Yehuda Koren

Eilat Negev

This remarkable, never-before-told account of the Ovitz family, seven of whose ten members were dwarfs, bears witness to the best and worst of humanity and to the terrible irony of the Ovitzes' fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them endure the Holocaust. Through dogged research and interviews with Perla, the youngest Ovitz daughter and last surviving sibling, and other relatives, authors Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev weave the tale of a beloved and successful family of performers who were popular entertainers in Central Europe until the Nazis deported them to Auschwitz in May 1944. Descending from the transport train into the hell of the concentration camp, the Ovitz family—known widely as the Lilliput Troupe—was separated from other Jewish victims. When Dr. Josef Mengele was then notified of their arrival, he assigned them to sequestered quarters. His horrific "research" on twins and other genetically unique individuals already under way, Mengele had special plans for the Ovitzes. The authors chronicle Mengele's loathsome experiments upon the family members, the disturbing fondness he developed for these small people, and their interminable will to make it out alive. Dozens of telling photographs are included in this horrifying yet remarkable tale of survival.

The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe-A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust

In Our Hearts We Were Giants

Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes' Doomed Love

Lover of Unreason

In this remarkable, never-before-told account of the Ovitz family, seven of whose ten members were dwarves, readers bear witness to the terrible irony of the Ovitz's fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them to endure the Holocaust.

The Dwarfs of Auschwitz : the Extraordinary Story of the Lilliput Troupe

Giants

A biography of the woman who was the catalyst behind the breakup of Ted Hughes' marriage to Sylvia Plath relates her six-year affair with the poet, the birth of Hughes' unacknowledged daughter, Shura, and her suicide in 1969.

Aikana, jolloin natsi-ideologia antoi olemassaolon oikeuden vain terveimmille ja vahvimmille, merkitsi keskitysleirille joutuminen vammaiselle juutalaiselle varmaa kuolemaa. Ovitzin perheelle perinnöllinen lyhytkasvuisuus kuitenkin osoittautui pelastukseksi. Ovitzin perheen seitsemän sisarusta olivat aikuisinakin kaikki alle metrin mittaisia. Lahjakkaina muusikkoina ja näyttelijöinä he muodostivat suositun varieteeryhmän, jonka ainutlaatuinen ”kääpiöshow” oli 30- ja 40-luvuilla suuri menestys ympäri Eurooppaa. Natsien valtaannousu muutti kaiken. Muiden juutalaisten tavoin Ovitzit kuljetettiin keskitysleirille. Auschwitzin juna-asemalla Ovitzit herättivät eugeniikasta hurmaantuneen leirin lääkärin Josef Mengelen huomion. Koko perhe siirrettiin sivuun kuoleman jonosta ja vietiin Mengelen eläintarhaksi kutsuttuun ”tutkimusyksikköön”. Ovitzit alistettiin mitä moninaisimmille kokeille Mengelen yrittäessä selvittää kääpiökasvuisuuden genetiikkaa. Tieteellisen läpimurron toivossa Mengele kuitenkin myös suojeli koe-eläiminä pitämiään kääpiöitä, ja kun neuvostojoukot saapuivat vapauttamaan Auschwitzin vangit, koko perhe oli edelleen elossa. Ainutlaatuinen kirja pohjautuu perusteelliseen tutkimustyöhön sekä useiden Auschwitzista selvinneiden haastatteluihin. Keskeinen tietolähde oli kirjan teon aikaan vielä elossa ollut sisarussarjan nuorin, Perla Ovitz. Teosta varten kirjailijat ovat ansiokkaasti jäljittäneet myös tärkeitä lääketieteellisiä dokumentteja sekä muita alkuperäisiä natsi-asiakirjoja.

Ovitzin perheen selviytymistarina

Auschwitzin seitsemän kääpiötä

In the late nineteenth century, at a time when women were still denied the vote, Rachel Beer defied convention to take the helm first of The Observer, and then the Sunday Times, becoming the first woman ever to edit a national newspaper. It was to be over eighty years before Fleet Street would see the like again. Barred from the London Clubs and the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, Rachel nevertheless managed to make her formidable voice heard on both national and international political issues - including the notorious Dreyfus Affair. In public she was a rebel and a pioneer, yet behind the closed door of her study, Rachel's life was marked by strife. Her family, the Sassoons, had made their fortune in Indian opium and cotton and Rachel's marriage to Frederick Beer should have brought together two wealthy dynasties. Instead, it resulted in a deep family rift and years of heartbreak. Drawing on a wealth of original material, The First Lady of Fleet Street not only provides an important history of two venerable families, their origins and their rise to eminence, it also paints a vivid picture of a remarkable woman and of the times in which she lived.

The Life, Fortune and Tragedy of Rachel Beer

The First Lady of Fleet Street

życie i tragiczna śmierć Assii Wevill, rywalki Sylvii Plath

Femme fatale

Once, a 14 year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber happened to chance upon the painting of the 'Flaming June'. He was a budding collector and his hobby was financed by his grandmother, who had just shelled out £50 for three huge, beautifully-illustrated volumes of Dugdale's History of Ancient Abbies and Monasteries. The boy described in detail the painting he fell in love with, but his grandmother was adamant: 'I will not have Victorian junk in my flat'. This is the story of Ada Pullen (Dorothy Dene); Victorian actress, nude model and muse, rumoured to be one of the subject of Leighton's 'Flaming June', on her life, success and celebrity, and the story of the painting itself. Lloyd Webber's grandma was wrong. The current value of the painting is £14 million.

Flaming Dene

In this account of the Ovitz family, seven of whose ten members were dwarves, readers bear witness to the terrible irony of the Ovitzs' fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them to endure the Holocaust. Through research and interviews with the youngest Ovitz daughter, Perla, the troupe's last surviving member, and other relatives, the authors weave the tale of a beloved and successful family of performers who were famous entertainers in Central Europe until the Nazis deported them to Auschwitz in May 1944.

The Dwarves of Auschwitz : the Extraordinary Story of the Lilliput Troupe

Artiste et homme de foi juif, le nain Shimshon Eizik Ovitz vécut dans un village de Transyvanie où il eut dix enfants entre 1886 et 1921, dont sept de petite taille. Ces derniers fondèrent la Troupe lilliputienne et se produisirent à travers l'Europe centrale comme musiciens, chanteurs et comédiens. Au printemps 1944, tous furent déportés à Auschwitz-Birkenau avec plusieurs membres de leur famille. Dès leur arrivée au camp, ils furent sélectionnés pour servir d'objets d'étude au docteur Josef Mengele. Après leur libération en janvier 1945, frères et soeurs vécurent bien des aventures. Avant sa mort en septembre 2001, Perla, cadette et dernière survivante de la fratrie, a raconté l'histoire de la Troupe lilliputienne à deux journalistes israéliens, Eilat Negev et Yehuda Koren, qui collaborent au quotidien Yedioth Ahronoth et à plusieurs journaux britanniques.

l'incroyable survie d'une famille juive de lilliputiens

Nous étions des géants

This collection of biographies is the first of its kind, as Israeli literature is almost devoid of author biographies. They are arranged chronologically and cover a hundred years of Israeli literature; the change of style and subject matter hints at the demographical and historical transformations that have occurred during this span of time. The profiles are based on interviews carried out with all the living writers, or - in the case of deceased ones - with family members, biographers and researchers. In the early days of the State, Jaffa oranges were the pride export of Israel; and then came diamonds; and, nowadays, it is books. Israelis are going through dramatic, turbulent events, experiencing an existential, social and religious crisis. This intense life means that Israelis occupy several layers of existence, which create many kinds of personal experiences that writers in other countries seldom experience. Thus, a reading of the writers' profiles offers a different way of viewing Israel, since each writer has taken a part in events outside his or her own personal scope. All this becomes their subject matter, and Israel writing provides a wide panorama not just of literature but also of Israeli life.

Close Encounters with Twenty Israeli Writers

A panoramic portrait of a remarkable woman and the tumultuous Victorian era on which she made her mark, The First Lady of Fleet Street chronicles the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Rachel Beer—indomitable heiress, social crusader, and newspaper pioneer. Rich with period detail and drawing on a wealth of original material, this sweeping work of never-before-told history recounts the ascent of two of London’s most prominent Jewish immigrant families—the Sassoons and the Beers. Born into one, Rachel married into the other, wedding newspaper proprietor Frederick Beer, the sole heir to his father’s enormous fortune. Though she and Frederick became leading London socialites, Rachel was ambitious and unwilling to settle for a comfortable, idle life. She used her husband’s platform to assume the editorship of not one but two venerable Sunday newspapers—the Sunday Times and The Observer—a stunning accomplishment at a time when women were denied the vote and allowed little access to education. Ninety years would pass before another woman would take the helm of a major newspaper on either side of the Atlantic. It was an exhilarating period in London’s history—fortunes were being amassed (and squandered), masterpieces were being created, and new technologies were revolutionizing daily life. But with scant access to politicians and press circles, most female journalists were restricted to issuing fashion reports and dispatches from the social whirl. Rachel refused to limit herself or her beliefs. In the pages of her newspapers, she opined on Whitehall politics and British imperial adventures abroad, campaigned for women’s causes, and doggedly pursued the evidence that would exonerate an unjustly accused French military officer in the so-called Dreyfus Affair. But even as she successfully blazed a trail in her professional life, Rachel’s personal travails were the stuff of tragedy. Her marriage to Frederick drove an insurmountable wedge between herself and her conservative family. Ultimately, she was forced to retreat from public life entirely, living out the rest of her days in stately isolation. While the men of her era may have grabbed more headlines, Rachel Beer remains a pivotal figure in the annals of journalism—and the long march toward equality between the sexes. With The First Lady of Fleet Street, she finally gets the front page treatment she deserves.

Eilat Negev

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