Katerina Book

I had heard of Aharon Appelfeld long before reading this book and had always been curious about his writing. I had also seen an interview with him a while back and judging from all I knew about the author and theme, what I hoped to find in this book was enlightenment. Not of the spiritual kind, but of the pragmatic one. I've always wanted to understand why the Jews were the colossal victims of WW2 and what led to all the hatred towards them.

I am not Jewish and I don't have any close acquaintances who are, so the subject has always eluded me and I was always stuck with the question "why?". Aside from the abomination and the genocide, I just couldn't grasp the reasons behind such a widespread dislike of the Jewish people.

Now, after reading the book, I do feel illuminated in some ways. I still don't have the exact answer to my question but I did find out just how long before the war the actual harassment of the Jews started. At least in South-Eastern Europe, which is where I am from, so the geographical area was of particular interest to me.

Another aspect that the book goes in depth of consists in the grueling living conditions in the Moldova/Bessarabia/Bukovina area at the beginning of the past century. This was at the time and continued to be for a long time a very poor, tormented and torn area. Although I live in a neighbouring country (some of that particular territory was ripped from us by the Russians etc), I am not even sure where the geographical area in the book belongs nowadays. I think it's in Ukraine but I can't be too sure. The novel details this aspect very well as it translated to its horribly accurate depiction of the relationships between the inhabitants, the discrepancy between the rural and urban population and, of course, the deep, agonising, barbaric, ancient hatred of Jews. In my opinion, it seems that the population in that particular area blamed the Jews for all their problems and for the chaos which reigned there.

The poverty depicted is striking. It dehumanizes almost everyone but the Jews who seemingly try to continue leading their normal lives despite a very abnormal environment and for this they must be punished.

Another aspect that is as true as it is dramatic lies in the widespread habit of heavy drinking among the non-Jewish population. This, of course, contributes to violent crimes. To this day, the Russian/Moldovan population regards drinking hard liquors (vodka) as something normal and suitable for all. I know this from first-hand experience.

I don't know how well this book can be understood by those who are outsiders to the region or to the Holocaust.

In the end, this is hatred in its purest form, one which cannot be explained because it defies reason. I also think it says a lot about humanity and its animal nature.