Book review: A haunting testimony to survival

Home is a word which evokes a sense of security. It is where families gather for meals and conversations. It’s reading in a cozy chair, looking out on a picturesque landscape. Yet for millions of Holocaust victims, their villages became death traps, and many were literally thrown out of their homes.Deborah Levison’s parents were from Hungary and survived the Holocaust. They stayed there until the revolution in 1956. When they realized how difficult life would be under Communist rule, they fled to Austria. A relative in Canada sponsored their immigration to Toronto.Deborah’s parents struggled to establish their home in Toronto and then to bring her mother’s mother to Canada. Many Torontonians buy summer homes in country villages. When Levison’s parents bought a house near a lake, this was a sign of fulfillment. They had a home in Toronto, their children were smart and successful, and they had a calm lake retreat. Yet their tranquility was shattered on the fateful day Deborah received a phone call from her brother Peter, a successful doctor. A crate had been found wedged underneath a crawl space at their summer cottage. Inside the crate were the dismembered and decomposed remains of a woman.
In The Crate: A Story of War, a Murder, and Justice, Deborah Levison weaves a riveting story of survivors who thought that they had left suffering behind in Europe yet encountered shocking violence at the peaceful retreat they established in Ontario. The story flows between her parents’ fraught lives in the ’30s and during the Shoah, and Deborah’s idyllic childhood in Toronto.As an editor, I was concerned that when Deborah discusses Holocaust education in Germany, she quotes someone who states the Shoah is taught “ad nauseum” yet in today’s Germany, with the resurgence of antisemitism, can the term “ad nauseam” ever be used? Deborah agreed that there is a rapid rise of antisemitic incidents worldwide, and that if she was writing the book now she would consider the current political climate.Deborah states that she’s sure her parents would not want to be recognized as heroes. “I think they knew it was important for people to recognize them as survivors so the lessons of the Holocaust wouldn’t be forgotten,” she says. “All my parents ever wanted was to live their quiet lives surrounded by their loved ones.”This novel is different from other Holocaust memoirs for several reasons. First, it is told by a daughter of survivors. Also, it moves between present day events and the past. And of course, the third striking difference is that it tells of a crime that threatened, like the Shoah, to pull the family from their established home.In my second business as a home organizer, I urge clients only to keep books which are meaningful and relevant. The Crate is one such book. It should be used as a text in high school and university literature courses.It seems as if the message of this novel is that physical security is an illusion. A quiet home in placid country surroundings can be rocked by violence or a demonic act. Deborah shows that true safety comes from family members who care for each other.The Crate is a shining example of the power of faith and tenacity. Albert Camus said: “For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” This sentence is from his famous quote which begins: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” Deborah shows that her parents pushed back evil and brought light into their world, and through courage and perseverance, created an invincible summer for their family.As some of us head into winter – the darkest, coldest time of the year – I strongly recommend reading this exquisite yet haunting and memorable work, a testimony to survival. Lauren Adilev runs Turn Write This Way, a boutique content agency. She creates biographies, bio-cookbooks and marketing materials. Her emphasis is on money, memories and momentum