Excerpts from a short-Story

Leandro Sarmatz

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Porto-alegrense radicado em São Paulo há quase uma década, Leandro Sarmatz é jornalista e Mestre em Letras. Depois de já ter integrado antologias coletivas, seu primeiro livro de poesias, Logocausto, lançado em 2009, foi recebido pela crítica com elogios. Agora Leandro faz sua estréia na prosa com o livro de contos UMA FOME, uma obra madura e segura, que traz relatos em que o autor enfoca, entre outros temas, a vida de judeus durante a Segunda Guerra, assim como de seus descendentes.Neto de imigrantes judeus do leste europeu que se estabeleceram no Sul do Brasil no finalzinho da década de 20, o autor conta que a cultura judaica sempre foi uma presença importante em sua formação. A mesma cultura que impregnou autores tão diferentes entre si como Kafka e Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth e Aaron Appelfeld, que fazem parte de sua formação de leitor.Dono de “uma sabedoria artística raríssima entre escritores jovens” e de “estilo sóbrio, mas jamais de mera transparência”, como declara o escritor João Gilberto Noll no texto de orelha do livro, Leandro oscila entre o humor sutil, refinado, quase cerebral e uma indissolúvel melancolia.

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Born in Porto Alegre and living in São Paulo for almost a decade, Leandro Sarmatz is a journalist and Master in Letters. After having already integrated collective anthologies, his first poetry book, Logocausto, launched in 2009, was received by critics with praise. Now Leandro makes his debut in prose with the book of short stories UMA FOME, a mature and confident work, which brings stories in which the author focuses, among other themes, on the lives of Jews during the Second World War, as well as their descendants. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who settled in southern Brazil at the end of the 1920s, the author says that Jewish culture has always been an important part of his upbringing. The same culture that permeated authors as different from each other as Kafka and Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth and Aaron Appelfeld, who form part of his reader training. of mere transparency”, as the writer João Gilberto Noll declares in the text of the ear of the book, Leandro oscillates between subtle, refined, almost cerebral humor and an indissoluble melancholy.

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“Ariel, Quixote do Holocausto”

Então alguém disse, ao ver que tais livros constituíamA minha dieta, que eu poderia ser

tomado por uma espécie

de Dom Quixote do Holocausto

…..

Morreu Zamler, que ficou conhecido—não sem alguma ironia, é custoso observar—como o “Dom Quixote do Holocausto … Deixou-se morrer. . .

Zamler – nascido em Israel de pais brasileiros que militavam no movimento sionista – ganhou notoriedade ainda quanto era um estudante de pós-graduação nos Estados Unidos que mergulhara em toda uma bibliografia do Holocausto. Anne Frank, Primo Levi, Victor Klemperer, Aharon Appelfeld, a infinidade de diários, registros e cartas que testemunham a longa noite de vida da vida judaica na Europa de Hitler. Saiu-se com uma tese a um só tempo e enciclopédia, cobrindo um vasto escopo….

Foi então que tudo começou. O primeiro artigo apareceu nas páginas de um velo jornal iídish em Nova York (desde os anos 70 editado em língua inglesa) …Assinado apenas como “Ariel”, seu autor dizia, em suma, que um novo Holocausto judaica estava em curso naqueles dias, e que era preciso denunciá-lo, antes que os primeiros comboios partissem em direção os campos de concentração. Houve quem tomasse o texto como uma peça de humor negro, outros enxergaram apenas mau-gosto, mas também houve quem, alarmado por tais predições, levasse a conversa de Ariel a sério. Todo Quixote tem seu próprio Sancho, e Phil Glukman, recém-saído de uma adolescência problemática em Little Odessa, logo iria se aproximar do autor da denúncia. Havia agora duas vozes a alardear a grande tragédia à vista.

Porém o artigo, que poderia ter ficado restrito ao gueto intelectual judaico, ganhou ressonâncias quando o repórter de um grande jornal doa cidade o descobriu algumas semanas depois durante uma visita à casa de seus pais, num subúrbio elegante. Aquilo lhe pareceu um desses achados que fazem a sorte de um jornalista, catapultando-o para degraus mais altos na carreira. Quem quer que fosse, Ariel era um personagem singular.

Valia uma entrevista… Como entrevistado, Ariel foi entrevistado, Ariel foi eloquente, inflamado e- por mais estapafúrdia que se seja a hipótese – convincente. Ele parecia realmente acreditar no que dizia, anotou o repórter, e no domingo seguinte a matéria ganhou diversas páginas do jornal. Havia ali muito da habitual comédia jornalista, que suas simplificações e atribuições errôneas, porém alguém com pouco senso de humor junto às autoridades policiais começou a monitorar os passos de Ariel…

Não foi difícil encontrá-lo. Morava no pequeno apartamento alugado nos confins do Brooklyn….

Como entrevistado, Ariel foi eloquente, articulado, inflamado e—por mais estapafúrdia q seja hipótese—convincente. Ele parecia realmente acreditar no que dizia, anotou o repórter, e no domingo seguinte matéria ganhou diversas páginas do jornal. Havia ali muito da habitual comédia jornalística, com suas simplificações e atribuições errôneas, porém alguém com pouco senso de humor junto às autoridades policiais começou a monitorar os passos de Ariel.

Durante pelo menos dois anos, antes de ser emigrar para Brasil, Ariel, percorreu boa parte do território americano a denunciar o Holocausto que estava próximo. Deixou de ser uma figura algo folclórico da comunidade judaica e passou a dar palestras, oferecer palestras, oferecer testemunhos e encabeçar enormes eventos nos mais diversos lugares. Universidades do Meio-Oeste. A sede de uma milionária igreja coreana…Era imitado por atores em programas humorísticos. Convertera-se numa personalidade.

Até que foi preciso fugar. A polícia federal não o deixara em paz…

Doente, cansado de bradar pelo novo fim do povo judeu, com a moral combalida e acreditando realmente que o Brasil, que antes recebera Zweig e outros, realmente poderia ser um porto seguro, refugiu-se na casa de seus pais. Já era tarde, contudo. Tendo desistido de se cuidar, logo seu corpo iria se ressentir disso, e Ariel Zamler, “o Quixote de Holocausto”, mergulharia em um sono sem fin. Seu pesadelo havia acabado.

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“Ariel, Quixote of the Holocaust”

Then someone said, seeing that such books constituted my diet, that I could be taken

for a type of Don Quixote

of the Holocaust.

…..

Zamler died, he who had become known—not without some irony, it is difficult to observe—as the “Don Quixote of the Holocaust… He let himself die. . .

Zamler – born in Israel to Brazilian parents who were active in the Zionist movement – gained notoriety even as a graduate student in the United States who delved into an entire bibliography of the Holocaust. Anne Frank, Primo Levi, Victor Klemperer, Aharon Appelfeld, the multitude of diaries, records and letters that testify to the long night of Jewish life in Hitler’s Europe. He came out with both a thesis and an encyclopedia, covering a vast scope….

It was then that it all started. The first article appeared on the pages of a Yiddish newspaper in New York (published in English since the 1970s) … Signed only as “Ariel”, its author said, in short, that a new Jewish Holocaust was under way in those days. days, and that it was necessary to denounce it before the first convoys left for the concentration camps. There were those who took the text as a piece of black humor, others saw it as just bad taste, but there were also those who, alarmed by such predictions, took Ariel’s conversation seriously. Every Quixote has his own Sancho, and Phil Gluckman, fresh out of a troubled teen years in Little Odessa, would soon get close to the whistleblower. There were now two voices trumpeting the great tragedy in sight.

Worth an interview…

It wasn’t difficult to find him. He lived in the small, rented apartment in the wilds of Brooklyn….

But the article, which could have been confined to the Jewish intellectual ghetto, gained resonance when a reporter for a major city newspaper discovered it a few weeks later during a visit to his parents’ home in an upscale suburb. It struck him as one of those finds that make a journalist lucky, catapulting him to higher career ladders.

Whoever he was, Ariel was a singular character. As an interviewee, Ariel was eloquent, articulate, fiery, and—as far-fetched as it may be—convincing. He seemed to really believe what he was saying, noted the reporter, and the following Sunday, the article made several pages in the newspaper. There was much of the usual journalistic comedy there, with its simplifications and misattributions, but someone with little sense of humor among the police authorities began to monitor Ariel’s steps.

For at least two years, before emigrating to Brazil, Ariel traveled through much of the American territory to denounce the Holocaust that was at hand. He ceased to be something of a folk figure in the Jewish community and started to give lectures, offer lectures, offer testimonies, and head huge events in the most diverse places. Midwest Universities. The headquarters of a millionaire Korean church… He was imitated by actors in comedy programs. He had become a personality.

Until it was necessary to escape. The federal police would not leave him alone…

Sick, tired of crying about the new end of the Jewish people, with shaky morale and truly believing that Brazil, which had previously received Zweig and others, could really be a safe haven, he took refuge. if at your parents’ house. It was too late, however. Having given up on taking care of herself, soon his body would resent it, and Ariel Zamler, “the Quixote of Holocaust”, would sink into an endless sleep. Her nightmare was over.

Translation by Stephen A. Sadow

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Livros de Leandro Sarmatz/Books by Leandro Sarmatz

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Mario Szichman (1945-2018) Novelista y periodista judío-argentino-venezolano-norteamericano/Argentine Venezuelan American Novelist and Journalist — “Los judíos de la mar dulce”/ “The Jews of the Fresh-Water Sea”– Fragmento de una parodia/Excerpt from a parody

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Mario Szichman nació en Buenos Aires en 1945, llegó a Caracas en 1967. Regresó a su ciudad natal en 1971 y, en 1975, volvió a Venezuela para quedarse por cinco años más. Se enamoró de Venezuela y su compromiso con el país estuvo vivo su muerte. En 1980, tras ganar el Premio de Literatura Ediciones del Norte de New Hampshire, Estados Unidos, por su novela A las 20:25 la señora entró en la inmortalidad, viajó a Estados Unidos, junto con su esposa Laura Corbalán. Se residenciaron en Nueva York, allí trabajó para la Associated Press y como corresponsal del periódico Tal Cual. Su obra: sus novelas históricas, seis de ellas reunidas en dos series: “La trilogía del mar dulce” formada por La verdadera crónica falsa, Los judíos del Mar Dulce y A las 20:25 la señora entró en la inmortalidad, novelas que relatan las peripecias de una familia judía que trata de reinventarse a fin de ser aceptada en la sociedad argentina y “La trilogía de la patria boba”, conformada por Los Papeles de Miranda, Las dos muertes del general Simón Bolívar y Los años de la guerra a muerte, novelas que narran las peripecias de los próceres de la independencia venezolana. Luego escribió La región vacía, sobre los atentados a las torres gemelas, cuya trama tiene como soporte una serie de crónicas que estuvo escribiendo a partir de los acontecimientos ocurridos el 9 de septiembre de 2001.

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Mario Szichman was born in Buenos Aires in 1945, arrived in Caracas in 1967. He returned to his hometown in 1971 and, in 1975, returned to Venezuela to stay for five more years. He fell in love with Venezuela and his commitment to the country was alive his death. In 1980, after winning the Northern New Hampshire Editions Literature Prize, United States, for her novel At 20:25 the lady entered immortality, traveled to the United States, along with his wife Laura Corbalán. They resided in New York, where he worked for the Associated Press and as a correspondent for the newspaper Tal Cual. Her work: her historical novels, six of them brought together in two series: “The Sweet Sea Trilogy” formed by The True False Chronicle, The Jews of the Sweet Sea and At 20:25 the lady entered into immortality, novels that relate the vicissitudes of a Jewish family that tries to reinvent itself in order to be accepted in Argentine society and “The trilogy of the silly homeland”, made up of Los Papeles de Miranda, The two deaths of General Simón Bolívar and The years of the war a death, novels that narrate the adventures of the heroes of Venezuelan independence. Then he wrote The Empty Region, about the attacks on the Twin Towers, whose plot is supported by a series of chronicles that he was writing based on the events of September 9, 2001.

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“Los judíos de la mar dulce” un fragmento

El primer día de navegación de los Pechof vieron la película titulada “Argentina. Tierra de Promisión”. La pantalla había sido dividida en cuatro partes, como un escudo de armas, y se veían trigales, vacas de perfil, barcos filmados desde abajo para que sus proas fueran vertiginosas, y una familia compuesta por madre, hijo, hija y perrito juguetón, mirando un sol radiante.

Los cuatro eran gente lindo, y alegre, y tenían la misma cara. La diferencia entre el hijo y el padre se debía al pelo pintado de gris al pelo pintado de blanco y las arrugas sonrientes en el entrecejo y en las comisuras de los labios.

En el país que habían preparado a gilada inmigrante, no había indios ni flechas envenenadas, ni selvas llenas de tigres y caimanes, ni mugre, ni casas viejas, ni Guardias Blancas, ni miserables, petisos, gordos, pájaros , of antisemitismo. Ese mundo tenía la tersura satinada de las páginas de “El Hogar”, la guita crecía en los árboles, y los inmigrantes se hacían domadores extraordinarios, ante los ojos primero burlones y luego asombrados de criollos que los invitaban a tomar un matecito con “Venga, paisano, se lo ha ganado en buena ley”. Todos subían en el escalafón y con el pasado borrado por la falta de antecedentes, un soldado se convertía en mariscal, lo albañiles en inyenieri y las punguitas en ladrones de guante blanco. En esa Argentina imaginaría la gente que hablaba de tú, los burros se llaman jumentos. Los limosas eran óbolos, los pobres usaban ropas remendadas pero pulcras, los grandes hombres nacían en humilde cuna, los padres se la pasan llevando a sus hijos a los desfiles para emocionarse al paso de los granaderos, nuestro amigo el policía se dedicaba a cruzar viejecitas, los niños hablaban en difícil, los sociedades de los fifís eran beneméritas instituciones, las distinguidas damas guardaban cama, los torneos de canasta tenían siempre lúcidos contornos y la gente se moría de mentira.

***

Los Pechof viajaron primero hacia el puro desierto amarillo y reconstruyeron el rompecabezas de un pasado del que querían adueñarse para liquidar el desarraigo. Se pusieron en la línea de partida del año mil ochocientos diez y salieron por devorarse los años que los separaron de los goim, de sus pitos intactos, de su genealogía perpetuada en retratos de óleo de Pueyrredón, Pellegrini o Morel; de sus generaciones de parientes generales, jueces o diputados, de sus abuelas duras, de facciones angulosas que se enfrentan a las hordas unitarios o federales, de ese idioma que ya había sido manoseado por antepasados en cuarta o quinta generación, y les había sido donado junto con los gestos tranquilos y despectivos del que se siente dueño del poder, tratando de añadir a esa casta de tipos grandotes, corajudos, vergalargas, que extendían las fronteras, o se la pasaban bien en París de pura joda, ya victoriosos, ya desplazados, pero siempre dueños de su tierra; el tímido recuerdo de un bisabuelo que se perdía en la memoria apenas subía a un barco para irse a Palestina llevando como único tesoro, unos tfilin escritos por un discípulo de Rashi, y unos antepasados de barba larga, trencitas en los sienes, shlapques redondo y nariz ganchuda, que buscaban con desesperación cualquier tipo de barba rubia y ojos azules para convertirlo en el meyiaj (meísas).

Tuvieron que apoderarse de una historia ajena, llena de mainzes raros. Los héroes se achicaban cuando terminaba la guerra de independencia y se convertían en caudillos sedientos de sangre. Los ejércitos libertadores que habían mezclado su banderas en la lucha contra el godo, recogían sus trofeos y sus muertos, y se iban a sus países a formar montoneras anárquicas. La gloria era reemplazada por la ambición y el renunciamiento por apetitos inconfesables. Los guerreros redujeron sus estatura y arruinaron sus perfiles, bajándose del caballo donde inmortalizaban sus proclamas y cubriéndose de barbas amenazantes. Hasta el tiempo se modificaba, y el cruce de los Andes ocupaba en los libros de historia el mismo espacio que el gobierno de Rosas.

Los Pechof tomaron partido por el bando de los vencedores y siguieron la línea Mayo-Caseros, terminando hechos unos antiperonistas que invitaban al almirante Rojas a las fiestas de la Daia.

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[1} Rîo de la Plata

[2] Dictador of Argentina, por 17 años..

[3] In Argentine political history: the Revolution of May, 1810 and the Battle of Caseros in 1853, when Rosas was defeated inaugurated the modern Argentine nation, according to the conservative and neo-liberal point of view. That is not accepted by the popular sectors.

[4] Almirante Rojas, vice-presidente de la golpe militar que derrocô a Perón en 1955 a el más sangriante de los que intervinieron of the military coup, autor de muchos fusilamientos de peronistas.

[5] Daia, el liderazgo de la comunidad judîa que se juntó con los anti-peronistas that en aquel entoincs. Dicho con ironîa para señalar el “ambiente” de la novela–esos judîos imigrantes como los Petchof que quería sre–medio cristiano y asimilado, igual a otros argentinos y aceptados por los que mandan.

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“The Jews of the Fresh-Water Sea” (1)

fragmento

The first day on board, the Pechoff family saw the movie, “Argentina. Promised Land.” The screen had been divided in four parts, like a coat of arms, and showed wheat fields, cows in profile, ships filled from below so that their prow were dizzying and a family composed to mother, son, daughter and playful little dog, looking a radiant sun.

The four were good happy people, and they the same face. The difference between the son and the father depended on the hair dyed grey or hair dyed white and the smiling wrinkles on the forehead and the corners of the lips.

In the country that had provided the easily-fooled immigrant, there were no Indians or poisoned arrows, or jungles full of tigers and crocodiles or filth or miserable people o small guys, fat guys or anti-Semitism. That world had the satiny smoothness of the pages of the middle-class “Home Journal,” the dough grew on trees, and the immigrants became excellent buckaroos, before the eyes of the at first scoffing and then amazed eyes of the locals who invited them later on to try to take a bit of mate with a “Come on over, “paisano,” my friend, you’ve truly earned it.” Everyone rose in social standing and with the past erased along with its lack of precedents , a soldier became a marshal, the bricklayers in “inyenieri,” engineers and, the pickpockets in white gloved criminals. In the imaginary Argentina, people spoke to “you, friend,” the burros are called donkeys. The alms were donations, the poor wore mended but beautiful clothing, the great men were born in humble cradles, the fathers spent their time bringing their children to parades to excite them with the passing of grenadiers, our friend the policeman dedicated themselves to helping little old ladies cross the street, the children spoke with tricky words, the societies of filthy rich were meritorious institutions, the distinguished ladies kept to bed, the canasta tournaments were always fairly played, and the peopled died of lying.

***

The Pechofs traveled first toward the pure yellow desert and reconstructed the jigsaw puzzle of a past of which they wanted to take hold of to sort out their position in it. The aligned themselves with the party of 1810 and set out to devour the years that separated them from the goyim, from their intact pricks, of their genealogy of oil portraits of Pueyrredón, Pellegrini or Morel, of generations of relatives who were generals, judges or deputies, of their tough grandmothers, of angular features that confront the Unitarian or Federalist hordes,[1]of that language that had been embellished by ancestors of the fourth or fifth generation, which they had been given together with serene and derogatory gestures of those who feel to be the owners of power, trying to add to this caste of huge, valiant, big-dicked, who extended the frontiers or who enjoyed themselves in Paris, partying all the time, already victorious, already supplanted, but always owners of their land; the timid recollection of a great-grandfather that was being lost in memory as soon as they went on to a ship to go to Palestine, carrying as his only treasure, son “tefillim” phylacteries written by a disciple of Rashi, and some ancestors with long beards, little curls on their temples, rounded black hats and very hooked noses, who desperately looked for any sort of blond beard and blue eyes to convert him into “meyiah,” the Messiah.

They had to take on a foreign history, full of “metzias,” strange stories. The heroes shrank when the War of Independence ended and they became blood-thirsty caudillos. The armies of liberation that had mixed their flags during the fight against the Spanish, collected their trophies and their dead and went on to form anarchical gangs. Glory was replaced by ambition and sacrifice for uncontrollable appetites. The warriors reduced their stature and ruined their profiles, dismounting their horses where they immortalized their proclamations and covering themselves with threatening beards. Even time was modified, the crossing of the Andes occupied in the history books the same space as the government of Rosas.[2]

The Pechofs took the side of the winners and followed the line Mayo-Caseres,[3] ending up as anti-Peronists who invited Admiral Rojas[4] to the parties hosted by the DAIA.[5]

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[1} Rîo de la Plata

[2] Dictator of Argentina, for 17 years.

[4] Admiral Rojas, vice-president of the military coup that overthrew Perôn in 1955 and the most bloody of the military who intervened also author of the execution of many Peronists

[5] DAIA, the official Jewish Community leadership that joined the anti-Peronsit forces at that time. Said with irony to signal the “atmosphere” of the novel—those immigrant Jews like the Pechofs wanted to be—half Christian and assimilated, equal to other Argentines,accepted by those who lead.

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