Memory Is Our Home: Loss and Remembering: Three Generations in Poland and Russia, 1917-1960s

Memory Is Our Home is a powerful biographical memoir based on the diaries of Roma Talasiewicz-Eibuszyc, who was born in Warsaw before the end of World War I, grew up during the interwar period and who, after escaping the atrocities of World War II, was able to survive in the vast territories of Soviet Russia and Uzbekistan.

Translated by her own daughter, interweaving her own recollections as her family made a new life in the shadows of the Holocaust in Communist Poland after the war and into the late 1960s, this book is a rich, living document, a riveting account of a vibrant young woman's courage and endurance.

A forty-year recollection of love and loss, of hopes and dreams for a better world, it provides richly-textured accounts of the physical and emotional lives of Jews in Warsaw and of survival during World War II throughout Russia. This book, narrated in a compelling, unique voice through two generations, is the proverbial candle needed to keep memory alive.

I was born in communist Poland after the war, where I lived with myfamily until the late 1960s. Before leaving for America, I attended a JewishHigh School, Szalom Alejchem in Wroclaw. I graduated from CCNY with a BA inAnthropology. I received my MA in Archaeology from UCLA, and wasawarded a grant, allowing me to conduct research and travel to Poland andIsrael. Meeting professor and writer, Elie Wiesel, through the Department ofJewish Studies at CCNY, I realized the importance of Holocaust survivors'stories. I insisted my mother write down her incredible accounts she sharedwith me. Ultimately, I addressed the trauma of growing up in the shadows ofHolocaust aftermath and how this trauma is transferred between generations. Forme, the 2G, I had no way of knowing, but the seed for writing "Memory isOur Home" was planted in my childhood. Looking back in time, I know nowthat my entire life was a preparation, to be "a memorial candle". Iassumed the burden of my parents' emotional world and I became the link betweenthe past and the future. This history is embedded deep in my memory,my soul, it is part of my DNA. 
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