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A book presentation was held in memory of Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi on Thursday at the Déri Museum. The novel “I See Dogs Who Tighten the Leash” was presented by the German Cultural Forum in Debrecen.
In his book, the German author Christoph Heubner describes three stories, entitled Towards Auschwitz, After Auschwitz. The book was translated and edited by Zsuzsanna Iványi and Éva Fahidi, who passed away last year; the latter herself experienced the horrors of the Holocaust.
Artist Zsuzsa Oláh read shocking details from the work. At the book presentation , István Puskás emphasised that every event is important where we can pass on the memories of the past, thereby working together to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.
“This year marks exactly 80 years since the tragic events of 1944 struck Europe and Debrecen. Today, there are still witnesses among us, but fewer and fewer, and the kind of memory that spans generations is becoming increasingly important,” the Deputy Mayor stressed.
Writer Christoph Heubner, the Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, who has been a peace officer, documentary filmmaker, broadcaster, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance delegate and in his current position has maintained close friendships for decades with many Auschwitz survivors, including Eva Fahidi.
He worked with them on joint projects and publications, organised reading evenings, commemorations, guided tours of Auschwitz, and, last but not least, conversed.The information gathered there, the recollections of his friends and the Holocaust stories he experienced form the background to this book. He wishes to preserve their names, their stories and the memories of their families for posterity. The short stories have many Hungarian aspects, most of the protagonists are of Hungarian origin. It is not difficult to recognise Eva in Magda’s story, who is not allowed into her own house when she returns from Auschwitz.
Her figure can also be found there in the story of the Kaposvár musician, who waits in vain for her family members to return from the “bath” after arriving in Auschwitz, and her father’s features in the story of the timber merchant as he waits his turn in front of the gas chamber.
In any case, the book is the book of Eve, and of other survivors, who can learn about their own stories, their loved ones who were deported and murdered. And the reader’s. “I began to count the people as they climbed into the wagons, or as they loaded the old people and children into them. I tried to count them. But the numbers suddenly died, there were too many, everything became too much.”
Souce: dehir.hu
