The Juderia
Subtitle: A Holocaust Survivor's Tribute to the Jewish Community of Rhodes
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Published: March 30, 1999
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 184
ISBN-13: 9780275963460
Subjects: Biography: general; European history (ie other than Britain & Ireland); Jewish studies; The Holocaust; Jewish Holocaust; Religion; History - General History; Europe - Greece; Holocaust; History / Europe / General; Varon, Laura; Judaism - General; 1926-; Biography; Greece; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Personal narratives; Rhodes (Island); Varon, Laura,
First sentence: IN THE SPRING OF 1938, I was twelve years old and lived with my family along the narrow streets behind the walls of the Citadel of Rhodes.
Description: Life in la Juderia, the Jewish quarter of Rhodes, had its basis in the strong cultural traditions of the Sephardic Jews who settled there after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Nazi occupation of the island late in World War II would shatter the community and force its inhabitants into concentration camps far from home. Driven by her promise to look after a younger sister, young Laura Varon learned to cope in a world where human kindness was so rare that it could neither be trusted nor believed.

One of the few survivors of Rhodes, she would struggle to deal with the loss of the dead and the ghosts that haunted the living.

Upon her liberation, Laura lay among corpses, finally ready to give up her fight. A long convalescence in Sweden would only be the beginning of her journey back toward normalcy. Gradually reunited with family, Laura must come to terms with the loss of her community and her past. Rhodes, no longer an Italian territory, cannot be the home she seeks. A fierce determination drives Laura to build a new life and to carry on the legacy of the lost Juderia of Rhodes.