Schoschana Rabinovici

Who is Schoschana Rabinovici?

Schoschana Rabinovici is of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage. She is a Holocaust survivor and the author of “Dank meiner Mutter", which was published in the USA in 1998 under the title Thanks to My Mother. Described as “Particularly grim, even for a Holocaust memoir”, Thanks to My Mother was described by one reviewer as “one of the most moving memoirs I have ever read of the Holocaust”. The same reviewer writes that readers whose interest include Holocaust testimonies and are “mentally prepared for the harshness of Rabinovici's experiences, will come away with renewed appreciation of the extraordinary fortitude required to survive those dire times”. The book gives a rare, detailed view of Jewish life in Vilnius, Lithuania during German occupation and contains gritty descriptions of life in the Vilnius Ghetto and the circumstances of those deported from the ghetto for slave labor in Germany. It is written from the viewpoint of a young girl from the age of about eight to twelve. Writes JWeekly.com...“It is also the story of Raja Indursky-Wexler’s profoundly transcendent love for her daughter…the daughter’s memoir is at once riveting, blood-chilling, heartbreaking and, ultimately, awe-inspiring.” The book is designated as an American Library Association notable book and is the 1999 winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award. The award seeks to recognize translations of children's books into the English language, with the intention of encouraging American publishers to translate high quality foreign language children's books.