Malka May

Malka Mai is a youth novel by Mirjam Pressler .

overview

The book Malka Mai tells the story of a Jewish girl, her mother and her older sister in World War II . In the novel, the author portrays the fear, suffering and often also the extinguished hope of a Jewish family.

The novel is based on the memories of the real Malka Mai, who emigrated to Israel with her family at the time . Malka Mai was published in 2001 by Beltz & Gelberg Verlag, the new edition was published in 2004 in Weinheim / Basel.

The novel has been translated into French, Spanish, Hungarian, English, Italian and Dutch. In addition, an audio book was published , read by Eva Gosciejewicz (director: Ursula Honisch) in Munich's Der Hörverlag 2005 Malka Mai is often used as reading material in secondary schools in grades 6–10 and included in the lessons.

content

In September 1943, the Jewish doctor Hanna Mai lived with her two daughters, 16-year-old Minna and 7-year-old Malka, in Lawoczne, a town in German- occupied Poland near the Hungarian border. Hanna Mai feels safe for a long time because of her job as a doctor, until she realizes that the Germans could also be a danger to her and especially to her daughters. At the last minute she flees with them to Hungary. But already in Pilipiec Malka fell ill with a high fever and Hanna decided with a heavy heart to leave Malka with the miller Kopolowici. In Munkatsch Kopolowici would then bring Malka to Hanna and Minna. But for fear of being suspected and deported by Germans, Kopolowici puts Malka on the street. There the Polish gendarme Zygmunt saves them from deportation and brings them to his wife Teresa. Teresa is the last ray of hope for Malka in this gray time.

But the Germans would put Malka in danger for Teresa's youngest son Antek, who has a disability and is therefore threatened by the Nazis' euthanasia program . Malka is to Ghetto of Skole brought (then in occupied Poland). After an action by the Germans, she lived with a nice, older woman for a short time. However, she has to leave soon, otherwise she could be discovered by the Germans. In the ghetto, she survives hunger and cold and distances herself from her mother. However, after a very severe and cold winter, Malka falls ill and gets on a train in a feverish state, is then discovered by Germans and taken to a Jewish hospital, where it is discovered that Malka has typhus . In the Jewish hospital she is fine after a while, she gets warm food and has a roof over her head.

When Hanna and Minna Mai arrive in Munkatsch with a group of refugees, they notice that Malka has never arrived and will never arrive in Munkatsch. So Hanna decides to look for Malka. Hanna goes the long way back to Lawoczne to meet Teresa there. Babka Angeta, Teresa's mother travels to Hungary and brings Malka to her mother. But the reunion in March 1944 fails because Malka rejects her mother and only wants to see Teresa.

Awards

Malka Mai got on the best list for children's and youth literature Die Beste 7 , got the lynx in 2001 and got into the best list of Radio Bremen. Mirjam Pressler's novel was also awarded the Owl of the Month in May 2001 , the German Book Prize 2002 , the Catholic children's and youth novel 2002 and the Zurich Youth Book Prize La vache qui lit 2001 and was nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize 2002.

Reviews

• Véronique Thiel writes on the website of the University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Institute for Information Sciences, among other things: “Overall, the text is written simply and easily understandable .... With Malka Mai, the author has succeeded in describing a child's fate in World War II that gets under your skin. Even the happy ending cannot hide the cruelty of the experience. Malka was grown up way ahead of time. "
• Christine Tresch writes at the Swiss Institute for Children's and Youth Media : “Mirjam Pressler tells the truth about her life. She does this alternately from the perspective of Malka and her mother, thus revealing the abysses that opened up between the two during their separation. A moving book about a girl who had to drive out childhood in order to survive. "

Web links

• Some of the novel is online at Googlebooks
• Review notes on Malka Mai at perlentaucher.de
• Book review on http://www.tgannweiler.de/

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ISBN 3-407-80879-8 .
2. ↑ ISBN 3-407-78594-1 .
3. ↑ ISBN 3-89940-645-1 .
4. ↑ Reason for nomination for the German Youth Literature Prize. Retrieved February 6, 2018 . 
5. ↑ http://www.fbi.fh-koeln.de/institut/papers/rezensionsseiten/Rezensions_SS01/Pressler_Malka.htm
6. ↑ http://www.sikjm.ch/d/?/d/rezensions/datenbank/index.php?id=125&c=1&author=Mirjam%20Pressler  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was created automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.