Luna

Reconstructing the life and memory of a lost Jewish woman and Holocaust survivor from Salonika

This powerful historical biography brings to light the forgotten life of Luna, a poor, uneducated Jewish woman from Thessaloniki and a survivor of Auschwitz. Through her story, the book explores the Holocaust, postwar poverty, and the complexities of memory and survival in twentieth-century Europe.

Adopting a micro-historical approach, the narrative weaves together personal testimonies, archival documents, photographs, and private memories--shedding light on those often excluded from history. Rather than recounting a known historical context, it challenges collective narratives, revealing the tensions between individual experience and official memory.

Luna's life becomes a lens through which we examine the long shadow of the Holocaust, the social dislocation of survivors, and the silences around poverty, gender, and trauma. By tracing her journey through neighborhoods, camps, and shifting societies, the book reconstructs not only a life, but an entire world that was lost during the Holocaust. More than a biography, this is an act of remembrance--an attempt to rescue one woman from historical oblivion and, in doing so, reflect on what history chooses to see, and what it leaves behind.