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History Jewish

The Soul of Things

Memoir of a Youth Interrupted

by (author) Éva Fahidi

edited by Judith Szapor

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Oct 2020
Category
Jewish, Holocaust, Jewish, Personal Memoirs
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487536268
    Publish Date
    Oct 2020
    List Price
    $28.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781487507442
    Publish Date
    Oct 2020
    List Price
    $71.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487525125
    Publish Date
    Oct 2020
    List Price
    $28.95

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Description

An exceptional document of an extraordinary life, The Soul of Things is the memoir of Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi. Since the memoir was first published in Hungarian in 2004 under the title Anima Rerum, Fahidi has become a household name in Hungary and in Germany. Featured in countless interviews and several prize-winning documentary films, at the age of ninety-five she is a frequent speaker at Holocaust commemorations in Hungary, Germany, and elsewhere.

 

The Soul of Things combines a rare depiction of upper-middle-class Jewish life in pre-war Hungary with the chronicle of a woman’s deportation and survival in the camps. Fahidi is a gifted writer with a unique voice, full of wisdom, humanity, and flashes of dark humour. With an unsentimental, philosophical perspective, she recounts her journey from the Great Hungarian Plain to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the forced labour camp of Münchmühle, and back.

 

The English edition includes a new introduction by historians Éva Kovács and Judith Szapor, the original prefaces to the Hungarian and German editions, an essay on the Münchmüle Camp by Fritz Brinkman-Frisch, and extensive notes providing historical and cultural context for Fahidi’s narrative.

About the authors

Éva Fahidi is an activist and author who has captivated audiences with her life story as an Auschwitz survivor.

Éva Fahidi's profile page

Judith Szapor is an associate professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University.

Judith Szapor's profile page