Aharon Appelfeld

Aharon Appelfeld

Aharon Appelfeld (Ervin Appelfeld) was born on February 16th, 1932. Aharon passed away January 4th, 2018 at 85 years old. Aharon Appelfeld was born in Bukovina, Romania. Appelfeld attended The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Aharon Appelfeld was an Israeli novelist and Holocaust survivor.

After escaping from a forced labor camp, he joined the Soviet Army as a cook.

After World War II ended, he spent several months in a displaced persons camp in Italy before eventually immigrating to Palestine in 1946, just two years before Israel’s independence.

It wasn’t until 1960 that he reunited with his father. They had been separated during the Holocaust, and both assumed the other had been murdered. After the war, they each made their way to Israel independently. Their reunion was so emotional that Aharon was never able to write about it.

In Israel, Aharon made up for his lack of formal education, learning Hebrew, which became the language he wrote in. His first literary efforts were short stories, but he gradually transitioned to novels. He completed his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Unlike many Holocaust survivors who wrote autobiographical accounts of their experiences, Aharon's works do not offer a realistic depiction of the events. Instead, his stories can often be interpreted metaphorically. Rather than telling his personal story directly, he would evoke the Holocaust indirectly, sometimes without mentioning it explicitly. His style is modernistic, yet precise and clear.

In The Story of a Life: A Memoir, Aharon shares the tale of his extraordinary survival and rebirth.

Aharon’s childhood effectively ended when he was seven years old. In 1941, the Nazis occupied Czernowitz, confining the Jews into a ghetto, and, only a few months later, sending those who hadn’t been starved or shot on a forced march to a labor camp. Aharon and his father (his mother had died during the early days of the occupation) survived. Shortly after arriving at the camp, Aharon miraculously managed to escape.

The next few years of his life were harrowing. He hid alone in the Ukrainian forests, evading peasants eager to turn Jewish children over to the Nazis. With presence of mind, Aharon passed himself off as an orphaned gentile when he emerged from the forest in search of work.

At the end of the war, he joined the flood of refugees crossing Europe, heading toward displaced persons camps set up for survivors. In these camps, Aharon witnessed both exploitation and compassion, until he eventually boarded a ship bound for Palestine.

Aharon Appelfeld: Awards & Accolades

Aharon Appelfeld was nominated for the International Booker Prize, Outstanding Achievement in Fiction, in 2013.

Related Authors

Fans of Aharon Appelfeld also enjoy these authors:

1. Stephen King, author of The Dark Tower Series.
2. Harlan Coben, author of the Myron Bolitar Series.
3. Paula Hawkins, author of: The Girl on the Train.
4. Andy Weir, author of: Project Hail Mary.
5. Sally Rooney, author of: Normal People.

Aharon Appelfeld: F.A.Q