Alone in the Forest

Rochel Dowek Literature

Alone In The Forest

Alone in the Forest is an autobiography written by Mala Kacenberg. She describes her experiences and challenges as a young girl during the Holocaust. She divides her experiences in two sections-her home town of Tarnogrod and in the forest of Poland, and her time working in a hotel in Germany.

Mala was forced to watch terrible Nazi atrocities, including her family being rounded up. Her cat, Malach, who was at times her only companion, was a big help to her. Her courage was also a big factor in her survival. She was also constantly hungry, and at some points, didn't even have enough clothes or shoes to wear.

In Poland, after the Ghetto was rounded up, Mala was forced to live in the forest to avoid being captured by the Nazis. She had to beg from the local peasants just to get enough food to survive. Mala also needed to find a way to survive the harsh Polish winters without a home. She found 'Auntie Aniela', an old lady who thought Mala was her niece, and she stayed in her house for long stretches. Auntie Aniela also gave her lots of food, at least compared to what Mala had survived on before. I think Mala's greatest challenge was her loneliness. Except when she was begging in small farm villages, Mala's only companion in the forest was her cat, Malach. She had no one to talk to, to share her pain with. She even spoke to her cat, so as not to go crazy from the lack of companionship.

Eventually, Mala decided to report to the Labor Exchange in Germany. Although she had no papers, it was her only chance of survival. She joined a group of Polish girls, and was delighted when the Perlmutts chose her to work in their hotel. Life in Germany was no picnic, even compared to living alone in the forest. Mala, an intelligent girl who spoke a fluent German, was forced to act like a simple, uneducated, Polish peasant girl, not even understanding the simplest commands issued in German. This, I think was by far the worst challenge in Germany. She also tried not to eat treif, until one day the workers noticed and started discussing her strange eating habits. Thru nissim, Mala's mother came to her in a dream and told her what was going on, at which point she started eating everything served to her. Mala's not receiving any mail also aroused suspicion among the others. They wondered why her family didn't keep in touch. First, Mala wrote to a Christian family in Poland whose mother was deported to a concentration camp. She pretended to be the mother, and was writing to her "husband" and "children", who believed she was really theirs. When that trick was nearly discovered, Mala quickly broke off contact with the family. However she still needed to get mail. Mala was forced