Autobiography of Amos Oz’s daughter divides family, shocks Israel

JERUSALEM – Amos Oz was one of the most famous writers of Israel, a humanist who used his words to seek peace in a conflict-ridden region.

So when your second daughter Galia Oz, writer and director of children’s documentaries, released her own autobiography a week ago, the opening lines were most unexpected.

“When I was a child my father would beat me, curse me and humiliate meHe wrote in Hebrew. “Even to be violent, he was creative. I crawled from inside the house to the threshold and there I threw myself outside. He told me it was garbage. These weren’t fleeting explosions or the occasional slap, but routine abuse filled with sadism. My crime was to exist, so the punishment was endless. I needed to make sure I was broke“.

Amos Oz, author of books like “My Miguel“,”A story of love and darkness“Y”Dear fans», Died of cancer in December 2018. Other relatives, including his widow, Nili, your eldest daughter, Fania Oz-Salzberger, and his son, Daniel Oz, did not hesitate to come to his defense.

“Our whole life we ​​have known a very different Amos, a warm, kind and caring man who loved his family deeply.They wrote in a joint statement that Oz-Salzberger, professor emeritus of the Haifa University Honors in Legal History and Political Thought, published in Twitter. “He gave us his heart and his soul. The vast majority of Galia’s accusations against Amos completely contradict the experiences of the three of us; our memories are full of love“.

This dramatic family story continues in Israeli media and social media, where some literary references have been made to the scathing opening sentence of Leo Tolstoy in “Ana Karenina“:”All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is in its own way“.

Through its publishing house, Kinneret, Nightmare, Dvir, Galia Oz He refused to grant the interview we requested. His sister, Oz-Salzberger, did not want to be interviewed.

Galia Oz he broke off contact with his parents and siblings seven years ago and did not even attend his father’s funeral. According to relatives, her father never stopped looking for the origin of her trauma or trying to restore contact with her. “Galia’s pain is palpable and overwhelming“, They wrote in the family statement,”But our memories are different The difference is incredible“.

The title of the recently published book, “Something disguised as love“(Something disguised as love) evokes that of her father’s autobiography,”A story of love and darkness», Published in Hebrew in 2002, in which he explores a childhood marked by tragedy, including the suicide of his mother at the age of 12.

Galia Oz, in interviews with the Hebrew media for the publication of his book, he also used the adjective “dismalTo describe his childhood. In a conversation with CanIsraeli Public Radio on February 23 said: “I was born into a world governed by a very violent and tyrannical culture and norms. We get used to immediately removing expressions of violence, frightening tactics, or anything that would have terrified us, almost in real time. If there was a bruise he would hide it with a longer sleeve“.

In a promotional video for a TV interview to air on Israel’s Channel 12 this weekend, it reads: “It’s not about two sides“, And adds about the advertisement:”It was harder to keep quiet“.

In his book, Galia Oz writes that the abuse began when the family lived in the kibutz Hulda, a collective farm in the central region of Israel which Amos Oz He moved when he was a teenager and where he also met his wife and they started raising their children. According to the rules of kibutz At that time, children slept separately from their parents, in children’s longhouses, and visited their parents for a few hours during the day.

“But even it was too much“, wrote Galia Oz. “‘This is not your house’, they told me. “Now go to the children’s house. The neglect I suffered was even worse than usual given the already problematic sleep structure in the common rooms“.

A representative of Kinneret, Nightmare, Dvir indicated that the decision to publish the book now was Galia OzWell, she showed them the manuscript. At the moment, they do not plan to translate it into English or other languages.

In a message from Facebook, his brother, Daniel Oz, asked that the voice of Galia Oz like his family. “My father was not an angel, just a human being. But she was the best person I have ever had the privilege of meeting.“, wrote.

Unlike her older sister Oz-Salzberger and from him he added: “Our sister Galia remembers having experienced a rigorous and aggressive upbringing from our father. I’m sure – rather, I know – that there is some truth to his words. This should not be ignored. But don’t ignore us either. We also have a voice, and our voice comes from the depths of our soul“.

Amos Oz has long been considered a giant of modern Hebrew literature. He began writing when he was still in his twenties and has published over ten novels, as well as collections of short fiction, non-fiction, and numerous essays.

Idealist at heart, he changed his original surname, Klausner, for Oz, which in Hebrew means courage, when he traded his life in the suffocating parental home in Jerusalem for a kibbutz. Some of his novels presented the pioneering figures of the socialist movement of the kibutz. His works have been translated into more than 35 languages.

The book of Galia Oz disrupted the Israeli literary world and eclipsed his father’s legacy, just as a new social consciousness brought down fragmentary cultural figures in United States, France and other places in the world. The same Galia Oz refers to movement #Me too in this statement: “Houses like the one I grew up in for some reason float in space, beyond the reach of social workers, outside the sphere of influence of revolutions like the movement. Me too, without leaving a trace on social networks“.

The first effects were intense. Oz-Salzberger She wrote that some critics called her evil, manipulative, liar and Nazi aid on social media. Right-wing Israelis flaunted an event that they believe unmasks a liberal left-wing hero. The family also received expressions of solidarity.

In another vehement post on Facebook, the son of Oz-Salzberger, Dean Maccabbi Salzberger, wrote: “In conclusion, I have only one ingenious answer to this situation. If there is any kind of estrangement in the family, complicated relationships, or long-standing resentments for whatever reason, do your best to make it right. I don’t know how they’re arranged for you, you know that. (Every family is different. Yes, yes, even happy families)“.

(C) The New York Times.

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