Afbeelding auteur

Vera Gissing (1928–2022)

Auteur van Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales

12+ Werken 124 Leden 2 Besprekingen

Werken van Vera Gissing

Gerelateerde werken

Folk Tales and Legends (1981) — Vertaler — 38 exemplaren
Czech Folk Tales (1993) — Vertaler — 19 exemplaren
French Fairy Tales (1970) — Vertaler — 9 exemplaren
Tales from the Arabian Nights (1981) — Vertaler — 5 exemplaren

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
Diamantová, Věra (birth name)
Geboortedatum
1928-07-04
Overlijdensdatum
2022-03-12
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
Czechoslovakia (birth)
UK
Geboorteplaats
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Plaats van overlijden
Wargrave, Berkshire, England, UK
Woonplaatsen
Celakovice, Czech Republic
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Opleiding
Prague University
Beroepen
diarist
translator
Holocaust survivor
memoirist
biographer
Relaties
Emanuel, Muriel (co-author)
Korte biografie
Vera Gissing was born Věra Diamantová to a Jewish family in Prague, and grew up in nearby Čelákovice, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic). Her parents were wine merchants. In 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded her country at the start of World War II, she was 11 years old and had had an idyllic childhood until then. She and her older sister Eva were among the Czech Jewish children rescued by British stockbroker and humanitarian Nicholas Winton by being sent on a Kindertransport train to the UK. The rest of her family died in the Holocaust. At the end of the war, she returned to Czechoslovakia, where she studied English at university and worked for the Defense Ministry. In 1948, she emigrated again to the UK. There she became a literary translator, married Michael Gissing, and raised two daughters. She would often speak about about the moral courage of her parents, the Rainford family in Liverpool who offered her sanctuary, and Nicholas Winton. Her story was depicted in the 2021 book by Czech-born writer Peter Sís called Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued. Vera wrote an autobiography, Perličky dětství (Pearls of Childhood, 1990), composed of personal memories of the pre-war and war years, as well as diary entries and letters. In 2001, she published with Muriel Emanuel the book Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good (aka Nicholas Winton and the Rescued Generation).

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Besprekingen

The author was one of the Kindertransport children, who left her native Czechoslovakia for Britain in 1939, along with her sister. There she was raised by caring foster parents and eventually went to stay in a special boarding school for Czech exiles. Most of Vera Gissing's family, including her parents, perished in the war. She returned to Czechoslovakia, but in the end decided to settle in England.

Gissing kept detailed diaries during the war and relies heavily on them for this memoir, copying many entries verbatim. She also includes photographs and letters her parents sent her. She does a very good job striking the right balance between details of her daily life in England and the constant worry and tension from back home. This is a better-than-average Holocaust memoir and a good example from the Kindertransport.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
meggyweg | 1 andere bespreking | May 19, 2010 |
Forget The Diary of Anne Frank or The Book Thief, this is my favourite beyond-a-doubt book on the subject of Jews and Nazi Germany.

It is the true story of a Czech Jewish girl who is sent to England by her parents to escape the Nazis, written by the girl herself.

It deals with the difficulties she had to overcome, such as being shipped to a country whose language she couldn't speak, sending letters to home, being split from her sister.

Needless to say I cried buckets, and books very rarely make me cry.

It may not be written particularly eloquently, but it is a book from the heart.
… (meer)
1 stem
Gemarkeerd
FrogPrincessuk | 1 andere bespreking | Sep 27, 2007 |

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Statistieken

Werken
12
Ook door
5
Leden
124
Populariteit
#161,165
Waardering
½ 4.6
Besprekingen
2
ISBNs
25
Talen
3

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