Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
On Thursday, September 23, the Bau Xi gallery on Granville was packed for the launch of
Lisa Birnie's newly published book "In Mania's memory".
It's the story of a little girl in Poland during world war II whose life was saved by
a sympathetic female Nazi guard, and her belief that, years later in Toronto, the housekeeper
who came to work for her was that same guard. Although the woman denies it, Mania is convinced
thatOn Thursday, September 23, the Bau Xi gallery on Granville was packed for the launch
of Lisa Birnie's newly published book "In Mania's memory".
It's the story of a little girl in Poland during world war II whose life was saved by
a sympathetic female Nazi guard, and her belief that, years later in Toronto, the housekeeper
who came to work for her was that same guard. Although the woman denies it, Mania is convinced
that this is the woman who saved her.
Birnie's book tells both women's parallel stories, and culminates in a meeting between
the two at the concentration camp where Mania says that they crossed paths, and where it
is hoped that, more than fifty years later, the truth may finally be revealed.
>> WAISMAN: Our own experience of the Holocaust has taught us that evil must be recognized,
and we have a responsibity to ensure that it never happens again - to anyone.
>> BIRNIE: So this book is about essentially two women - and the madness of war. And it's
also about what Martin Luther King called - it's not about... only about the evil that
bad men do. It's about the silence that good men do.
The next morning, after roll count, a woman guard appeared before me and called me into
her office. Trembling, I followed the uniformed figure into a small entrance in my block.
The guard seated herself behind a makeshift desk and although I dared not look fully into
her face, I saw her for the first time. She was blonde blue-eyed and beautiful. I was
sick with fear. She asked me if I spoke German and I said yes. She then asked me my name
and I told her.
I trembled when she said crisply, "Hmm. I don't think it's Mania; I think it's Marie.
What is your name again? Is it Marie?" I was extremely frightened so I just kept nodding.
"Are you a Jew?" "Yes." Will they hang me now? This beautiful Nazi shook her head.
"No, you're not a Jew. Say you're not a Jew."
She stared at me for a long time and then became very businesslike and said something like,
"You're going to work, and it's very cold early in the morning you'll need a hat,
some gloves and some socks." She turned away and took some things from a box. "Take these,
they'll help keep you warm."
I was too confused to speak. I thought she was going to order me hanged but instead she was being kind.
I was stupefied. She was a Nazi. Was it a trick?
And so began a relationship that was to save my life.
"In Mania's Memory" is published by Simply Read Books,
and is now available in bookstores throughout the Lower Mainland.