Ibolya Grossman (December 11, 1916 – 2005) was a Hungarian-born Canadian writer.

Biography

The daughter of Ignacz Szalai and Laura Fisher, she was born Ibolya Szalai in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

. Around 1931, she joined the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

movement in Hungary; there, she met Zoltan Rechnitzer ("Zolti"), who she would later marry. In 1933, she moved to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

where her older sister lived; for several months, she worked at a thread factory. The Rechnitzer family moved to Budapest in 1936 and she married Zolti in September 1939. She became pregnant in 1941 and a son Andras (Andy) was born in July 1942. In November 1942, Zolti reported for duty as a labourer in the Hungarian army as was required for all Jewish males between the ages of 18 and 50. In May 1944, Zolti was taken to a labour camp; she never saw him again. In the meantime, she was confined to a Jewish ghetto in Budapest. In July 1944, her parents and two half-sisters were taken to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. In 1945, Grossman was liberated from the ghetto by the invading Russian army. In 1949, she attempted to escape from Hungary. She was betrayed, arrested and jailed. Her second attempt succeeded and she came to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in Canada in 1957. In 1958, she married Emil Grossman. Grossman died in Toronto from cancer.

Awards

Her memoir ''An Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times'' (1990) received a

Canadian Jewish Book Award The Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards were a Canadian program of literary awards, managed, produced and presented annually by the Koffler Centre of the Arts to works judged to be the year's best works of literature by Jewish Canadian ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Ibolya 1922 births 2005 deaths Hungarian emigrants to Canada Hungarian Holocaust survivors Nazi-era ghetto inmates 20th-century Canadian memoirists 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women memoirists