Aharon Appelfeld

Aharon Appelfeld (Israel) was born in Ukraine. With the novels Badenheim 1939, Tzili and Om elke zonde he achieved worldwide fame. In 1998, Appelfeld returned for the first time to his native village, in order to write an article for The New Yorker.

This article grew into Het verhaal van een leven, a book that describes Appelfeld’s life. At the age of seven, his childhood comes to an abrupt end when his mother is murdered by the Nazis and Aharon and his father are deported to a concentration camp. At eight, he escapes alone and wanders for years through Ukraine. In 1946 he finds his father again through the Jewish Agency list. Appelfeld was never able to write about this emotional reunion.