Traveling in Southern Bulgaria: Devil's Throat Cave

I first learned about Devil's Throat Cave from the novels of Bulgarian bestselling author Ludmila Filipova. This is the cave through which Orpheus reportedly made his way to rescue Euridice from Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld. Far underground, the Trigrad River disappears in the deep caverns of the cave, never to emerge again into daylight. The cave gets its name from a profile of the devil, which is hard to notice even when pointed out.

The cave is open every day from 10am to 4pm and entrance is only with a guide, and most of the guides speak English. The entranceway is well lit, cool and dry, but then one reaches the main hall, a cavern so huge that Sofia's Alexander Nevsky Cathedral could easily fit inside with room to spare. With the thunder of the underground river pounding in one's ears, you reach a steep set of wet, concrete stairs leading to daylight high above. This is the halfway point – the weak at heart can go back to the cave's main entrance. I venture upwards, holding onto the handrail for dear life, as the steps are very slippery.

Review of The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

In the opening pages of The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Zaffre, January 2018), Lale Sokolov is standing in a crowded cattle train on his way to an unknown destination. While his fellow travelers are traumatized by the journey, Lale has adopted a “wait and see” attitude, which doesn’t change even when he marches under a gate with the words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ wrought from the metal.

“Just do as you’re told, you’ll be fine,” Lale says to a newfound friend. As fate would have it, Lale’s experiences at the camp are not as horrendous as those of his fellow Jews.

In April 1942, the rate of transports arriving in Auschwitz is accelerating. At the gates of the camp, Jews and gypsies from all over Europe are listed in the Nazi records and their arms are tattooed in green ink. Lale has been appointed to be one of the camp’s tattooists. Even as he defiles the arms of terrified men and women, Lale shows compassion for his fellow prisoners. Perhaps the relative freedom he enjoys as a tattooist will allow him to use his position to help them.

This widely acclaimed novel is based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, how he not only survived his years at Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also found love in the camp. When he inks the serial number into the arm of a young woman, she steals his heart at first glance. This is Gita, his future wife, and their hidden romance in the most difficult of conditions proves that love conquers all. Not for the vast majority of prisoners, of course, but in this specific case.

Misrepresenting history for the sake of fiction

In recent weeks, several reviewers and researchers have charged that while The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on a true story, the truth was bent in its portrayal of what actually happened in the Holocaust. Mentioned as an example is the novel’s mention of the use of penicillin in the camp when the drug was not yet readily available during the war. Another challenge to the book’s authenticity is that the number Lale tattooed on Gita’s arm, 34902, could not possibly be accurate.

"It should be ruled out that a prisoner who arrived at the camp on 13 April 1942 could receive such a high number,” states Wanda Witek-Malicka of the Auschwitz Memorial Research Centre. “It is however a fact that on 13 April 1942 a female transport from Slovakia arrived at Auschwitz - but they were given numbers from 4761 to 5203. Therefore, Gita Furman was either brought to the camp on a different date or received a different number than that indicated in the book.”

Writing in The New York Times, Christine Kennedy says that this "seemingly pointless error [about the Auschwitz number system] ... undermines the credibility of other stories [in the novel].”

How much leeway do authors have when they create fiction based on true stories? How far can you misdescribe the facts, or misstate the details, and still present an accurate depiction of historical events?

It’s important to tell the story

Very soon, there will be no remaining Holocaust survivors. There will be no further firsthand accounts of what it was like to be imprisoned in the camps. More troubling, to me, is the danger that future generations may not find it important to learn what this tragic period in our history was all about. It is important, therefore, to tell the story, even if it is embellished somewhat in fiction.

I personally don’t think that mentioning an inaccurate serial number detracts from the important message this book is giving to its readers. While the truth may have been bent for dramatic purposes, the novel is reaching a large audience that would never have otherwise been exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust.

What bothers me more about The Tattooist of Auschwitz is that while it is a quick, compelling read, the book is not well written. The dialogue sounds false, almost as if someone from the modern era has been transported back in time to speak to the camp’s inmates. The narrative that glosses over the harsh conditions of the camp to focus on a love affair seems over romanticized. Most readers will probably overlook the simple prose and the characters’ lack of depth to see the bigger picture.

Every survivor of the Holocaust has a story to tell. This story, of how Lale and Gita survived the camps, is one that will remain in the reader’s memory for a long time.

Heather Morris, a native of New Zealand, now lives in Australia. In 2003, she was introduced to an elderly gentleman, Lale Sokolov, who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. Morris originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Buy The Tattooist of Auschwitz and read it now!

Originally published on The Times of Israel.

Review of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Right from the start I will tell you that I don’t usually read this genre—the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl caught up in her parents’ stormy relationship—but there is one reason that I couldn’t put down The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Press, February 2018). To say it in a word – Alaska.

Hannah’s vivid descriptions make America’s last frontier come alive. “It was otherworldly somehow, magical in its vast expanse, an incomparable landscape of soaring glacier-filled white mountains that ran the length of the horizon, knife-tip points pressed high into a cloudless cornflower-blue sky.”

In Hannah’s writing, all your senses are drawn into Alaska’s allure. “The air smelled briny, deeply of the sea. Shorebirds floated on the wind, dipped and rose effortlessly.”

This is Alaska, in all of its beauty and all the perils of living there. The extreme cold, the snowstorms, the brown bears and the packs of wolves, the king salmon and the bald eagles, and more than anything else, the isolation.

Thirteen-year-old Leni’s family has always been on the move, but never like this. Her father Ernt, a Vietnam vet, has a volatile personality. His spur-of-the-moment decision to move to Alaska with Leni and her mother, Cora, suggests not only a new beginning, but that Ernt has put his troublesome past behind. They set up a homestead on a remote coastland, joining a small-knit community of long term Alaskan residents. Most newcomers to the state don’t survive their first harsh winter, but Ernt pushes Cora and Leni to prepare. Still, the extremely severe conditions are nothing they have ever experienced.

Daylight in the winter months is limited to a few hours a day. The family’s isolation results in Ernt’s recurring nightmares. He becomes paranoid, jealous, violent. Leni is spared her father’s anger, but his abusive treatment of her mother comes in waves of madness.

The only comforting part of Leni’s life is her classmate Matthew, a neighbor who becomes her closest friend. When Ernt suspects Matthew’s father of flirting with Cora, he forbids Leni from seeing him. Like any Romeo-and-Juliet romance, this one, too, seems bound for a tragic ending.

If it were not for its setting, I would consider The Great Alone to be nothing more than well-written women’s fiction. Surely there have been other novels like this one, telling the story of a teenager struggling to survive her father’s rage and her mother’s silent acquiescence of her husband’s inability to change. But, The Great Alone transcends that genre.

“This state, this place, is like no other. It is beauty and horror; savior and destroyer. Here, where survival is a choice that must be made over and over in the wildest place in America, on the edge of civilization, where water in all its forms can kill you, you learn who you are... You learn what you will do to survive.”

The Great Alone sweeps you into a vast, untamed wilderness. There is no middle ground in Alaska, no safe place. You’ll find yourself captivated not only by the state’s unique beauty, but also by the author’s compelling narrative and her eloquent writing. Highly recommended!

Kristin Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale. A former-lawyer-turned writer, she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

Traveling in Southern Bulgaria: Rhodope Cuisine and Culture

An exploration of the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria would not be complete without taking advantage of the opportunity of tasting the region’s unique, and tasty cuisine.

During our stay at Villa Gela we are spoiled with the food. The owners’ family owns the Terra Tangra Winery located on Sakar Mountain, 200 kilometers to the east. We are served Yatrus Syrah and the white Tamyanka. We start our meal with homemade rakia – the national, very strong fruit brandy of Bulgaria. In the mornings we drink a mixture of vinegar and honey that cleans one’s digestive system.

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Review of The Astronaut’s Son by Tom Seigel

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, a historic event that I remember watching on television as a boy. Eleven other astronauts would follow in Armstrong’s footsteps until the Apollo program was abandoned at the end of 1972. We have not returned to the moon since.

In the novel The Astronaut's Son by Tom Seigel (Woodhall Press LLP, September 2018), Israeli astronaut Avi Stein was scheduled to fly on a later Apollo mission but died of a heart attack shortly before liftoff. “His dream of going to the moon lives on in all of us,” his son, Jonathan, says in tribute.

Speaking to an audience of his employees and members of the media, Jonathan—a multi-millionaire engineering and computer genius—announces his company’s private lunar venture. “We have been away far too many years,” he says. “From the surface of the Moon, we will take a giant leap forward into outer space for the benefit of ourselves and our posterity.” Jonathan is to be the mission’s commander.

Traveling in Southern Bulgaria: Rhodope Mountains

The Rhodopes are known for their unique geological formations. The mountains are set apart by river gorges; there are many deep caves cut into the karst landscape. In the winter months, the snow-covered peaks are perfect for skiing – Pamporovo is one of Bulgaria's most popular ski resorts. In the summer, the hillsides are painted bright green and covered with wild flowers. With snow seen on the surrounding mountain tops, one has a feeling of visiting a "Sound of Music" movie set.

There are many small, picturesque villages perched on the hillsides and in the valleys below. It is said that the region has the highest number of centenarians in the country. This is because the villagers lead simple, stress-free lives; eat homemade yogurt; enjoy healthy vegetables grown in the small plot outside their homes; and, of course, breathe the crisp mountain air.

Bulgarians as a whole are very hospitable, but residents of the Rhodopes are particularly friendly to visitors, especially to travelers from overseas. It’s a bit difficult to communicate with the older generation, but young Bulgarians are fluent in English as well as many other European languages.

Traveling in Southern Bulgaria: Bachkovo Monastery

The first thing one notices when walking into the Bachkovo Monastery – the second largest in Bulgaria – is a plaque posted in Bulgarian, English, and Hebrew.

"In this holy monastery lie Patriarch Kiril and Exarch Stefan who in a selfless display of courage and humanity played a decisive role in preventing the deportation of Bulgaria Jewry to the Nazi extermination camps in 1943."

"Were the world blessed with more individuals of such valor and nobility as that shown by Patriarch Kiril and Exarch Stefan, surely more Jews would have been spared their tragic end."

Here in the entranceway of one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe is a sign of how the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – along with brave politicians and ordinary citizens – went out of its way to protect and save Bulgarian Jewry during World War 2. The country's Jewish population before the war was approximately 48,000. Not a single Jewish citizen was sent to the camps. Unfortunately this amazing story also has a tragic side. More than 11,000 Jewish residents of Macedonia, Serbia, and Thrace – areas under Bulgarian rule during the war years – were deported and died in the camps.