Aharon Appelfeld Knihy

Dvě novely, ve kterých autor rozvíjí podivné psychologické drama lidí předválečného Rakouska, kteří se postupně nalézají v absurdním světě, na nějž nelze reagovat zcela normálně.

Je válka a židovští chlapci Adam a Thomas se musí ukrývat v lese a čekat, než bude ve vesnici bezpečno a mámy si pro ně zase přijdou. Mají dost jídla a umí si poradit, ale zásoby se pomalu tenčí, příroda se s chlapci nemazlí a hlad je nemilosrdný. Vtom se jako spásný anděl zjeví holčička Mína. Není nakonec opravdu z jiného světa? Dojemný dětský příběh cenami ověnčeného hebrejského autora o neobyčejné odvaze, hlubokém porozumění a síle, která se skrývá tam, kde bychom ji někdy nečekali.

Židovský chlapec Hugo se ukrývá před nacisty u ukrajinské prostituky Mariany. Ta ve svém pokojíku v místním nevěstinci přijímá zákazníky především z řad nacistických vojáků. Hugo, ukrytý v kumbále za pokojíkem, jen tiše naslouchá dění kolem sebe a časem jeho city ovládne láska k Marianě. Po válce se s příchodem Rudé armády jejich role obrátí: teď je v nebezpečí Mariana. Podaří se Hugovi svou lásku ochránit?

Battling numbing cold, ever-present hunger, and German soldiers determined to hunt them down, four dozen resistance fighters--escapees from a nearby ghetto--hide in a Ukrainian forest, determined to survive the war, sabotage the German war effort, and rescue as many Jews as they can from the trains taking them to concentration camps. Their leader is relentless in his efforts to turn his ragtag band of men and boys into a disciplined force that accomplishes its goals without losing its moral compass. And so when they're not raiding peasants' homes for food and supplies, or training with the weapons taken from the soldiers they have ambushed and killed, the partisans read books of faith and philosophy that they have rescued from abandoned Jewish homes, and they draw strength from the women, the elderly, and the remarkably resilient orphaned children they are protecting. When they hear about the advances being made by the Soviet Army, the partisans prepare for what they know will be a furious attack on their compound by the retreating Germans. In the heartbreaking aftermath, the survivors emerge from the forest to bury their dead, care for their wounded, and grimly confront a world that is surprised by their existence--and profoundly unwelcoming

The second and last children's book by the extraordinary Holocaust survivor and Hebrew-language author of the award-winning Adam & Thomas. A mystical and transcendent journey of two wanderers, an eleven-year-old boy and an old man to whom the boy has been entrusted by his father, a Jew, fleeing the ravages of the war by the late award winning author, Aharon Appelfeld. The old man is a former Ukranian commander, revered by the soldiers under his command, who has gone blind and chosen the life of a wanderer as his last spiritual adventure. The child, now disguised as a Ukranian non-Jew, learns from the old man how to fend for himself and how to care for others. In the tradition of The Alchemist, the travelers learn from each other and the boy grows stronger and wiser as the old man teaches him the art of survival and, through the stories he shares, the reasons for living. Long Summer Nights carries its magic not only in the words, but also in the silences between them.

Set in turn of the century Eastern Europe, the story follows a brother and sister tasked with guarding an ancient Jewish cemetery on a remote mountain. While the snow shields them from external threats like pogroms and plagues, it also isolates them from their community and traditions. Their struggle against loneliness, wavering faith, and the growing, complicated feelings for each other creates a tense atmosphere, making escape from their situation increasingly unattainable.

Aharon Appelfeld was the child of middle-class Jewish parents living in Romania at the outbreak of World War II. He witnessed the murder of his mother, lost his father, endured the ghetto and a two-month forced march to a camp, before he escaped. Living off the land in the forests of Ukraine for two years before making the long journey south to Italy and eventually Israel and freedom, Appelfeld finally found a home in which he could make a life for himself. Acclaimed writer Appelfeld’s extraordinary and painful memoir of his childhood and youth is a compelling account of a boy coming of age in a hostile world.

Set in 1937, a remote hotel near Vienna serves as a refuge for those seeking to shed their Jewish identities in a time of rising danger. Guests participate in activities designed to help them assimilate as gentiles, unaware of the impending threats they face. As Hitler's influence grows, the illusion of safety and the possibility of retreat diminish. The narrative explores themes of identity and denial, offering a poignant and incisive portrayal of individuals grappling with their reality amidst a looming catastrophe.

It is the spring of 1939. In months Europe will be Hitler's, and Badenheim, a resort town vaguely in the orbit of Vienna, is preparing for its annual summer season. Soon the vacationers arrive, as they always have, a sample of Jewish middle-class life. The story unfolds as a matter-of-factly as a Chekhov play, its characters so deeply held by their defensive trivia that they manage to misconstrue every signal of their fate, until these signals take on the lineaments of disaster. "The writing flows seamlessly...a small masterpiece." Irving Howe, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "As real as Kafka's unnamed Prague...imbued with a Watteau-like melancholy." Gabriel Annan, NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS "Magical...gliding from a kind of romantic realism into universal allegory." Peter Prescott, NEWSWEEK "The sorcery of Badenheim 1939 [lies in] the success with which the author has concocted a drab narrative involving rather ordinary characters and made their experienced profoundly symbolic yet never hollow." Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NEW YORK TIMES

From "fiction's foremost chronicler of the Holocaust" (Philip Roth), here is a haunting novel about an unforgettable group of Jewish partisans fighting the Nazis during World War II. Battling numbing cold, ever-present hunger, and German soldiers determined to hunt them down, four dozen resistance fighters?escapees from a nearby ghetto?hide in a Ukrainian forest, determined to survive the war, sabotage the German war effort, and rescue as many Jews as they can from the trains taking them to concentration camps. Their leader is relentless in his efforts to turn his ragtag band of men and boys into a disciplined force that accomplishes its goals without losing its moral compass. And so when they're not raiding peasants' homes for food and supplies, or training with the weapons taken from the soldiers they have ambushed and killed, the partisans read books of faith and philosophy that they have rescued from abandoned Jewish homes, and they draw strength from the women, the elderly, and the remarkably resilient orphaned children they are protecting. When they hear about the advances being made by the Soviet Army, the partisans prepare for what they know will be a furious attack on their compound by the retreating Germans. In the heartbreaking aftermath, the survivors emerge from the forest to bury their dead, care for their wounded, and grimly confront a world that is surprised by their existence?and profoundly unwelcoming. Narrated by seventeen-year-old Edmund?a member of the group who maintains his own inner resolve with memories of his parents and their life before the war?this powerful story of Jews who fought back is suffused with the riveting detail that Aharon Appelfeld was uniquely able to bring to his award-winning novels