Calgary Public Library

In search of light, Martha Salcudean

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

autobiography

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

In search of light

bibliography

1049779739

Martha Salcudean

The Azrieli series of Holocaust survivor memoirs. Series XI

"Martha Salcudean (b. 1934) grows up in the small village of Chiochi, Romania, blissfully unaware of the fascist and antisemitic Iron Guard militia, and she quickly adapts to the abrupt change in her life when the area she lives in comes under the control of Hungary in 1940 (due to the Second Vienna Award). But her childhood is soon marred by more political upheavals, and her parents cannot shelter her from the danger that looms for all Jews when Germany occupies Hungary in March 1944. Forced into first the Szamosújvár (now called Gherla) ghetto and then the Kolozsvár (now called Cluj) ghetto, Martha experiences such cruelty and hatred that at ten years old she no longer feels like a child. But Martha's fate changes in an instant with one split-second decision her father makes to board a different deportation train, and instead of going to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most of the Hungarian Jews are sent, she becomes one of those destined to be saved by Rudolf Kasztner, a man riskily negotiating with the Nazis. In June 1944, Martha and her parents are sent to the Columbus Street Camp in Budapest and then to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but they are somewhat protected there, and their suffering and trauma ends when they are sent on 'Kasztner's train' to freedom in Switzerland in December 1944. In Switzerland, Martha is lucky to be able to begin to recover and be educated in a school run by Paul Geheeb, l'École d'Humanité in Schwarzsee. After the war, Martha and her parents return to Romania, but when the communist dictatorship takes hold, Martha again finds herself living in fear and unable to control her own life, and she is determined to escape with her new family to freedom. Post-war, Martha writes extensively about the restrictions she faced living under Nicolae Ceaucescu's communist regime in Romania. In Bucharest, she began to establish her career as an engineer, but she was trapped, unable to progress scientifically and under state surveillance. Martha wanted freedom, not only for herself, but also for her family and most especially for her son, Tim. Through sheer will and courage, and the help of others to finance their escape, Martha and her family finally manage to flee in 1976, first to France and then to Canada. Martha started anew, eventually becoming a renowned mechanical engineer, teaching at both the University of Ottawa and the University of British Columbia, where she became the first female head of an engineering department in Canada. She has published extensively, been awarded three honorary doctorates and is an Order of British Columbia and Officer of the Order of Canada. She has been awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation (1993); the Engineering Institute of Canada's Julian C. Smith Medal (1995); the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize in Engineering (1998); and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). In Search of Light is the inspirational story of how Martha survived the Holocaust, fled the Communist regime in Romania, and rebuilt an outstanding professional life in Canada."--, Provided by publisher