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Magda's Daughter: A Hidden Child's Journey Home
To survive the long shadow of the Third Reich, many children were placed in hiding, forced to keep their true identities—names, religion, places of birth, even gender—secret. Among these "hidden children" was Evelyne Juliette, born in Paris to privileged Hungarian immigrants of high intellect and great passion. Scarcely a year following her birth, France would fall to the Nazis, plunging Europe further into chaos and placing Evi's family among hundreds of thousands on the run. Her father, forced to go underground, never again emerged. Her mother, the indomitable Magda, managed to send her young daughter to temporary safety before being imprisoned in a forced labor camp. Evi, just barely three, was eventually brought by an aunt to Budapest under her cousin's passport. "Claude Pollak" would be only the first of many false identities assumed to protect the shattered remnants of this young child's life.
Brimming with novelistic detail, vivid characterizations, and a sharply observed emotional terrain, Magda's Daughter depicts, in the words of the author herself, the life of a "perpetual refugee," forced by historical circumstance to live in rootless exile, while yearning for something she never really knew—life "before." Evi Blaikie, a gifted storyteller, writes against the limits of language and defies traditional definitions of "survivorship," while reminding us that no war is ever over until the last survivor is gone.
Brimming with novelistic detail, vivid characterizations, and a sharply observed emotional terrain, Magda's Daughter depicts, in the words of the author herself, the life of a "perpetual refugee," forced by historical circumstance to live in rootless exile, while yearning for something she never really knew—life "before." Evi Blaikie, a gifted storyteller, writes against the limits of language and defies traditional definitions of "survivorship," while reminding us that no war is ever over until the last survivor is gone.
304 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 22, 2018
This was an amazing story of fear, hope and perseverance...it’s inconceivable to me that a climate existed for the atrocities perpetrated by Hitler and his legion of haters that depleted the world of 6 million innocent Jews and countless other human souls and caused children to hide, change names, move to new countries, learn new languages and lie about their religion. Evi’s story is a brilliant must read.
Through the power of DNA testing and some amazing work by my cousin it turns out that Evi is a also a cousin. I was so moved by this story and cried for the last dozen pages as the story present and real to me.
Through the power of DNA testing and some amazing work by my cousin it turns out that Evi is a also a cousin. I was so moved by this story and cried for the last dozen pages as the story present and real to me.
August 4, 2020
An amazing memoir by one of the surviving Jewish children who were hidden under different identities during WWII.
October 30, 2009
Magda’s daughter, Evelyne – or Evi, was born in Paris to Hungarian Jewish immigrant parents in 1939. Her father went underground, never to be heard from again, and her mother managed to send Evi back to Budapest with false papers just before being arrested by the Germans.
For a time, as Hungarian Jews imagined themselves safe under Horthy’s regime, Evi thrived with her cultured aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother. But the war did not leave them alone. Evi’s mother returned four years after being imprisoned in a German labor camp, and the first of many battles of whom Evi belonged to ensued. Fortunately for Evi, her mother took her and her young cousin, and they went into hiding with a peasant family, managing to survive the war.
It was the post-war years that were devastating to Evi. Though her mother, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins survived, the years as a refugee, living briefly with this family member or that in France, and more often living in an orphanage, took a huge toll on her emotionally. Her undemonstrative mother then took her to England, abandoning her to various foster families and another orphanage, all the while waiting for her mother to make a home for them both. Sadly, the rare times that her mother had room for her, the two were so estranged that the situation soon became unbearable.
Fortunately for Evi, one of her teachers recognized her intelligence (she spoke four languages at a young age, and devoured books), and arranged for her to attend a prominent British girl’s school, where she yet again felt out of place among the well-to-do Christian students.
The 1950s led Evi to New York, where she soon gave up her idea of a career in order to marry a Catholic man who she felt could provide the safety and security she had never known. She had three children, tried to become the perfect 1950s housewife, and tried to put her past behind her.
It wasn’t until she attended a conference for children who had survived the war in hiding that she began to come to terms with her experiences and her suppressed feelings. Finding community with other hidden children was a watershed event in Evi’s life, leading to the writing of this book. She finally felt able to consider herself a “survivor,” even if not of the concentration camps, and to understand the trauma she had undergone.
For a time, as Hungarian Jews imagined themselves safe under Horthy’s regime, Evi thrived with her cultured aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother. But the war did not leave them alone. Evi’s mother returned four years after being imprisoned in a German labor camp, and the first of many battles of whom Evi belonged to ensued. Fortunately for Evi, her mother took her and her young cousin, and they went into hiding with a peasant family, managing to survive the war.
It was the post-war years that were devastating to Evi. Though her mother, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins survived, the years as a refugee, living briefly with this family member or that in France, and more often living in an orphanage, took a huge toll on her emotionally. Her undemonstrative mother then took her to England, abandoning her to various foster families and another orphanage, all the while waiting for her mother to make a home for them both. Sadly, the rare times that her mother had room for her, the two were so estranged that the situation soon became unbearable.
Fortunately for Evi, one of her teachers recognized her intelligence (she spoke four languages at a young age, and devoured books), and arranged for her to attend a prominent British girl’s school, where she yet again felt out of place among the well-to-do Christian students.
The 1950s led Evi to New York, where she soon gave up her idea of a career in order to marry a Catholic man who she felt could provide the safety and security she had never known. She had three children, tried to become the perfect 1950s housewife, and tried to put her past behind her.
It wasn’t until she attended a conference for children who had survived the war in hiding that she began to come to terms with her experiences and her suppressed feelings. Finding community with other hidden children was a watershed event in Evi’s life, leading to the writing of this book. She finally felt able to consider herself a “survivor,” even if not of the concentration camps, and to understand the trauma she had undergone.
August 5, 2013
I loved this book- Evi is a wonderful writer- her story is engaging and honest. She gave me a totally new view on the ever-reaching damage the Holocaust caused. Even though Evi was one of the "lucky" ones, she suffered a great loss: the loss of family, home, country and even her personal identity. The constant upheaval of her childhood resulted in her having difficulty in establishing permanent relationships as an adult. She struggled with assimilating and with who she actually was. I read this book in 3 days, hardly ever putting it down. I highly recommend it.
January 12, 2016
I've met this woman, Evi Blaikie, and I, now that I have finished her book, am completely in awe of her. Her life is so incredible that I have trouble reconciling it with this charming woman. Which I think speaks to how right she is about the disconnect that each successive generation has with the horrors of the Holocaust. And I admire her, and her fellows, for reminding us all.
July 6, 2016
Although not a survivor of the camps, she writes eloquently of life as a survivor of trying to survive through the horrors of the holocaust.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews