Aranka Siegal

Early life

Aranka Meizlik was born to Meyer and Rise Meizlik in Beregszász, Czechoslovakia (present-day Berehove, Ukraine). Her mother's maiden surname was "Rosner", which she changed to Meizlik after her first marriage to Meyer Meizlik, and later to Davidowitz after her second marriage to Ignac Davidowitz. Siegal's father, Meyer Meizlik, died when she was nine months of age. While Siegal was still an infant, her mother remarried to Ignac Davidowitz. Siegal was the fifth child of seven children (Lili, Rózsi, Etus, Iboya, Aranka (Siegal), Sandor, and Joli; her four older sisters, herself, a younger half-brother, and a younger half-sister, respectively).

Growing up, Siegal would often spend her summers visiting her grandmother, Babi (born Fage Rosner), in Komjáti, a small farming community just across the Hungarian border in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. Most of Siegal's family were relatively conservative with their religious practices, keeping up with many of the Jewish customs and traditions. Siegal's grandmother, however, lived a strict orthodox life.

Sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, she was separated from her family and was only with her elder sister, Iboya. They were sent to work in Christiansted's kitchen and left for the walk to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In April 1945, she and her sister were liberated by Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army and taken to Sweden by the Swedish Red Cross. They immigrated to the United States in 1948.

World War II

During World War II, when Aranka was thirteen years old, she, her mother, and her siblings, Iboya, Sándor, and Joli, were forcibly moved from their home to the Beregszász brick factory, which had been turned into a ghetto to house Jews. At the time of their departure, Siegal's stepfather, Ignac Davidowitz, was serving in the Hungarian Second Army on the Russian front. Meanwhile, her older sister, Roszi, was in Komjaty with their grandmother, and her other older sister, Etus, was in Budapest. Shortly before the family's move to the ghetto, however, some of her relatives had already been taken away by the Nazis: Lilli (Siegal's older sister), Lajos (Lilli's husband), and Manci (Lilli and Lajos's baby daughter).

Soon after Siegal and her family had arrived in the ghetto, they were deported to Auschwitz. Upon their arrival on May 9, 1944, she and Iboya, were separated from the rest of the family, and they never saw them again. Eventually, the two girls were sent to another concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen.

Little more than half a year had passed since their initial arrival into Auschwitz when they were rescued by the British First Army in early 1945. By the end of World War II, only two of Siegal's immediate family remained alive: her older sisters, Iboya and Etus. Via the Swedish Red Cross, Aranka and Iboya were brought to Sweden, where they were rehabilitated and attended a makeshift school. They later worked in a factory. The two lived in Sweden for three and a half years before emigrating to the United States in 1948, when Siegal turned eighteen years old.

Life in the United States

In August 1948, Aranka and Iboya, sailed from Sweden to the United States. They were reunited with some of their family in New York, where the two sisters would begin life anew. Now in the U.S., Siegal had to master her sixth language English. In 1951, Siegal, then twenty-one years old, married her husband of late, Gilbert Siegal. Gilbert Siegal, ten years her senior, was a Harvard Law graduate and an officer of the United States Airforce during World War II.

Aranka and Gilbert Siegal resided in the New York City suburbs for most of their life together, before moving to Aventura, Florida in 2000. They

had two children, Joseph and Rissa. After their two children had gone on to college, Aranka, in her mid-forties, returned to school in pursuit of her undergraduate degree. In 1977, she received her Bachelor's degree in Social Anthropology from New York University. That same year she hosted a radio show on which she recounted her experiences in Hungary and other countries.

Recent years

Siegal has resided in Aventura, Florida since 2000. Her husband, Gilbert died in 2004. She spends much of her free time visiting schools around the country telling the story of her life and experiences during World War II. Her latest book, Memories of Babi, was published in May 2008.

Books

Upon the Head of the Goat

About the book

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1981. Siegal is the nine-year-old Piri of the narrative. The name 'Piri' comes from the Yiddish name Siegal's grandmother used to call her by, 'Perele'. During her summers visiting her grandmother, the children Siegal played with picked up on the name, but would instead say 'Piri'. Also, the title, Upon the Head of the Goat, comes from the Biblical passage, Leviticus 16, which Siegal came across while looking up the definition of "scapegoat".

Literary acclaim

Awards: Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Newbery Honor Book, American Library Association Notable Children's Books, Janusz Korczak Literary Competition, IRA Teachers' Choices, Booklist Best Books of the '80s, Booklist Editors' Choice, and Library Journal Best Books of the Year.
Recommendations: Booklist, Boston Globe, Bulletin-Center Child Books, Elementary School Library Collection, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Starred Review.

Grace in the Wilderness

About the book

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. in 1985. Siegal is the fourteen-year-old Piri of the narrative. Like her first novel, the title, Grace in the Wilderness, also comes from a Biblical passage. The title of her second novel comes from Jeremiah 31.

Summary

Fourteen-year-old Piri is a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz – Birkenau. After six months of being in the camp, she and her sister are liberated and rescued by the Swedish Red Cross. Soon after, she travels with her sister, Iboya, to Sweden where she is adopted by a Jewish-Swedish family. Soon she falls in love with David, giving herself a hard decision. Who will she choose? The love of her life, or Iboya, the sister who quided her through life? Piri contends with growing up, making decisions for the future, the loss of her family, and the memories of being in the camp. At the age of eighteen, Piri leaves her adoptive family to sail to the United States with her sister. Once in New York City, Piri and Iboya are reunited with some of the members of their family where they begin life anew.

Literary acclaim

Awards: NCSS-CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
Recommendations: Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal, and Starred Review.

Memories of Babi

About the book

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. in 2008. Aranka Siegal is the young Piri of the narrative. The nine stories in this book are inspired by Siegal's own experiences in the Ukrainian countryside with her grandmother, Babi, whom the book is titled after.

Literary acclaim

Awards: NYPL Book for Reading and Sharing, 2008 National Jewish Book Awards (Children's and Young Adult Literature Finalist), 2009 Bank Street College, Best Children's Books of the Year List, 100th Anniversary Edition, and

Sydney Taylor Honor Award
Recommendations: Booklist, Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews.