
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
No Past Tense is the biography of Katarina (Kati) Kellner and William (Willi) Salcer, two Czech Jews who as teenagers were swept up by the Holocaust in Hungary and survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen, respectively. Covering their entire lives, weaving in first person "real time" voices, the unique structure of No Past Tense provides a distinctive "whole life" view of the Holocaust. The book begins with their childhoods, education in Budapest, and 16-year-old Kati meeting 19-year-old Willi in the Jewish ghetto in Plesivec, a Slovak village annexed by Hungary in 1938. After liberation from the camps they returned to discover most Jews were gone, and the villagers did not want them back. In defiance, Kati took up residence in a shed on her family's property, and in reclaiming what was hers, won Willi's heart. They lived as smugglers in post-war Europe until immigrating illegally to Palestine in 1946. In 1958, saying he did not want the children to know war, Willi convinced Kati to move to America.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Epigraph
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Foreword
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1. Hitler on the Radio: Summer 1938
- 2. Worried Mothers: 1939
- 3. Happy New Year: 1944
- 4. Back Home: 19 March 1944
- 5. Into the Ghetto: April 1944
- 6. Kati Meets Willi: April 1944
- 7. Harsher Reality: April 1944
- 8. Spoiled Little Girl: June 1944
- 9. Auschwitz: June-August 1944
- 10. No Escape: September-October 1944
- 11. Canary Girls: November 1944
- 12. This is Mauthausen: November 1944-March 1945
- 13. Walking to Czechoslovakia: March-May 1945
- 14. Liberation: April 1945
- 15. No-One Home: June 1945
- 16. Finding Lily: June 1945
- 17. Family Album: June 1945
- 18. Give Up the Shiksa: July 1945
- 19. Gardener’s Shed: August 1945
- 20. Polka Dot Dress: August 1945
- 21. Nice Jewish Girl: August 1945
- 22. In Remembrance: August 1945
- 23. Ghosts: August 1945 113 24. Uncle Pavel: September 1945
- 25. Marry Me, or Goodbye: October 1945
- 26. Hakshara: February 1946
- 27. Black Hat with Cherries: Summer 1946
- 28. Jewish Soldier: August 1946
- 29. Atlit: August-November 1946
- 30. We’re Here: November 1946-February 1947
- 31. It’s a Girl: February-September 1947
- 32. Too Much Beer: Fall 1947
- 33. Up on the Roof: November-December 1947
- 34. Building Tanks: December 1947-May 1948
- 35. Testing: Summer 1948
- 36. Water, Everywhere: Summer 1949
- 37. What Next?: 1950-1952
- 38. We’ll Build You a Factory: 1953
- 39. Crisis: 1954-1957
- 40. Going Down: 1958-1959
- 41. Europe to America: Winter-Spring 1960
- 42. First Year in America: 1960-1961
- 43. Job Hunt: 1961
- 44. Plastic Lace Tablecloths: 1961-1964
- 45. Naomi and the Gypsy: Summer 1968
- 46. Home Sweet Plesivec: Summer 1968
- 47. Jelsava and Back: Summer 1968
- 48. Young, Single and Free: 1975
- 49. Wander Years: 1977-1983
- 50. Telling: 1996-1999
- 51. The End: 2000-2001
- Epilogue