At TOI event, bestselling authors present true stories of women of valor

Through the lenses of fiction and creative nonfiction, authors Anne-Marie O’Connor and Ora Ahimeir examine the stoicism of women as they carry out their stories of survival.

“The suffering of women during genocide is a somewhat subdued topic,” Ahimeir said at a Times of Israel Presents event on Monday night at Jerusalem’s Tower of David Museum. “It came to the attention of Holocaust researchers quite late, how the suffering of women differed from men during the Holocaust, what they went through.”

Israeli author Ahimeir wasn’t only referring to the Holocaust, but also the Armenian Genocide, the subject of her new book, “Araratim.”

“For years growing up in Jerusalem I would see Armenian women with tattoos on their faces, and I thought it was just ornamental,” she said. “Only much later, after seeing a documentary called ‘Grandma’s Tattoos’ did I realize that it was a sign of possession and enslavement from the genocide. Even survivors would be forced to see the mark on their faces every day when they looked into the mirror.”

The true story of O’Connor’s book, “The Lady in Gold,” involves the uphill legal battle faced by Maria Altmann. Altmann, who fled to the US after the Nazi invasion of her native Austria, attempted to recover several priceless Gustav Klimt paintings held by the Austrian government, which she claimed were stolen from her family during World War II. Notable among them was the legendary portrait of Maria’s aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, with whom Klimt was rumored to have had a relationship.

O’Connor, a longtime journalist for Reuters and the Los Angeles Times, among other outlets, published “The Lady in Gold” in 2012. The book became an immediate bestseller. Using court records and other documents, the story was made into a 2015 movie starring Helen Mirren.

However, during the course of O’Connor’s research, she was forced to discover seldom-spoken truths that were difficult to accept.

In fact, many of the witnesses helping her chronicle chaotic and murky events that took place during the Holocaust seemed unable to admit parts of what befell them or their families.

O’Connor occasionally found omissions in testimony, even while verifying stories. The author understood the need to massage some of the more difficult or incriminating events, even as she worked to uncover them.

“We all know how it feels, we all come from families,” she said.

Ahimeir has also seen her first work welcomed to great acclaim. Ahimeir began fiction writing at the age of 70, and her first book, “Bride,” was immediately embraced by critics. The story is a fictionalized account of an intriguing family saga involving the murder of her mother’s first husband.

Prior to writing “Bride,” Ahimeir was a widely-respected writer, researcher and diplomat who helped establish the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, which she directed for 31 years.

She described the transition to fiction writing as incredibly liberating, as was the act of discovering who her characters really were – an often flawed and imperfect bunch despite her ability to idealize them.

“Sometimes I was myself amazed where they had taken me, and where we would go from there,” Ahimeir said, “almost like fiction was taking you to the truth.

“And sometimes you get angry at them for leading you places where you didn’t want to go. Through their actions, their character is revealed.”

Downplaying her own massive success, she asked O’Connor what it felt like to be a global bestseller.

“You slave away on a book for five years and you emerge from it unsure of what’s going to happen,” O’Connor said. “It was really nice that I got this reception because it meant that I could share the book with other people in the world, and when you invest all this time on a story, you want to share it with as many people as possible.”

O’Connor regaled the audience with an only-in-Israel tale.

“I was even here on tour in Ranaana and a woman came over and said, ‘You have to talk to this lady, she is on page 178 of your book!’ I ended up having lunch with her in Haifa and it was just an absolutely amazing experience,” said O’Connor.

Check out this upcoming Times of Israel Presents event

Sunday, May 28: MICHAEL OREN
8 p.m. Hirsch Theater, Beit Shmuel,
6 Eliyahu Shama Street, Jerusalem
Advance Tickets NIS 50 HERE
(NIS 60 at door, cash only)
In association with Nefesh B’Nefesh

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