The Girl in the Green Sweater

September 29, 2008
IN THUS PUISSANT MEMOIR, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR CHIGER AND CO-AUTHOR PAISNER DETAIL CHIGER'S EARLY YEARS, LARGELY SPENT HIDING FROM NAZI AND UKRAINIAN PERSECUTION. TOLD FROM A PRECOCIOUS CHILD'S POINT OF VIEW, CHIGER CHRONICLES LONG, DARK HOURS SPENT IN SILENCE WITH HER YOUNGER BROTHER, PAWEL, IN MAKESHIFT BUNKERS AND BEHIND FALSE WALLS WHILE THEIR PARENTS WORKED MENIAL JOBS FOR MEAGER RATIONS. CHIGER'S SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CYPHER POSSESSES A SELF-AWARENESS THAT SPRINGS FROM HER INNER AND OUTER TURMOIL, CAPTURING WELL THE DESPAIR AND TERROR OF A LIFE IN HIDING. AFTER THE CHIGERS ARE FORCED INTO THE UNDERGROUND SEWER SYSTEM, WITH A COLLECTION OF STRANGERS, BY THE LVOV GHETTO LIQUIDATION IN MAY 1943, THE FAMILY SPENDS FOURTEEN MONTHS IN THE MOST UNSANITARY CONDITIONS IMAGINABLE, SHARING QUARTERS WITH RATS AND HUMAN WASTE. AMID THE SICK AND STARVING, YOUNG CHIGER CLINGS TO HOPE THROUGH MAKE BELIEVE GAMES, TRUST IN HER PARENTS, AND THE CATHOLIC SEWER WORKER WHO PROVIDES THEIR ONLY ACCESS TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. WITH A POWERFUL STORY AND A KEEN VOICE, CHIGER'S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR'S TALE IS A WORTHY AND MEMORABLE ADDITION TO THE CANON. PHOTOS.