By Catherine Ehrlich

January 20 at 6:30 pm (PST) on Zoom

Synopsis from Jewish Book Council:

Gold­en-haired Irma grew up in Impe­r­i­al Aus­tria believ­ing that wars and prej­u­dice were fad­ing, only to have her life upend­ed and her iden­ti­ty chal­lenged to the core by two world wars.

His­to­ry con­fronts Irma time and again. Arch-Nazi Adolf Eich­mann plays a twist­ed role in the fate of her promi­nent Jew­ish politi­cian hus­band, Jakob Ehrlich, and her own escape from Vien­na. After arriv­ing with her son first in Lon­don and then in New York, Irma encoun­ters a daz­zling world of pow­er elites, includ­ing Chaim Weiz­mann (the first pres­i­dent of Israel), British par­lia­men­tar­i­ans, and oth­er renowned fig­ures who engage her in bring­ing relief to refugees.

Nar­rat­ed alter­nate­ly by Irma’s grand­daugh­ter, Cather­ine, and Irma her­self, this account of Irma’s jour­ney from Czech coun­try girl to grande dame in New York is a riv­et­ing, inti­mate tale of aspi­ra­tion, activism, and world-chang­ing nation­al move­ments. Part per­son­al mem­oir, part his­tor­i­cal dra­ma, Irma’s Pass­port is ulti­mate­ly a trib­ute to human dig­ni­ty, a sto­ry in which one woman can restore the lives of many and courage is a vic­to­ry in itself.

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