The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
Andrzej Szczypiorski. Grove/Atlantic, $16.95 (204pp) ISBN 978-0-8021-1140-1
For the reader seeking immersion in recent Polish history, this intensely Catholic, unabashedly patriotic European bestseller is a rare find. The central incident is the arrest of Mrs. Seidenman, a Jewish widow living under an assumed identity in Warsaw during World War II. She is betrayed by a former acquaintance and arrested by the Naxis, but her friends' determined efforts lead to her release. There are other, equally compelling tales. One is of Sister Weronika, a nun who hides Jewish orphans during the war, fervently training them to accept a new Catholic identity. Another concerns Wladyslaw Gruszecki (formerly Arturek Hirschfeld), one of Sister Weronika's charges, who becomes more anti-Semitic than even the Poles. Still another concerns Henryczek Fichtelbaum, killed in the Jewish ghetto, and his friend Pawelek Kyrnski, a Catholic teenager who finds it miraculous simply that he survived the war. An exceptional storyteller, Szczypiorski passionately re-creates the tumultuous war years for us, also providing insight into the current resurgence of Polish nationalism and Solidarity. (Jan.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/30/1990
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 978-0-517-11006-5
Open Ebook - 978-0-8021-6223-6
Paperback - 208 pages - 978-0-8021-3502-5
Paperback - 288 pages - 978-0-8021-6043-0