The Seamstress

This book was my latest read. I think The Seamstress originally caught my eye because of its setting of Romania, a country which I have visited before. It's the autobiography of a Romanian Jew who survived the events of the Holocaust. The book was published after her death by her daughter and a relative by marriage. Sara, or Seren as she is referred to throughout most of the memoir, was born in 1918 in the Transylvania Mountains. Briefly recounting her childhood, Seren launches into her experience of moving from a tiny mountain village to the modern city of Bucharest in order to attend gymnasium, which is the Romanian equivalent of a very academically challenging high school. As one of only two Jewish students to attend the school, Seren eventually becomes so upset at a teacher who continually discussed how "all the Jews killed Christ," that she quits the school. She quickly finds work as a seamstress apprentice, and it is at that point that her life shifts dramatically.

In the twenties and thirties, waves of anti-Semitism began to make their ugly debuts in the European theatre, but nothing prepared the Jewish families for what they were about to endure at the hands of their former neighbors, friends, even family members. I won't delve further into more specifics of Seren's story because I think it's important that you read her story and the stories of others who have experienced such things.

Six million Jewish individuals died during the Holocaust. While it is important to recognize the enormity of that number, I think sometimes we get bogged down by the immensity of it that we don't truly grasp the implications. It is important to remember that each one of those six million people had a story of their own that made them unique, that set them a part from the other six million victims. It's when we see people as individuals that we more truly understand the events of history and the impact they have not just on individuals, but the on rest of the world as well.