Meeting over a book

On one of her frequent visits to Israel, Roberta Nahum, President of WIZO Italy, met with authoress Lizi Doron. Doron will receive an award from WIZO Italy, on 19th October, in Triest, Italy. The two discussed Judaism, Literature and Roots

31/8/2009 from www.wizo.org

  
This book, just like the person who wrote it, was not  meant to have been. Neither would have been born if it depended on the Nazis who tried to annihilate the mother of the book's authoress, Lizi Doron, who is to be awarded the WIZO Italy Prize, in the name of Adelina Della Pergola for her book, ‘Why did you not come before the war?’

The prestigious WIZO Italy literary prize is awarded to authors or books which make Jewish people and Jewish culture better known to the Italian public. Lizi Doron, a second generation Holocaust survivor, who wanted to be an Israeli above all, tells her story. She was born in Israel, grew up in Tel Aviv, and lost seven friends, all children of Holocaust survivors on one terrible Sunday during the Yom Kippur War, which became her research doctorate in the Hebrew language at Tel Aviv University. She did not know, and did not want to know, did not remember and did not ask to be reminded, even one detail about what happened during the Holocaust. This was until her daughter came along, the grandchild of her mother who should never have lived, and had to do a school project on her roots.  She had to write about the grandparents of her mother, about their birthplace, and their lives. Lizi did not even know the names of her grandmother and grandfather; Lizi, who until that time had taken her mother’s words literally, ‘I belong to the past, and you, Lizi belong to the future’, had only one word of advice for her daughter. There is just one answer to all the basic questions. Write down the word, ‘Holocaust’. From this question and answer the book, ‘Why did you not come before the war?’ was born.

WIZO Italy is one of about 50 WIZO federations scattered around the world. WIZO Italy, just like WIZO everywhere else, is concerned with education and the advancement of women, maintaining the Jewish tradition, developing Israeli culture and strengthening the bonds between Israel and the Diaspora. On the 19th October, at Trieste in Italy, the literary prize of WIZO Italy in the name of Adelina Della Pergola, will be awarded to the authoress, Lizi Doron.

With the announcement of the prize and during a visit of Roberta Nahum, President of WIZO Italy to Israel, Roberta and Lizi met and discussed Lizi’s journey whilst writing the book and why the Prize Committee chose her.

Lizi Doron: ‘I was 40 years old when my daughter came to me with the question on ‘Roots’. I took a few months' vacation time from the University and wrote what I had never wanted to remember, or to even know about. Even then I did not want to publish it. My assistant at university began to read it, and she did not stop crying. ‘You must publish it’, she told me. ‘Don’t say No’. She did not even wait for my answer and sent the book to every possible publishing house. Within 24 hours I began to receive replies, amongst other things I was asked if I was Savion Librecht or another author.
Lizi continues: ‘I still did not want to publish the book. My husband was the President of the Bureau of Accountants in Israel, and we made a joint decision not to publish any of my personal details. A year and a half later I received a phone call from a lady with a Hungarian accent who told me that she wanted to publish the book. I met with her. I took her hand and saw the number tattooed on her arm. After the book was published Steven Spielberg also wanted to purchase the rights for the book. ‘Do you want to sell your mother’s spirit?’ asked my husband, Danny. He asked and replied to his question at the same time.’

Roberta: ‘The prize is presented to books or authors whose subject is some aspect of the Jewish people; we do not only mean Jewish writers. Every year, the judges, who consist of intellectuals including authors and writers in the media, receive between 30-40 books that have been published in Italy. They select three books, which are sent to all the WIZO branches in Italy (approximately 20 branches), and members who wish to participate, grade the three first places following a serious discussion on each of the three books.

Lizi Doron: Since the book was published in Italy I have received dozens of e-mails from there. I am asked if it is reality or imagination? To my sorrow, I reply, that it is the reality’.

For Lizi it was not just that she did not want to remember, and today she cannot forget how she saved her mother with the help of a good person, a Polish doctor. “It is clear to me that everyone has to help not just one person, who is in danger during their lifetime. For instance, I am today actively fighting for the rights of foreign workers. My mother was always attached to Europe. She never really became Israeli. She never believed in using violence. She was a great believer, despite everything that she went through, maybe because of everything she went through, in the spirit of man’.

The ‘spirit’ is what pushes World WIZO and WIZO Italy forward. The desire to contribute and to give. The feeling of having a duty to educate and pass on Jewish heritage and Jewish culture, to involve the youth, to bring us closer together. The award of the prize to Lizi Doron and assistance in publishing the book and exposing it to the general public allows both Lizi Doron and Roberta Nahum to feel, to believe and to know that they too, are giving another branch the chance to grow on this crowded tree. The tree that is supported by its roots.