Assignments for Irene Eber, The Choice: Poland, 1939-1945.

“A changing and evolving culture, a tradition – call it Yiddish culture, together with its guardians and those who perpetuated it – was destroyed, rooted out” (p. 209).

“By attempting to translate life into words, I fear that I too have contributed to forgetting. I have, inevitably, left so much out. And at the beginning of this writing so  now at its end, the meaning of wanton destruction continues to elude me” (pp. 210-211).

This book tells the story of Irene Eber’s experiences from birth in Halle, Germany in the 1930s until after her arrival in the United States in 1958. Her story is not told in chronological order. She begins with the deportation of Jews from Mielec, Poland, in 1942, and from there the story jumps around in time between the 1930s, 1940s, 1980s, and the present day. Eber mentions many family members in addition to her immediate family of her father, Yedidia, her mother, and her sister. Try to keep track of them as you’re reading –making a chart of their relationships would be helpful. Her story is both a personal and family story and one about their collision with great historical events.

I would advise you to bring the book with you over the spring break and read as much as you can then – I believe you will find it hard to put down, as I did.

In addition to the reading, there are two brief writing assignments, one due on March 2, the second due on March 16 (see below for the assignments).

March 2 – pp. 3-53

This first part of the book tells of the deportation of Eber’s family (on March 8, 1942) from the Polish town of Mielec, her family home since 1938 (she was born in Halle, Germany). They are driven from place to place until they arrive at Debica, another small Polish town, where the family is separated.

Pick out a couple of passages that particularly strike you – come into class on Thursday prepared to discuss them. Also, write down a couple of questions that you would like to discuss for Thursday’s class (please type these questions and give them to me in class). Think about what the deportation meant and how Eber and her family managed to survive this stage of the German occupation of Poland, which had begun in September, 1939.

March 14 – pp. 54-110

These two chapters recount Eber’s life in Mielec from before the German invasion in 1939, the German invasion, what the Germans did to the Jewish quarter of Mielec when they first invaded, and the entry of Jewish refugees into Mielec from other parts of Poland. She discusses what it was like to live under German occupation and her friendship with a refugee girl, Toska.

Questions to think about as you read: What do the Germans do when they enter Mielec? Why? What is the impact upon Eber and her family? What kind of friendship do she and Toska have? What do these two chapters tell you about the reaction of a Jewish child to Nazi aggression? Be prepared to talk about these questions in class.

March 16 – pp. 111-176

Chapter Five describes very briefly Eber’s hiding in a chicken coop, and then go on to discuss the time of liberation, after the Russians drive out the Germans in January of 1945 and she goes to Krakow for the summer of 1945.

Write a one page paper on one of the following topics, and bring it to class on March 16:

Questions to think about: How did Eber survive when she separated from her family and returned to Mielec? Notice that she is very laconic in her description of what it meant to live for more than a year in a chicken coop. Why is her description so minimal and what do you think lies behind it?

What different identities does she try on during these months, and what does it mean to her to think of herself as a Catholic Pole, a Jew, or something else? What occurs when she meets up with her mother and sister again? What does she learn about how her father was killed?

Chapter Six is entitled “Choices.” What are the choices that Eber faces when she and her family leave Krakow and end up in Frankfurt, Germany? What questions does she talk about with her friends? How does make a decision about what to do?

The end of this chapter tells the story of Eber’s arrival in the U.S., her studies, marriage, and raising children. What consequences of her past does she bring with her to the U.S.?

March 21 – pp. 177-211

Chapter seven, although it is the last one in the book, tells the beginning of Eber’s personal story. How did her family end up in Halle, Germany, and why (and how) did they leave in 1938?

The Postscript ends the book, discussing what it means to remember and what is lost through the process of writing autobiography. What do you think of what she says about the process of “museumification”? How would you answer her question, “And exactly what is it that we remember when we leave a Holocaust center, aside from its technological perfection?” (p. 210).

 

This page maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised February 27, 2006