The Politzer Saga by Linda A Broenniman

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A housefire in 2011. The contents of a box that survives become the catalyst for a quest whose seeds were planted in 1983 – the day Linda Ambrus Broenniman learned that her Catholic father was Jewish and what little family history she knew was a lie.

Searching for truth, Linda pieces together the astonishing story of her Jewish ancestors — the Politzer family–their remarkable lives lost to her father’s secrets. From the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 1700s to modern day Hungary and America, she finds her family: doctors and lawyers, entrepreneurs and industrialists, writers and musicians, artists and art collectors. She learns of their resilience in surviving religious persecution, wars, epidemics, and economic upheavals. Finding her roots brings Linda a new sense of who she is and a peace that now she can honor the memories of her family.

In helping Linda find her family, András Gyekiczki wrote, “I hardly know any non-fiction sagas to better exemplify Hungarian Jewish fate of the past 300 years as this Politzer story.

Illuminating the destructive power of hatred, dehumanization, and injustice, this powerful story encompasses issues that still echo today.

The Politzer Saga is the subject of an Exhibition at the Rumbach Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary.

Year first published: 2023