Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor [Paperback]

Judith Magyar Isaacson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager in Kaposvar, Hungary, the author dreamed of studying literature at the Sorbonne. At age 19, her reality was forced labor in the notorious camp of Auschwitz. Her memoir of that experience is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, kept alive, as her own was, through humor and creativity. Isaacson tells of evading selection by the feared Dr. Mengele for transport with other young women to the Russian front; of her transfer to Lichentau; and, after the Allied liberation, meeting the American intelligence officer who became her husband. Based on indelible recollections, a return trip to Hungary and research into the Hungarian Holocaust, this is an eloquent picture of a life before and after. The author is retired dean of students at Bates College. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"European culture may have failed the human race during the crucial Holocaust years, but it is vindicated in this memoir in the person of the young Judith Magyar." -- Freema Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 2nd edition (June 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252062191
• ISBN-13: 978-0252062193
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unbelieveable story, February 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (Paperback)

The story that this woman has to tell about her experience is absolutely amazing. I work at a private school in Maine, and I have had the privilege of hearing her read one of her chapters aloud, and, along with the room of 300, I sat mesmerized by her powerful story of personal courage and perseverance. As she mentioned, the chance of hearing holocaust survivors tell their own story grows smaller each year. Listening to her tell her story, my husband and I realized that although she had suffered such inhumane treatment, she has not lost any of her humanity. She was truly inspirational, and the powerful message that she gave our students was to work for understanding and harmony while also enjoying the happy moments in their own lives. Despite the ups and downs, life is a wonderful gift. Hearing someone like Mrs. Isaacson tell you that you can look on the bright side of your life really puts everyday troubles into perspective.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could there be a lesson in this for today's world?, February 9, 2005

By 

Nina M. Osier (Randolph, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (Paperback)

In November 1976, the Bates College Dean of Students - Judith Magyar Isaacson - was invited to give a talk on the Holocaust at her alma mater, Bowdoin College. For the first time since her concentration camp and forced labor camp experiences, she spoke about them in public. After that she knew she had to write her story, just as she'd planned she would while those events were happening to her.

What does it mean to be a Hungarian Jew, in the years before the war? Judit Magyar, nicknamed Jutka, lives a happy and secure life as the only child of a middle class couple. That comfortable existence falls away piece by piece, as laws are passed that take away one right after another from the Magyars and other families like them. By the time Jutka and her remaining loved ones are deported, they've already survived being barred from working for a living - being deprived of their property - and being crowded into a ghetto, that used to be one of many neighborhoods where Kaposvar Jewish families lived.

Wrenching though the rest of the book is, to me its most interesting aspect is Jutka's calm narration of how the city that once respected and valued her family gradually embraces Nazi-sponsored anti-Semitism. What happens when government institutionalizes hate, and makes it respectable, is all the more frightening because the culture thus poisoned is both ancient and thoroughly civilized.

Brrr. Could there be a lesson in this for today's world?

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential book for trying to comprehend the Holocaust, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (Paperback)

This book is one of the greatest ive ever read. It is written so well, that the reader transforms himself into Jutka's life, and seems to experience this book as if it were his own experience. This is one fo the most stuningly realistic survivor books, ever written. There are no words that can express the power of this book, completely.