Cal Poly Press Publishes Sixth Book by Local Authors

A Cal Poly faculty emeritus who recently published a memoir about her escape from the Soviet Union in the late 1940s will give a presentation and sign books at Congregation Beth David in San Luis Obispo.
 

Date: Sunday, Nov. 15
Time: 3-5 p.m.
Location: Congregation Beth David, San Luis Obispo
 

Bianca Rosenthal is a former professor and chair of Cal Poly’s Modern Languages and Literatures Department. Her memoir, “From Czernowitz to the German Order of Merit,” is the sixth book published by GrCIPress, an arm of Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Institute.

Rosenthal’s memoir of cultural history and autobiography focuses on everyday life in Czernowitz, Austria, in the 1930s. She gives an eyewitness account of her childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood. Each chapter covers one year, and Rosenthal captures decisive events of the 20th century along with vignettes of daily life. After an adventurous escape from the Soviet Union, the author remained in West Germany until 1951 before emigrating to the U.S.

Czernowitz was an Austrian city until it became Cernauti, Romania, which was taken over by the Soviet Union as Tchernovtsy. It was reoccupied by Romanian and Nazi troops during the Holocaust and finally reoccupied by the Soviets to become Tchernivtsi, Ukraine. The book includes insights from a return visit to Czernowitz-Tchernivtsi in 1990.

The public is invited to meet the author, buy a copy of her book, and hear a firsthand account of her eyewitness story.Congregation Beth David is at 10180 Los Osos Valley Road.

For more information about this free event, call 805-544-0760. The book is also available at Amazon.com.