Agnes Grunwald-Spier was born in July 1944 and sent to the Budapest Ghetto with her mother in November 1944. She was liberated, aged 6 months, and came to England in 1947. Her father, who had been a forced labourer, committed suicide in 1955. Agnes is a Founder Trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and was awarded an MBE in 2016 for her work on the Holocaust. She has an MA in Holocaust Studies at Sheffield University and was a member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews for 15 years. She received two honorary doctorates in 2018 for her work on the Holocaust.
‘Agnes Grunwald-Spier examines comprehensively the experiences and
contributions of women in the many roles and guises in which they
acted. Her book preserves a record of suffering, endurance, courage
and achievement without which no-one can hope to understand the
totality of the Holocaust as a historical reality.’
*Ben Barkow, Director of the Wiener Library*
‘In recent years we have seen many fine books on the Holocaust,
among them works from Agnes Grunwald-Spier. Few have looked at the
experience of women. As a writer and a doughty campaigner Agnes’s
clear eye and wonderful prose have made the Holocaust accessible to
a new generation. This new book will, I am certain, give a
neglected part of the most shameful act of the twentieth century
the scrutiny it deserves.’
*Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles, UK Special Envoy On Post-Holocaust
Issues*
‘Agnes Grunwald-Spier's books are always very well researched and
her convincing arguments are deployed against the background of her
own history as a child survivor. What is more, her books are very
well written and make fantastic reading.’
*Sascha Feuchert, Professor of Holocaust Literature at Giessen
University, Hesse, Germany*
‘A woman protects her children. Now that is true for any woman
anywhere. She pushes others, she fights for them. This is not
specific to Jews. But in this extreme circumstance it changes a
Jewish tradition. She draws strength from certain types of Jewish
traditions, and opposes others in order to fight. Jewish women (for
the first time for thousands of years in Jewish communities)
assumed leadership positions. Politically, Jewish women had always
been disenfranchised, but in the Holocaust, there was no room for
this disenfranchisement. They became leaders of political and
social groups in France, Holland, Bohemia and Slovakia, as well as
the underground groups in Eastern Europe.’
*Professor Yehuda Bauer*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
