cover image The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust

The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust

Noam Chayut, trans. from the Hebrew by Tal Haran. Verso (Norton, dist.), $24.95 (256) ISBN 978-1-78168-088-9

In this shattering memoir, former Israeli army officer Chayut details his long, painful journey of self-realization. Raised in a town where the commemoration of the Holocaust and its perpetrators is continually stressed, Chayut was eager to perform his compulsory military service. As a soldier, he was certain that he belonged "to the most moral army in the world." A chance encounter with a terrified 10 year-old Palestinian girl planted the seed that eventually forced Chayut to face the fact that "For that girl, I embodied absolute evil." Slowly he realized that, while he had thought of himself as a noble warrior, he was himself guilty of a thousand petty, sadistic acts; pointless humiliations intended to keep a subject people in their place. Chayut is now active in "Breaking the Silence", a group of former soldiers who testify about their misdeeds in the occupation of Palestine. And though he is Israeli, he must be understood as the universal soldier: trained to obey, numbed by experience, taking out his frustrations on those who can't fight back. Chayut could be any one of us, anywhere; if only we all had the courage to face ourselves so unflinchingly. (June)