Escape through the Balkans: The Autobiography of Irene Grunbaum
Translator and editor Morris, a visiting scholar in German studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found Grunbaum's unpublished autobiography at the Institute of Austrian Resistance in Vienna when she was researching Jewish women who emigrated to Brazil in the Nazi era. Grunbaum was a German Jew living in Belgrade when the war broke out. Her husband was killed, and she was forced to escape through the Balkans to a temporary haven in Albania until she eventually reached Italy and then later Brazil. Along her journey, Grunbaum encountered severe obstacles, including partisans, thieves, fascists, the risks of being a female traveling alone, poverty, and hunger. What makes this memoir compelling is the author's courage in dealing with ethnic hatred. She vividly portrays all ethnic groups, including the Serbs and Muslims who gave her assistance. Her autobiography is unique because it shows a brutal and complex part of wartime Europe which little has been written. Recommended for larger libraries.Mary Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll., WheelingCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.