Seamstress a Memoir of Survival

Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival

Anti-Semitism was on the rise in the beginning of the 20th century and reached its peak under Hitler's rule in the 1930s so much so that the Jews weren't even allowed to live. This paper sheds light on the mental, emotional and physical torture that a woman by the name of Seren (Sara) Tuvel Bernstein underwent like many other Jews of her time at the hands of Hitler and his regime. The seamstress: A Memoir of Survival is an autobiography of Sara, her struggle and that of those around her in the concentration camps where they were given a life worse than death.

Spread of anti-Semitism Across Europe:

Sara had left her home in Romania when she was only thirteen against her father's wishes to continue her higher studies on full scholarship in Budapest. Like the rest of Europe here too the Jews were thought of as dirty and were mocked at. Even children were taught to hate Jews. They were given no civil rights or land rights until about 1923. Sara was expelled from school after throwing a bottle of ink at an anti-Semitic teacher at school. After her expulsion it was easier to find job for Sarah because she with her blonde hair and blue eyes bore no resemblance to Jews. She became an apprentice seamstress a talent that turned out to be an asset as it helped her immensely in the post war era.

At the advent of the Second World War things went from bad to worse for the Jews. Sara's family moved to Israel and to different cities in Hungary and Romania in order to save itself from the treacherous fate in the concentration camps. Soon the Jews weren't even allowed to travel and as Hitler's regime gained power not only were Jews brutally persecuted in Germany but also across Europe in Hungary, Romania and Austria. Under the Nazi regime Jews had no basic citizens' rights, e.g., to vote and were banned from all professional jobs, preventing them from having any influence in education, higher education, politics and industry. Their children were banned from going to normal schools. Many of the Jews had to shut down their businesses. Sara and her father were arrested after Romania was carved up by Hungary and Soviet Union. Somehow she managed to be released and returned to her family but her father was imprisoned and later shot to death.

While she, her sister n her two friends were working in Budapest, the place where her family hid was invaded by the Nazis as was the rest of Hungary and most of them were brutally murdered. Sara along with her sister and friends was brought to the Ravensbruck concentration camp in the summer of 1944 and then were continuously shifted through a total of three camps in which they lived a life worse than death before liberation in the spring of 1945.

Incidents at the concentration camps: