Ida Fink ( he, אידה פינק, 1 November 1921 – 27 September 2011) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

-born

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i author who wrote about

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Biography

Ida Fink was born as Ida Landau in Zbaraż,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(now

Zbarazh Zbarazh ( uk, Збараж, pl, Zbaraż, yi, זבאריזש, Zbarizh) is a city in Ternopil Raion of Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the historic region of Galicia. Zbarazh hosts the administration of Zbarazh ur ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) on 1 November 1921 to a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

family. Her father, Ludwig Landau, was a physician and her mother, Fannie Landau, worked as a teacher in a local school. She was a student of music at the Lwów Conservatory, but her studies were halted by the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Landau and her family spent 1941–1942 in the Zbaraż

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

, before escaping, along with her sister, with the help of

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

papers. During those two years her mother also died of cancer. After the Holocaust, Landau married Bruno Fink and had a daughter, Miri Fink. In 1957, Fink and her family immigrated to

. They settled in

Holon Holon ( he, חוֹלוֹן ) is a city on the central coastal strip of Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the metropolitan Gush Dan area. In it had a population of . Holon has the second-largest industrial zone in Israel, after Haifa. ...

, where she worked as a music librarian and an interviewer for

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

. In 1958, she began publishing short stories in Polish-language press. In her final years, she resided in

Ramat Aviv Ramat Aviv Alef or Ramat Aviv HaYeruka, and originally plainly Ramat Aviv ( he, רָמַת אָבִיב, ''lit.'' Spring Heights), is a neighborhood in northwest Tel Aviv, Israel. History Ramat Aviv was founded in 1950s following the great inf ...

, a neighborhood of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Literary career

Fink began publishing her short studies in 1958 but published her first anthology only in 1987. She wrote in Polish, primarily on Holocaust themes. Her stories revolve around the terrible choices that the Jews had to make during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

era and the hardships of Holocaust survivors after the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. Her short stories appeared twice on the Polish Matriculation Exam,

Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

Films

A documentary about Ida Fink, ''The Garden that Floated Away'', was produced by Israeli filmmaker Ruth Walk. The 2008 film ''

Spring 1941 ''Spring 1941'' (also titled ''Aviv 41'') is a 2008 Polish-Israeli war drama film directed by Uri Barbash and starring Joseph Fiennes, Neve McIntosh and Kelly Harrison. It is based on the short stories "A Conversation" and "A Spring Morning" by ...

'', directed by

Uri Barbash Uri Barbash ( Hebrew: אורי ברבש; born 24 December 1946) is an Israeli film director. He directed the film "Beyond the Walls" (1984 film) written by his brother Benny Barbash and Eran Preis. the film was nominated for the Academy Award f ...

, was based on her book ''Wiosna 1941''.

Awards

In 2008, Fink was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for literature.Israel Prize for Literature awarded to Ida Fink, Tuvya Ruebner and Nili Mirsky - Haaretz - Israel News
/ref> She has also won the

Anne Frank Prize The Anne Frank Prize was a literary award that was given out in the Netherlands in the years 1957 to 1966 by The Netherlands-America Foundation. The prize was established by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who had authored a play, ''The Dia ...

(1985), the Buchman Prize and the

Sapir Prize The Sapir Prize for Literature of Israel is a prestigious annual literary award presented for a work of literature in the Hebrew language. The prize is awarded by Mifal HaPayis (Israel's state lottery), and is a part of the organization's cultural ...

Published work

* ''The Key Game'' (1986) * ''

A Scrap of Time and Other Stories ''A Scrap of Time and Other Stories'', written by Ida Fink, is a collection of fictional short stories relating various characters to the Jewish experience of the Holocaust. Originally written in Polish, it was translated by Madeline Levine and ...

'' (1987) * ''The Journey'' (1990) * ''Traces'' (1996)

References

External links

* Sara R. Horowitz
Biography of Ida Fink
Jewish Women's Encyclopedia
Michael A. Rauch, Ida Fink: An Appreciation, The Forward, 17 October 2011

Teaching the Holocaust through a story by Ida Fink

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Ida 1921 births 2011 deaths Polish emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israel Prize women recipients Israel Prize in literature recipients Israeli writers in Polish 20th-century Israeli women writers