Crying in the Archives - Daniela Torsh

Listed as one of 10 "Must Reads" by SMH  15 June 2025

Daniela grew up in Sydney with her parents who were Holocaust survivors. Her parents decided not to tell her they had met in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia created by the Nazis for Jews, gypsies, communists and other ‘Untermenschen’ – people who were not of the superior Aryan race.

Her mother Mimi was in the camp for four years. Her father Pavel entered for a few months before the Second World War ended. They were married at the time but not to each other. They met and fell in love. Daniela was born a ‘mamzer’, a bastard child, the year after they left the hellhole they were imprisoned in. In 1958, the year her father died, Daniela, aged 11, found out she was Jewish.

When the Communists came to power in 1948 the family left that same year for Australia, the furthest they could go from Prague where Daniela was born.

About the author:

Daniela Torsh is a writer, journalist and film producer. She worked for The Australian newspaper and was a fierce advocate for girls’ education. By 1975, she had published two books, Schools Out and Good morning boys and girls. This led to her working as Executive Officer for The Australian Schools’ Commission enquiry into girls’ education, published as Girls, School and Society. Daniela went on to the Australian Film Radio and Television School, training as a film and television producer. She worked freelance in the film industry, then for the Australian Film Commission.

Crying in the Archives is her third book.

SJM Publishing 2025, paperback

Due to high demand this title is being reprinted. We expect delivery and will send out copies from 30 July 2025. If this is part of a combined order, other items will be held pending this item. Please email us on shop@sjm.com.au if you would like the shipment to be managed separately.