Born in the Ghetto

Ariela Abramovich was born in the Kaunas Ghetto. She miraculously survived the Nazi manhunt when her parents smuggled her out of the Ghetto in a potato sack then left her on the doorsteps of the orphanage. From there she was taken in by a fisherman's family and, after the war, reunited with her parents. Ariela recounts the stories of her childhood, about her father who was involved in rescuing and finding homes for many orphaned children after the war; about her parents adopting a girl whose parents were exiled during Stalin's repressions; about her close family life with her two brothers; and about her struggle with ill health. If a writer of fiction had decided to invent the life-story of a heroine for a novel, they would have been unlikely to come up with a more dramatic and gripping plot than the story of this woman whose life was shaped both by circumstances and her determination to overcome them. This book by Ariela Aramovich Sef is a personal testimony and a family saga played out against a background of some of the most momentous historical events of the twentieth century. Ariela brings these events to life as she narrates her gripping stories of survival in the Ghetto, growing up in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and Thaw period, and migrating to the West. With remarkable courage she also coped with congenital heart disease, prevailing and living life to the full. Ariela shares with the readers not only her interesting life in Paris, Moscow and London, but also her pain, loss, endurance and nobility of spirit, gentle sense of humour and episodes of happiness.