Surviving the Holocaust and Stalin: The Amazing Story of the Seiler Family

By: Vanessa Holburn

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Synopsis: The horrors of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and labor camps were just the beginning of the struggle to survive for the Seiler family. As Hungarian Jews, they faced persecution of the very worst kind both from their own government and Nazi Germany. After liberation by the Soviets at the end of WWII they endured further punishment from the Stalinist regime concealed behind the Iron Curtain. This memoir is drawn from a recently re-discovered cache of precious family letters and exclusive interviews with Marta Seiler, who translated those letters for the first time. Marta has supplemented the account with childhood memories and original photos. The narrative is told through the voices of Marta, her mother Izabella and her father Lajos on a journey that takes us from 1935 to the present day. The reader is able to piece together the family’s personal challenges set against the backdrop of international political conflict. Exploring themes of resilience, identity and inherited trauma, by the end of the book we learn how Marta rediscovered her forbidden Jewish identity, found her place within the community and has moved toward a place of tolerance. In the tradition of oral history, Marta told her remarkable family story exclusively to journalist Vanessa Holburn. For Marta it’s important we learn the lessons of the past before they are lost for good.