Malka Owsiany Recounts... : A Chronicle of Our Time by Mark Turkow

Translated by Sandra Chiritescu

First published in Yiddish in 1946 and translated into Spanish in 2001, this is the first time that Malka Owsiany’s story is available in English. Malka describes the horrors of the Holocaust but also the richness of Polish Jewish life and communities. We also learn about Malka rebuilding her life and marrying a fellow survivor, Meir. Meir and Malka built a family as well as an enduring legacy of strength and dedication to the Jewish community and Yiddish culture.

“Sandra Chiritescu's translation of Malka Owsiany Recounts has finally made this moving testimony available to an English readership. As one of the first works of Holocaust literature to be published as such, Mark Turkow’s documentation of Malka Owsiany’s story has significant literary and historical merits. It is a document that reveals much about how a Jewish diaspora encountered the young Malka not only as a Holocaust survivor but also as a surrogate for those sisters, daughters, and cousins they could not save. Expanded with ample photographs, family letters, and the ‘story behind the story’ of this translation, the new edition offers important new avenues for research and teaching. I look forward to assigning this text in my courses.”

—Rachelle Grossman, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative and World Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign