Poland, a Green Land

by Aharon Appelfeld, Stuart Schoffman (Translator)

A Tel Aviv shopkeeper visits his parents’ Polish birthplace in an attempt to come to terms with their complex legacy—and is completely unprepared for what he finds there.

Yaakov Fine’s practical wife and daughters are baffled by his decision to leave his flourishing dress shop for a ten-day trip to his family’s ancestral village in Poland. Struggling to emerge from a midlife depression, Yaakov is drawn to Szydowce, intrigued by the stories he'd heard as a child from his parents and their friends, who would wax nostalgic about their pastoral, verdant hometown in the decades before 1939. The horrific years that followed were relegated to the nightmares that shattered sleep and were not discussed during waking hours.
      When he arrives in Krakow, Yaakov enjoys the charming sidewalk cafes and relaxed European atmosphere, so different from the hurly burly of Tel Aviv. And his landlady in Szydowce—beautiful, sensual Magda, with a tragic past of her own—enchants him with her recollections of his family. But when Yaakov attempts to purchase from the townspeople the desecrated tombstones that had been stolen from Szydowce’s plowed-under Jewish cemetery, a very different Poland emerges, one that shatters Yaakov’s idyllic view of the town and its people, and casts into sharp relief the tragic reality of Jewish life in Poland—past, present, and future.
      In this novel of revelation and reconciliation, Aharon Appelfeld once again mines lived experience to create fiction of powerful, universal resonance.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Poland, Israel, Jewish, Holocaust, Travel

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

AHARON APPELFELD is the author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Until the Dawn's Light and The Iron Tracks (both winners of the National Jewish Book Award) and The Story of a Life (winner of the Prix Médicis Étranger). Other honors he has received include the Giovanni Bocaccio Literary Prize, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Israel Prize, the Bialik Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the MLA Commonwealth Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honorary degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very special book. It meanders along and you wonder where it is going, but then you hit a certain line and you have to put the book down and think about it. Ponder it. Wonder what the significance is and how it speaks to today's world. Does it? Maybe, yes, maybe no, but as you read and ponder you'll find yourself immersed in a small Polish town where there once were Jews, but now there are not. Maybe.
This book digs into the Holocaust and why the Jews were so hated. Or loved. And the story itself is about both love and hate on many levels. I rarely re-read a book, but this is one that I could totally savor again. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I absolutely loved it.

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a story about an Israeli who visits his parents’ and grandparents' home in Poland.

Although the writing is atrocious, the author seems genuine and decent.

One point throughout, and the rest of the narrative and dialogue is superfluous.

The immanent loathing and disgust the Poles had and still have for the Jews.

Two stars, one extra for his effort.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poland,a Green Land is a quiet tale with a persistent question. It opens with a shopkeeper from the thriving city in Tel Aviv taking a trip to his parents homeland in Poland. He feels removed from his Jewish heritage, ancestors, parents.he also feels disenchanted with the barreness of his relationships with his wife and two grown daughters. As he slowly travels to the tiny village of family roots, he is drawn backwards into the days leading to WWII. The quest to find understanding and connection to his soul leads him to contemplate the lives that were lived in the village. The lanquid pace slowly reveals the twisted hearts beneath the pasturial setting . The village holds people who kindly remember the presence of vanished family members and others who resent and fear them . Some warmly welcome the traveller and others want him gone already.This little book superbly draws the reader to ponder the basis of human ties and what divides us. This is a book to revisit and reflect on again.

[Sonu · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars.
This is a surprisingly amazing book.
Yaakov, who is Jew, goes to his parents' (who suffered in world war II) town after later in life to rediscover his roots, beliefs, ancestors and his parents, with whom he did not feel connection . He met Magda, my favorite character in this book, and Wanda.
Chapter 37 made a very deep impact on me.
This book is so much more than a story, a life's answers one can find in it. Every sentence is notable and can live life by.
I want this book on my shelf and on my table!! I dont read twice the same book, but I would like to come back, and i am sure it will give me a new meaning every time.

Rich, direct text, short chapters, and fascinating characters. When i was not reading, i was yearning to come back to Yaakov's day.
Love story between Yaakov and Magda is so deep that i have not found this type of connection and mature characters in a while.

A must-read !!

[Drea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book about an Israeli going to Poland to see
and experience where his family is originally from. This is a book about Jewish persecution by the Polish people within this small, farming community and the brutality of how they were murderer by the Nazis. Some survived by living in the forest or hiding in Polish homes and that’s how the main character’s parents lived. The book is (I think) purposefully slow and deliberate and the anti-Semitism creeps out bit by but in this idyllic countryside. I found the method of storytelling by the author fascinating. Thanks to Schocken Books for the copy.

[Chattynatty Van Waning · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️. Well written story- to the point. It gave me incentive to further investigate traveling to my grandmother’s country of birth - Poland.

Also, felt the irony of the continued animosity between opposing religions- why can’t we just be kind to each other an allow people to have their own views, beliefs, faith- not force feed or assimilate those who have differing views from our’s.

We do so much harm by focusing on “being right” instead of “being kind”.

Would have been a 5⭐️ read, was disappointed and a little lost by how the book ended.

[Sara! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watercolors of history, hardship, and resilience blend together as Yaakov visits his parents’ village in Poland and the past comes to life.

[Elizabeth Bartos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming story written with sensitivity and believability. At times, I got a little lost with the truth and the dreams, but that did not deter me from liking the book any less.
( plus I was able to figure it out ).

[Laura Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again. Aharon Appelfeld exceeds expectations with his beautiful writing and poignant storytelling. This book was lovely from the first page. Rich characters and a moving story.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this book a five-star rating, until I got to the unsatisfying and somewhat perplexing last chapter. I have a theory, but I'm not sure if I'm right about my conclusion.

Yaakov Fein, a successful middle-aged Israeli businessman and former army officer in Tel Aviv, travels to Szydowce, Poland, the small village where his parents lived before World War II, and who managed to flee when most of their relatives and friends were murdered by the Nazis, in particularly horrific circumstances. He's been feeling restless and alienated lately, and having an interior conversation about his distant relationship with his parents, who have passed on. Yaakov's wife, Rivka, and his grown daughters are skeptical, even hostile, towards his wish to see where his ancestors lived. The marriage is tense, and the daughters are aligned with their mother.

Nevertheless, he flies to Warsaw, takes a train to Krakow, where he spends a few days seeking out the remnants of the former Jewish community, and enjoys the European atmosphere, which is so different from Tel Aviv. A taxi driver takes him the rest of the way. There, he boards with Magda, an attractive but lonely widow, and her adult daughter Maria, who has emotional and mental impairments.

The village is small, and is the hub for the many farmers who live in the vicinity. There is a grocery, a tavern, and a few other businesses. No Jews remain, nor does Yaakov immediately notice any sign of their former residence.

Magda also has a small farm, including cows and other livestock. She puts Yaakov up in her pleasant home, where she serves him homemade meals of foods made of the produce of her garden, and the milk of her cows. They talk, and Yaakov learns that she knew members of his family when she was a child. Her stories about his family helps bring them to life, and the two of them grow close, and passionate, before long. Yaakov dreams vivid, complicated dreams of his parents and his lost relatives.

While Magda works on her farm chores, Yaakov walks around the village, seeking out whatever else he can learn about his murdered relatives and the fate of all the village's Jews. At first the villagers are pleasant enough, though guarded, but then Yaakov learns that many of the paving stones in the center of the village are made from the broken headstones of the murdered Jews, including the visible remnants of that of his great-grandfather. Tensions rise when Yaakov expresses a desire to pay for the stones to be removed and be shipped to Tel Aviv. He makes an offer. The hidden resentment and anti-Jewish attitudes of the villagers come to the forefront when the mayor, as their representative, asks for an exorbitant sum, and Yaakov refuses. Then, of course, the hate bubbles up.

It's different with Magda, but they both know that their liaison is temporary. After a week or so, Yaakov calls home, and his wife continues with her skepticism and criticism. When he calls next, she tells them that their younger daughter has been hospitalized and is having tests. With this news, and the hostility that has surfaced in the town, he knows he must return home. Magda understands and accepts the situation. She brings him to the Krakow train station in her wagon, pulled by her horses and they say their sad goodbyes. Yaakov returns to Warsaw, where he catches his plane home.

At this point, the book unravels. On the plane to Tel Aviv, Yaakov falls into conversation with another Israeli man, another businessman, as it turns out. Here's the question? Is Yaakov dreaming? Is the other man real, or is he Yaakov's father, or even a version of himself. Hmm...

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story, although I felt like I might have missed a bigger picture that the author was trying to convey about God, being Jewish, being non-Jewish and how the main character, Yaakov really felt about returning to the home of his ancestors in Poland and what he found (or didn’t find) there. But the story for what it was, was enjoyable to read - I liked that there were few characters and easy to follow and understand.
Story follows Yaakov, who lives in Tel Aviv but his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents are from a very small village in Poland, Szydowce. He has this desire to travel there and just see what he see-what’s there? What’s left of this small village? He knows his parents survived the war by being hid by a neighbor, and then living in the woods. Yaakov returns and is dropped off at a house with a woman and her daughter standing outside-Magda and daughter Maria. He pays to stay with them and then finds out that Magda knew his grandparents very well-she worked in their shop, helped at their home and knew his aunt and uncle and parents well. She gives him a lot of info about what his family was like, and what has happened in the years since the war. From Wanda, an old woman and the “village memory bank” he learns that older Jews , women and children, were rounded up, put in the Synagogue and burned alive. Jewish men were forced to build a tench and then were shot. Yaakov also meets other locals - at the bar, farmers on the road, the mayor…they seem friendly enough but have this suspicion about him and a dislike for him because he’s a Jew. Why is he here? What does he want? Many believe he wants to reclaim his ancestors property-after the Jews were killed, land was taken and divided and houses were looted. He sees that the graves of his ancestors and other Jews are the stones of the town square. When he inquires about taking the stones back to Israel with him the mayor says he should pay for them. Yaakov offers 1000 and the mayor comes back from the village council saying, nope-we’d take 10,000. The tombstones are cultural and historical assets to the town and must be preserved. After he refuses to pay this it seems everyone in town has shamed him-that he’s a typical Jew-money hungry and greedy and says one thing but then lies or does the opposite of what he promised. While on his visit, him and Magda begin a sexual relationship. He feels like Magda is who he loves and should be with. His life at home, his marriage and his 2 adult girls - he feels unfulfilled and bored and that his life and marriage lacks any passion or energy. After being away much longer than he planned he learns that one of his daughters is in the hospital and he decides to return home. Magna and Yaakov make no future plans together, they both are living in the moment and sharing this time together, but they do say they’ll write. The story ends with Yaakov meeting another textile shop owner on the plane-his daughter also ill. He feels connected to this man and his story “Only someone who goes back to his ancestors village is permitted to ask their forgiveness, he said to himself, not remembering that it was the man who sat beside him who had just suggested this to him.” The ending left me hanging…will he return to his unfulfilled life or might he meet up with Magna in the future?

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have an easy way to quantify this, but it seems to me a big chunk of this book is Yaakov's dreams. In his dreams, his taciturn mother speaks freely, sly people are truthful, Yaakov's own fears are conquered. He is described as "a rational thinker, far removed from faith and feeling, fixated on business, at war with his wife and daughters." Magda by contrast "loved freely, without pretense or exaggeration. Wisdom came powerfully to her…Her honesty was powerful…She offered no opinions about matters that were full of doubt or that were confusing." Because he does not speak Polish fluently, Yaakov comes off just as taciturn as his parents who kept some of his past from him. But nonetheless he desires to search for his past and finds a village filled with fear and suspicion. Some things the villagers fear: their poverty, the Communists, and the Jews, who they think cursed the village. "I was unable to eradicate the fear within me." says one character. "Ever since I saw the synagogue burning, my fears have grown stronger." These are people who deny their role in the past; no villager helped the Jews threatened by the Nazi invaders, regardless of whether that Jew were good, or kind, or too young ever to have threatened anyone. It was the Germans who ordered them to do heinous things, one says. And in modern times, even those villagers who seem to like Jews nonetheless firmly believe that the Jews needed to convert, that it is the only way to escape their fate. Their comments always amazingly come back to that. And Yaakov's response always circles around to how the Jews are no longer in danger, that they have a strong state now. This belief of his seemed to me an illusion, like his dreams, like his first view of the beautiful green land around the village. At the start of the book, when Yaakov asks to be taken to the village, everyone assures him there is nothing there, but he persists; he wants to see. Later, he's asked "What did you find?", to which he replies "Nothing." There is much more in this book than I can say here. I was left with a melancholy for a rootless soul.

[Jeffrey Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel by Appelfeld, published in 2005, was translated into English by the late Stuart Schoffman. I doubt that it will be. The title is ironic. It was on my bookshelf for a long time, and I never got around to reading it until a friend of mine, a huge fan of Appelfeld's, Teddy Weinberger, mentioned it to me in an email. Yesterday, over lunch, Teddy and I had a long and enlightening conversation about the book.
The plot of the novel is quite straightforward. The protagonist, Yakov Fein, the owner of a successful women's clothing store in Tel Aviv and the son of Holocaust survivors, decides to visit the Polish village where his parents were born and raised, and, against his family's advice, he goes there. He imbibes the rural landscape of his parents' youth, and has an erotic relationship with Magda, the owner of the house where the irritable taxi driver from Cracow dropped him off. Magda was just a child when the Jews of the village were murdered, and she was close to Yakov's family, whom she loved. (She, by the way, is one of several similar characters in Appelfeld's books: the gentile woman servant who is, in some ways, more Jewish than the people she served). Yakov meets other people who knew his family, encounters the deep-seated anti-Semitism of the Polish peasants, and, ultimately, departs - though we don't know until the very end of the book whether something dire might happen to him.
I was closely connected to Appelfeld for many years. I translated a dozen or more of his books, and I spent a long time in conversation with him. Although I admired him and his writing greatly, translating him and, in a sense, dwelling in his dark and troubled soul, was oppressive, which is why I hadn't read "Poland, a Green Land," before.
Appelfeld was never a realistic writer. Dreams often figure in his novels, and they are no less important to the characters than actual events. In a sense, this entire novel is a dream. If your Hebrew is up to it, read it in the original.

[Michael Paquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trabsfirmative work about a merchant, Yaakov Fein, who lives in Tel Aviv and has workied his whole life to dismiss his past and his upbringing. Yaakov succeeds in changing his parents store from a textile shop to a thriving designer clothing business. He replaces his Jewish heritage and becomes a secular Israeli, a soldier, a successful businesman and an atheist. Yet, after his parents are gone and he gets rid of their Old World trinkets he is overcome with a desire to return to the place of his birth.
The visit to his ancestral land becomes both a place where he is rejected by the country farmers and welcomed by his housemaid Magda, who is a hard working farmer who regales him with stories of his parents and hertage. The book uses crisp sentence structure and short chapters that entwine and inform one another. Applefield weaves a tale of religion, memory, bigotry, repression, guilt, compassion and uncertainty which provides a wealth of ideas yet no easy solutions. The story is complex and nuanced yet it has brief moments that stick in the readers mind as thought provoking and deeply resonating. The detailed descriptions of the tranquil countryside and the comforting food served by the hostess make Yaakov languish in the land of his forefathers and his dream sequences add a deeper understanding of his past. This book is touching and profound and is a beautiful look at a country where its troubled past still haunts its Polish villagers and Jewish emigres.

[Pharlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book.
I found there 2 separate worlds with practically no connection.
World 1 - real life of Yaakov - from early years alienated from his family.
As a result of some mid-life crisis he visits Poland - a country of his parents and grandparents.
World 2 - in Poland he meets a person - Magda - who in matter of minutes frees him from all complexes and inhibitions and brings him first time in his life full sensual satisfaction.
After some 4 weeks the reality calla back - Yaakov leaves Magda and tombstones of his ancestors in rather hostile surrounding and returns to Word 1.
On one hand I liked the style of writing, I got a feeling that a gentle person it telling me some naively beautiful story. On the other hand I felt a bit nervous all the time, I got a feeling that the reality is not so nice, they are dangers and I worried - why the narrator treats them too light?
One more hidden stream - folk tales about God, religion, Jews - again, mostly they sounded like nightmires, but I got feeling that they are told by a good and gentle people.

[Dana K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yaakov is an Israeli man who has reached middle age and finds himself searching for meaning. His parents fled to Israel from Poland after the war and always reflected on what they missed about it. Yaakov knew about how difficult it was for them to survive the Holocaust, mainly in hiding, first with a family and then in the woods. They are gone now and he has raised a family of his own. But he longs for a connection so he decides to seek out their small town on his own. His family are incredulous but he presses on. First enjoying the charm of Krakow and city life, seeing his missing aunt at every turn and then finding himself embroiled in small town anti-Semitic politics in the small town.

I liked Yaakov’s introspective nature, his generosity and empathy. His exploration of his personal history and the history of his people was compelling. The mixed messages about Jews and their role in the town, past and present was interesting to contemplate. What I didn’t love, was Yaakov’s infidelity and overall lack of concern for his present day family back in Israel. I’m all for a mid-life crisis / exploration of the soul / search for meaning but you don’t have to hurt your family to do so. It felt out of character with how kind and generous he was with the townsfolk. Despite that, I do think this one is worth a read if you’re looking for a story with some heart that will make you think.

Thanks to Doubleday for the gifted copy.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The largest number of Righteous Gentiles (those who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II) listed at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, are Poles with 7,232 known rescuers. Unfortunately, after the war, Polish partisan groups searched for and murdered many Jews hidden by these rescuers. The exact number of those killed is unknown. To add to the puzzle, some former Polish Jews, who now live in the United States or Israel, still feel nostalgic for the country they once and, sometimes still, consider their true homeland. This enigma is explored in two new books: the memoir “Jews in the Garden: A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II” by Judy Rakowsky (Sourcebooks) and the novel “Poland, A Green Land” by Aharon Appelfeld (Schoken Books).
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easier to follow version of Everything is Illuminated, but no less dreamy. Though the pacing and flow are not always ideal, I give this book 5 stars with my whole heart, for it captures the historical erasure of Jewish life thoughtfully and with great care. I found through my Ancestry that my great-grandmother also came here from a tiny village in Poland, only speaking Yiddish and Hebrew. Reading this book felt like getting to learn more about her. I can’t stop thinking about a way of life that was so beautiful and lost not even 100 years ago. And I keep thinking too about the cycle of the world, like a virus, to blame Jews for the world’s evils.

[Lisa of Hopewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
My Interest
What do you think? Yep–searching for an audio book! But a Jew traveling from Israel to Poland to see where his parents came from? Sure, if I’d found it some other way I’d still have wanted to read it.

The Story
Yaakov, a former Captain in the Israeli army and now the owner of a successful women’s clothing story, journeys back to the Polish village of his parents’ families. While there he learns the tragic fate of most of the Jews of the town–his parents excepted. Throughout his childhood, his mother told him of his parents’ time in hiding. He also heard so much about this village that he feels he knows it.

Arriving in the village he finds people who pass the blame–it was all “the Germans” or it was “the Soviets.” The type of hatred he encounters for people who lived cheek and jowl with those telling it is sickening. His landlady, Magda, is a passionate soul, but not always balanced. When he learns what happened to the majority of the Jews–for his mother never told him that part of the story, Yaakov begins to see the big picture.

My Thoughts
Told in the “present” (the time of the story) and in flashbacks to the past, as well as in dreams, this is an interesting book. I kept thinking of another book, a nonfiction book, Three Minutes in Poland--a book that could have been telling his extended family’s story. It was often hard to remember that this was fiction (unless we were hearing a dream). The senseless hatred people can harbor–it doesn’t matter in what time or in which country–it is so sickening. The way the Jews of this village died (no different from some other places) shows just how insane people can become when slavishly following a “leader.”

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional tale of the son of Holocaust survivors and his trip to their hometown in Poland. His encounters with individuals there connect him to his parents and his ancestry in ways he did not anticipate, and also provide comment on the variety of reactions and beliefs about responsibility and what has been lost that he encounters while in Poland. A little slow to start, but fascinating reading.

[Kate Irwin]

This reminded me of a Polish film I watched in college called “Aftermath” and of a very disturbing account by Jan Gross about the destruction of the Jedwabne community in the book “Neighbors.” All, including this tale, left me with an eerie, unsettled feeling. Humans can be incredibly creative or deeply destructive—but when we lose sight of our collective humanity, we enter a darkness that makes us blind.

We must never underestimate humanity, both in its good and its very bad.

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisite parable of a man’s journey to his parents’ homeland, a small village in Poland. His parents were the only ones in the family to survive the Holocaust. The man, Yaakkov, discovers the beauty and the ugliness of the people he meets, and comes to understand his parents’ life. A story told with quiet resolve, and subtle insights.

[Karen Tannenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the writing that drew me in. This is the late author's final book—a Sabra's mid-life crisis leads him to return to an idyllic village near Krakow, where his family lived for centuries. But, slowly, a rise of systemic anti-semitism among the townspeople emerges. It is cutting, and the protagonist realizes many attitudes have never changed. And probably never will.

[Kathie Fording · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and confusing at times. It feels like something/part of the strength of this text is lost in translation. Yaakov travels from Israel to Poland to where his parents were from and is...repentant? Revitalized? Re-born? Not sure. But the writing is lovely, the characters are rich and the story flows.

[Marilyn Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A child of survivors and a citizen of Israel, yaakov refused to become a Bar Mitzvah, learn all he could about his parents' childhoods and what happened to all the jews in their town. In middle age, he returned to that same Polish village without a realistic idea about village life and generational hatreds.
What a sad and frightening way to learn about his family.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read most of this book in one sitting. Really enjoyed and connected with it. The depth of antisemitism displayed by the farmers was shocking. The relationship so uplifting and moving. The only part of my experience visiting my Grandmother’s birth village in Galicia that resembled this one was the willingness of Poles to talk about the Jews they knew from the past.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agree with a previous reviewer regarding how the story meandered at the start where I wondered where the author was going with this story. Provides the reader with points for reflection as well as has anything changed.

[Michelle Halber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiet book with lovely imagery from an author I had not read before.

There is no resolution at the story - the author shows the development and growth of the main character, but leaves the reader to decide the next steps.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing. I enjoyed this story the people in it felt real fully developed. The ending was a little disappointing leaving me wanting more of his life and what happens it also seemed lofty and preachy as if we need another lesson

[Marge Congress · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different kind of story as an Israeli man goes to Poland to learn about his family's life there before and during the war. The language is beautiful and the content brings the reader to learn if things have really changed so much after all these years.