by Esther Hautzig

Esther Rudomin Hautzig was born in Vilna, Poland, on October 18, 1930. She was ten years old when her family had to leave their comfortable upper-middle-class home in Poland to live in Siberia by order of the Soviet government. Because they were prosperous, the authorities considered them capitalists and enemies of the state. Before writing The Endless Steppe, which recounts her experiences in Siberia, Hautzig published several other children's books, which were more or less "how to" manuals for cooking, gift-making, and room decoration. Undoubtedly she drew some of her knowledge for these books from her childhood as well, having survived those years with few or no materials for such routine activities. An inspiring tale of the survival of the human spirit, The Endless Steppe has been well regarded since its initial release.

Events in History at the Time the Autobiography Takes Place