The Goethe-Institut Cyprus cordially invites you to a literary evening with Elsie Slonim.
The event will take place in the exhibition hall of the Goethe-Institut in the buffer zone next to Ledra Palace on Wednesday, 29th November 2017 at 7.00 p.m.
Alfred Woschitz from Kulturverein Welt&Co in Vienna will talk with Elsie Slonim and read from her book
Ahead of Time - The First Century of My Life.
This remarkable book is the record of a long journey. It traces a life that spans a century in November 2017 and was marked by displacement, exile and personal setbacks. It shows us the helplessness of the individual against the political turmoil of a century, but also the irrepressible will to have to start over again. Elsie Slonim, born in New York in 1917, grew up in Baden near Vienna, Austria. She has witnessed two world wars, several economic crises, National Socialism, an evacuation from Cyprus to Palestine, and finally, on her return to the island, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. With the seizure of power by the National Socialists, the life of the young woman falls apart. She learned what it means to be Jewish. "I thought I was an Austrian, I was wearing a dirndl," Elsie Slonim says. Her American passport protected her from persecution all her life. In 1939, under pressure from the National Socialist tyranny, she emigrated back to the USA. Most of her family was murdered by the National Socialists. Since 1974, Elsie Slonim has been living in the middle of the military exclusion zone of the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus, the only civilian guarded by those who have taken everything from her.
The books of Elsie Slonim are a testimony to the times, a reminder and a source of strength at a time when so much that seems to have forever been the guarantor of peace and freedom in Europe is coming undone and nationalism is rising everywhere again.
The Event is a cooperation between
Verlagshaus Hernals and
Verein Welt&Co/Kulturverein in Vienna,
Austrian Embassy and
Goethe-Institut Cyprus.
© Verlagshaus Hernals
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