 Human Predicament- dilemma about PAST – Memories

 World War II
 Jews were sent to Concentration Camps by Hitler (search
Auschwitz )
 Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/
 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introducti
on-to-the-holocaust
 ………

Marga Minco (pseudonym of Sara Menco;

born 31 March 1920) is a Dutch journalist and
writer. Her real surname was Menco, but an
official accidentally switched the first vowel.

Her prose also occupies a special position in Dutch

and European Shoah literature, because Minco is
one of the few Dutch Jews who were able to escape
deportation. After returning to Amsterdam and
various other locations after the liberation of the Netherlands, the
experiences and emotions she evokes in her novels and stories,
including The Address (1957) and An Empty House (1966), can be
compared to those of concentration camp survivors: social isolation,

Shoah/ˈʃəʊə/ - noun - the mass murder of Jewish people under the

German Nazi regime during the period 1941–5; the Holocaust
self-alienation amid indifferent - even hostile - surroundings, and
survivor’s guilt. And we must not forget about the fact that those who
returned were shamefully robbed as it turned out they were not
allowed to take back their possessions they had left in the care of
acquaintances.

We are introduced to Minco’s completely unique voice by her ability

to surpass this subject matter by repeatedly creating new literary
variations of the theme in a continuous effort to process the war
years.

Reading The Text!

Chink – narrow opening Fleetingly – for a short time

Musty – stale
Jamb – side post of a window,
fireplace or doorway
Lugging – carry a heavy object with
great effort
Crick – cramp or spasm in muscles
Beckoned – signalled
Endured – suffered
Hanukkah – The Feast of Lights, a
Hebrew festival in December
Midst – middle
Jingling – ringing
Enamel – an opaque or semi-transparent substance
that is a type of glass
Acquaintance – stranger or social contact
Pityingly – feeling sorrow
Reprovingly – critically
Liberation – Liberty or Freeing
Vain – hopeless
Cumbersome – unmanageable
Muggy – humid
This short story is a poignant (/ˈpɔɪnjənt/) account of a
daughter who goes in search of her mother’s belongings after
the War, in Holland. When she finds them, the objects evoke
memories of her earlier life. However, she decides to leave
them all behind and resolves to move on.

 The dehumanizing effect of the war in human lives

 The Greed and ‘selfishness of people during the crisis of others
(2021 as well)


Characters

1. The narrator – Marga Minco

2. Mrs. S – Mother of the narrator

3. Mrs. Dorling– an acquaintance of the narrator’s

mother

4. A girl of 15 – Mrs. Dorling’s Daughter

Summary

After ringing the bell of House Number 46 in Marconi Street, a woman

opened the door. On being introduced, the woman kept staring at her
in silence. There was no sign of recognition on her face. The woman
was wearing her mother’s green knitted cardigan.

The narrator could understand that she had made no mistake. She
asked the woman whether she knew her mother. The woman could
not deny this. The narrator wanted to talk to her for some time. But
the woman cautiously closed the door. The narrator stopped there for
some time and then left the place. In the subsequent sections, the
memories of the narrator’s bygone days come to light. Her mother
had provided the address years ago during the war. She went home
for few days. She could find that various things were missing. At that
time her mother told her about Mrs. Dorling. She happened to be an
old acquaintance of the narrator’s mother.

Lately, she had renewed contact with her and had been coming there
regularly. Every time she left their house she took something home
with her. She told that she wanted to save all their nice possessions.
The next day the narrator saw Mrs. Dorling going out of their house
with a heavy suitcase. She had a fleeting glimpse of Mrs. Dorling’s face.
She asked her mother whether the woman lived far away. At that time
the narrator’s mother told about the address: Number 46, Marconi
Street. After many days after the war, the narrator was curious to take
a record of the possessions that must still be at Number 46, Marconi
Street. With this intention, she went to the given address.

The concluding part of the story describes the second visit of the
narrator. As the narrator’s first visit yielded no result so she planned
to go once again. Interestingly, a girl of fifteen opened the door to her.
Her mother was not at home. The narrator expressed her wish to wait
for her. The girl accompanied her to the passage. The narrator saw an
old fashioned iron candle holder hanging next to a mirror. The girl
made her sit in the living room and went inside. The narrator was
horrified to find herself in a room she knew and did not know. She
found herself in the midst of familiar things which she longed to see
again but which troubled her in the strange atmosphere. She had no
courage to look around her. But she no longer had the desire to
possess them. She got up, walked to the door, and left the room. She
resolved to forget the address and moved on.