He wrote in both Yiddish and Spanish. Turkow made an impact leading HIAS--an organization that implements Jewish values to support refugees. Turkow also served as a representative of the World Jewish Congress for Latin America. He published dozens of booklets on distinguished Jewish intellectuals and spiritual leaders. The Documentation and Information Center on Argentinean Jewry was named after him.

Sources: Encyclopedia Judaica, HIAS