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Eine seltsame Ehe
Aus dem Ungarischen von Angelika Mate. An einem trüben, verschneiten Dezembertag wird ein Kind geboren - so die Rahmenhandlung des erstmals 1936 in Budapest erschienenen Romans. Während seine Frau in den Wehen liegt, ruft sich Viktor sein Leben in Erinnerung: die Kindheit in dem bürgerlichen jüdischen Elternhaus, die tyrannische Mutter,die Zeit als Soldat im Ersten Weltkrieg. Vor allem aber legt er Zeugnis ab über seine unausgewogene Ehe mit Helen, die er bedingungslos liebt, obwohl diese ihn nur des Geldes wegen geheiratet hat und einen anderen liebt.
364 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1936
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About the author
Béla Zsolt
22 books9 followersBéla Zsolt was the Hungarian author of one of the earliest Holocaust memoirs, Nine Suitcases (Kilenc koffer in Hungarian) translated into English by Ladislaus Lob.
He wrote seven novels and three other works including one volume of poetry.
Before the First World War and whilst still a young man, Zsolt was already considered an outstanding representative of the Hungarian Decadence movement. In the tumultuous years of revolution, 1918 and 1919, he was a vehement advocate for a bourgeois-liberal regime and opponent of the soviet republics and Horthy's emerging Christian-nationalist corporate state.
In 1920 Zsolt moved from his birthplace Nagyvárad (Oradea) to Budapest where he quickly established himself in literary circles. His articles and novels gained general recognition. Like thousands of other Hungarian Jews in the Second World War Béla Zsolt was a forced laborer for the Ukrainian army on the Ukrainian eastern front. His wife was able to secure his return to Hungary where, however, he was soon afterwards imprisoned in Budapest's infamous Margit körút Prison. Using a false name he went underground in the Nagyvárad (Oradea) ghetto. Zsolt depicts his experiences at the front, in the ghetto and his adventurous rescue from deportation in summer 1944 in his book Nine Suitcases. His wife was rescued with him, his in-laws and wife's daughter Éva Heyman from her first marriage were transported to Auschwitz where they were killed.
As part of the so-called 'Kasztner train' Zsolt's freedom, along with that of a thousand other Hungarian Jews, was bought from the Nazis. He spent the second half of 1944 in Bergen-Belsen with his wife awaiting emigration. The move to Switzerland followed in December.
Following his return to Hungary in 1945 Zsolt founded the Magyar Radikális Párt (Radical Bourgeois Party), whose newspaper Haladás ("Progress") he edited. Zsolt was elected to the National Assembly of Hungary at his second attempt. He did not live to see the ultimate seizure of power by the communists. Béla Zsolt died in 1949 following a serious illness.
He wrote seven novels and three other works including one volume of poetry.
Before the First World War and whilst still a young man, Zsolt was already considered an outstanding representative of the Hungarian Decadence movement. In the tumultuous years of revolution, 1918 and 1919, he was a vehement advocate for a bourgeois-liberal regime and opponent of the soviet republics and Horthy's emerging Christian-nationalist corporate state.
In 1920 Zsolt moved from his birthplace Nagyvárad (Oradea) to Budapest where he quickly established himself in literary circles. His articles and novels gained general recognition. Like thousands of other Hungarian Jews in the Second World War Béla Zsolt was a forced laborer for the Ukrainian army on the Ukrainian eastern front. His wife was able to secure his return to Hungary where, however, he was soon afterwards imprisoned in Budapest's infamous Margit körút Prison. Using a false name he went underground in the Nagyvárad (Oradea) ghetto. Zsolt depicts his experiences at the front, in the ghetto and his adventurous rescue from deportation in summer 1944 in his book Nine Suitcases. His wife was rescued with him, his in-laws and wife's daughter Éva Heyman from her first marriage were transported to Auschwitz where they were killed.
As part of the so-called 'Kasztner train' Zsolt's freedom, along with that of a thousand other Hungarian Jews, was bought from the Nazis. He spent the second half of 1944 in Bergen-Belsen with his wife awaiting emigration. The move to Switzerland followed in December.
Following his return to Hungary in 1945 Zsolt founded the Magyar Radikális Párt (Radical Bourgeois Party), whose newspaper Haladás ("Progress") he edited. Zsolt was elected to the National Assembly of Hungary at his second attempt. He did not live to see the ultimate seizure of power by the communists. Béla Zsolt died in 1949 following a serious illness.
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February 16, 2019
A cím alapján egy könnyed olvasmányra számítottam, ehhez képest keservesen kellett csalódnom.
Borzasztóan lehangoló könyv, amit megértek, mert a '30-as évek közepén íródott, amikor már érződött az antiszemitizmus Magyarországon is. A regény főszereplője, Viktor, egy szerencsétlen zsidó ügyvéd, akit az anyja teljesen elnyom és senki sem vesz emberszámba. Az ő élettörténetével ismerkedhetünk meg...
Borzasztóan lehangoló könyv, amit megértek, mert a '30-as évek közepén íródott, amikor már érződött az antiszemitizmus Magyarországon is. A regény főszereplője, Viktor, egy szerencsétlen zsidó ügyvéd, akit az anyja teljesen elnyom és senki sem vesz emberszámba. Az ő élettörténetével ismerkedhetünk meg...
Displaying 1 of 1 review