Best of
Holocaust

2016

By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz


Max Eisen - 2016
    He had an extended family of sixty members, and he lived in a family compound with his parents, his two younger brothers, his baby sister, his paternal grandparents and his uncle and aunt. In the spring of1944--five and a half years after his region had been annexed to Hungary and the morning after the family’s yearly Passover Seder--gendarmes forcibly removed Eisen and his family from their home. They were brought to a brickyard and eventually loaded onto crowded cattle cars bound for Auschwitz-Birkenau. At fifteen years of age, Eisen survived the selection process and he was inducted into the camp as a slave labourer.One day, Eisen received a terrible blow from an SS guard. Severely injured, he was dumped at the hospital where a Polish political prisoner and physician, Tadeusz Orzeszko, operated on him. Despite his significant injury, Orzeszko saved Eisen from certain death in the gas chambers by giving him a job as a cleaner in the operating room. After his liberation and new trials in Communist Czechoslovakia, Eisen immigrated to Canada in 1949, where he has dedicated the last twenty-two years of his life to educating others about the Holocaust across Canada and around the world.The author will be donating a portion of his royalties from this book to institutions promoting tolerance and understanding.

Broken Angels


Gemma Liviero - 2016
    A Jewish rebel. A little girl. Each one will fight for freedom—or die trying. Imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto, Elsi discovers her mother’s desperate attempt to end her pregnancy and comes face-to-face with the impossibility of their situation. Risking her own life, Elsi joins a resistance group to sabotage the regime.Blonde, blue-eyed Matilda is wrenched from her family in Romania and taken to Germany, where her captors attempt to mold her into the perfect Aryan child. Spirited and brave, she must inspire hope in the other stolen children to make her dreams of escape a reality.Willem, a high-ranking Nazi doctor, plans to save lives when he takes posts in both the ghetto and Auschwitz. After witnessing unimaginable cruelties, he begins to question his role and the future of those he is ordered to destroy.While Hitler ransacks Europe in pursuit of a pure German race, the lives of three broken souls—thrown together by chance—intertwine. Only love and sacrifice might make them whole again.

The One Man


Andrew Gross - 2016
    Physics professor Alfred Mendl is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The Nazis have no idea what they have just destroyed. And without that physical record, Alfred is one of only two people in the world with his particular knowledge. Knowledge that could start a war, or end it.Nathan Blum works behind a desk at an intelligence office in Washington, DC, but he longs to contribute to the war effort in a more meaningful way, and he has a particular skill set the U.S. suddenly needs. Nathan is fluent in German and Polish, he is Semitic looking, and he proved his scrappiness at a young age when he escaped from the Polish ghetto. Now, the government wants him to take on the most dangerous assignment of his life: Nathan must sneak into Auschwitz, on a mission to find and escape with one man.This historical thriller from New York Times bestseller Andrew Gross is a deeply affecting, unputdownable series of twists and turns through a landscape at times horrifyingly familiar but still completely compelling.

First One In, Last One Out: Auschwitz Survivor 31321


Marilyn Shimon - 2016
    She saw his scars, gaped at his “31321” tattoo, and listened to his horrific stories of the Holocaust. However, she could not relate to the suffering he endured or understand the significance of his accounts—until now. In this grisly memoir, Marilyn resurrects Murray Scheinberg’s stories of six hellish years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The Polish Jew was one of the first eight men to enter Auschwitz, as a political prisoner in 1940, and one of the last to escape Dachau. Rejected by a publisher in the 1960s because of its incredible details, this true story, finally available to the public, will shock, horrify, and touch readers. Abraham H. Foxman, national director emeritus at the Anti-Defamation League, says of the book: "First One In, Last One Out:Auschwitz Survivor 31321 is a harrowing tale of endurance, luck, egotism, and morality, one man's story of survival in the face of Nazi brutality and anti-Semitism. Murray Scheinberg’s memoir of survival through the Nazi Holocaust symbolizes man’s determination to live no matter the odds. But it also represents the degradation of the human spirit imposed on the Jews of Europe by the evil Nazi machine. It is both an uplifting tale and a sorry one about human nature in the face of evil.” “A magnificent telling of a moving and heartfelt story.” ––Ira Hochman, Friendly Visitors Program/Holocaust Survivors “I am moved to tears beyond what I can express. This is an exceptionally incredible story and the author's writing is extremely moving.The story is a testament of life and will teach future generations that good triumphs over evil.” ––Ruth Baran Gerold, child of Holocaust survivors "The author brilliantly wrote about her uncle's life throughout the Nazi regime. She successfully engages the reader in the emotions and drama of this horrific period.This is a must-read-page turner." ––Larry Klass, Retired Veteran-US Army "It is a powerful and compelling story that should be promoted in schools and read by all." ––Faye Kilstein, child of Auschwitz survivor

Emilia: The Darkest Days in History of Nazi Germany Through a Woman's Eyes


Ellie Midwood - 2016
    For many years after the atrocities had been committed, both sides – the abusers and the abused – still vehemently denied certain aspects of the Holocaust, and even the victims refused to admit the ugly truth about their incarceration, some out of fear, some out of shame, until several women decided to break an unofficial oath of silence, and brought their stories to life. This book is based on one of those stories. Emilia is a young Jewish woman, whose life slowly turns into a nightmare as she finds herself facing a dreadful choice: to secure her family’s very existence by offering herself to one of the men who had put her behind the walls with barbed wire, or perish together with the least fortunate ones. Only, the Krakow ghetto and her very first abuser pale in comparison to what is yet to come, as she’s being sent to a place that soon will turn into her own personal hell and that will scar her for life…

A Train Near Magdeburg: A Teacher's Journey into the Holocaust, and the Reuniting of the Survivors and Liberators, 70 years on


Matthew A. Rozell - 2016
    -From the author of 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' World War II narrative history trilogy- ~THE HOLOCAUST was a watershed event in history. In this book, Matthew Rozell reconstructs a lost chapter--the liberation of a 'death train' deep in the heart of Nazi Germany in the closing days of the World War II. Drawing on never-before published eye-witness accounts, survivor testimony and memoirs, and wartime reports and letters, Rozell brings to life the incredible true stories behind the iconic 1945 liberation photographs taken by the soldiers who were there. He weaves together a chronology of the Holocaust as it unfolds across Europe, and goes back to literally retrace the steps of the survivors and the American soldiers who freed them. Rozell's work results in joyful reunions on three continents, seven decades later. He offers his unique perspective on the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations, and the impact that one person, a teacher, can make. -Featuring testimony from 15 American liberators and over 30 Holocaust survivors -10 custom maps -73 photographs and illustrations, many never before published. 502 pages-extensive notes and bibliographical references Included: BOOK ONE-THE HOLOCAUST BOOK TWO-THE AMERICANS BOOK THREE-LIBERATION BOOK FOUR-REUNION From the book: - 'I survived because of many miracles. But for me to actually meet, shake hands, hug, and cry together with my liberators--the 'angels of life' who literally gave me back my life--was just beyond imagination.'-Leslie Meisels, Holocaust Survivor - 'Battle-hardened veterans learn to contain their emotions, but it was difficult then, and I cry now to think about it. What stamina and regenerative spirit those brave people showed!'-George C. Gross, Liberator - 'Never in our training were we taught to be humanitarians. We were taught to be soldiers.'-Frank Towers, Liberator - 'I cannot believe, today, that the world almost ignored those people and what was happening. How could we have all stood by and have let that happen? They do not owe us anything. We owe them, for what we allowed to happen to them.'-Carrol Walsh, Liberator - '[People say it] cannot happen here in this country; yes, it can happen here. I was 21 years old. I was there to see it happen.'-Luca Furnari, US Army - '[After I got home] I cried a lot. My parents couldn't understand why I couldn't sleep at times.'-Walter 'Babe' Gantz, US Army medic - 'I grew up and spent all my years being angry. This means I don't have to be angry anymore.'-Paul Arato, Holocaust Survivor - 'For the first time after going through sheer hell, I felt that there was such a thing as simple love coming from good people--young men who had left their families far behind, who wrapped us in warmth and love and cared for our well-being.'-Sara Atzmon, Holocaust Survivor - 'It's not for my sake, it's for the sake of humanity, that they will remember.'-Steve Barry, Holocaust Survivor

Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto


Tilar J. Mazzeo - 2016
    While there, she reached out to the trapped Jewish families, going from door to door and asking the parents to trust her with their young children. She started smuggling them out of the walled district, convincing her friends and neighbors to hide them. Driven to extreme measures and with the help of a network of local tradesmen, ghetto residents, and her star-crossed lover in the Jewish resistance, Irena ultimately smuggled thousands of children past the Nazis. She made dangerous trips through the city’s sewers, hid children in coffins, snuck them under overcoats at checkpoints, and slipped them through secret passages in abandoned buildings.But Irena did something even more astonishing at immense personal risk: she kept secret lists buried in bottles under an old apple tree in a friend’s back garden. On them were the names and true identities of those Jewish children, recorded with the hope that their relatives could find them after the war. She could not have known that more than ninety percent of their families would perish.

Auschwitz Lullaby


Mario Escobar - 2016
    The policemen want to haul away her gypsy husband and their five children. The police tell Helene that as a German she does not have to go with them, but she decides to share the fate of her family. After convincing her children that they are going off to a vacation place, so as to calm them, the entire family is deported to Auschwitz. For being German, they are settled in the first barracks of the Gypsy Camp. The living conditions are extremely harsh, but at least she is with her five children. A few days after their arrival, Doctor Mengele comes to pay her a visit, having noticed on her entry card that she is a nurse. He proposes that she direct the camp’s nursery. The facilities would be set up in Barrack 29 and Barrack 31, one of which would be the nursery for newborn infants and the other for children over six years old.Helene, with the help of two Polish Jewish prisoners and four gypsy mothers, organizes the buildings. Though Mengele provides them with swings, Disney movies, school supplies, and food, the people are living in crowded conditions under extreme conditions. And less than 400 yards away, two gas chambers are exterminating thousands of people daily.For sixteen months, Helene lives with this reality, desperately trying to find a way to save her children. Auschwitz Lullaby is a story of perseverance, of hope, and of strength in one of the most horrific times in history.

In the Land of Armadillos: Stories


Helen Maryles Shankman - 2016
    With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland’s towns and cities of their Jewish populations. As neighbor turns on neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland has become a moral quagmire—a place of shifting truths and blinding ambiguities.Blending folklore and fact, Helen Maryles Shankman shows us the people of Wlodawa, a remote Polish town: we meet a cold-blooded SS officer dedicated to rescuing the creator of his son’s favorite picture book, even as he helps exterminate the artist’s friends and family; a Messiah who appears in a little boy’s bedroom to announce that he is quitting; a young Jewish girl who is hidden by the town’s most outspoken anti-Semite—and his talking dog. And walking among these tales are two unforgettable figures: the enigmatic and silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, Commandant of the forced labor camp who has grand schemes to protect “his” Jews, and Soroka, the Jewish saddlemaker and his family, struggling to survive.

The Sugar Men


Ray Kingfisher - 2016
    But the memories of that childhood ordeal have proven impossible to sweep away.For most of her new life spent settled in sleepy North Carolina, the flashbacks have been a lonely obsession—one she has hidden from her family, and about which her heart is torn. Because for all the pain and the cruelty of those terrible years, she harbours sweet memories too, of unexpected friends who risked their own lives in order to save hers. As Susannah’s time on earth draws to a close, her innermost thoughts of those long-gone days become questions—ones that demand answers.Against the wishes of her children, Susannah returns to Germany and the scene of unspeakable crimes. There she will come face to face with the Holocaust’s terrible, wretched legacy, and will finally make peace with the ghosts of her past.

The Long Night: A True Story


Ernst Israel Bornstein - 2016
    But in the autumn of 1939, decades of anti-Semitic propaganda turned into full-fledged violence. Bornstein’s family was subsequently sent to Auschwitz where his parents and siblings were gassed to death.The Long Night is Bornstein’s firsthand account of what he witnessed in seven concentration camps. Written with remarkable insight and raw emotion, The Long Night paints a portrait of human psychology in the darkest of times. Bornstein tells the stories of those who did all they could do to withstand physical and psychological torture, starvation, and sickness, and openly describes those who were forced to inflict suffering on others. The narrative is simple, yet profound; unbridled, honest, and dignified.The Long Night was written shortly after the war when the author’s memories were fresh and emotions ran strong. Originally published in German in 1967 as Die Lange Nacht, this is the first English translation of this work.

Undaunted: The Tiger of Auschwitz


Garmaine Pitchon - 2016
    That is where Garmaine Pitchon was when Hitler ascended to power and unleashed a diabolical scheme to annihilate the Jewish race. Follow along as Eli Gonzalez tells Garmaine story in a vibrant, chilling, and compelling narrative. Always a rambunctious, curious girl, Garmaine found a way to not wear the yellow Star of David and got to experience more than most before Garmaine experienced loss at an epic proportion. Her entire family was murdered, beginning with her grandmother, killed in her own grocery store by a Nazi officer who forced her to make him a sandwich as she walked over her just-murdered beloved grandmother’s warm, flowing blood. Experience the horror of the 9-Day train ride to Auschwitz and become a first hand witness to when it was only Nazi’s and Jews and the veil was pulled off and absolute evil abounded. Yet, there is something about Garmaine’s story, something divine that happened. What was meant to destroy her strengthened her. What was meant to stop her lineage became a force to help desperate mothers years after. When there is a divine purpose for your life and that of your family, no one and nothing can stop it.

I Carried Them with Me: A Young Girl's Journey to Survive


Sara Lumer - 2016
    When she was 16 years old her parents sent her to Budapest, Hungary, where her two older brothers were already living. They felt she would be safer there. But in March of 1944 Germany invaded Hungary and began to round up all the Jews. Sara was sent to two different labor camps and endured two long death marches. She is a Holocaust Survivor.

The Seven Year Dress


Paulette Mahurin - 2016
    Persecution, torture, devastation, and enduring the unthinkable remained for those who lived. This is the story of one woman who lived to tell her story. This is a narrative of how a young beautiful teenager, Helen Stein, and her family were torn asunder, ultimately bringing her to Auschwitz. It was there she suffered heinous indignity at the hands of the SS. It was also there, in that death camp, she encountered compassion, selfless acts of kindness, and friendship. Written by the award-winning, best-selling author of His Name Was Ben, comes a story of the resilience of the human spirit that will leave you thinking about Helen Stein and The Seven Year Dress for years to come after the last page is shut.

The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window


Jeff Gottesfeld - 2016
     The tree in the courtyard was a horse chestnut. Her leaves were green stars; her flowers foaming cones of white and pink. Seagulls flocked to her shade. She spread roots and reached skyward in peace. The tree watched a little girl, who played and laughed and wrote in a diary. When strangers invaded the city and warplanes roared overhead, the tree watched the girl peek out of the curtained window of the annex. It watched as she and her family were taken away—and when her father returned after the war, alone. The tree died the summer Anne Frank would have turned eighty-one, but its seeds and saplings have been planted around the world as a symbol of peace.

Irena's Children: A True Story of Courage


Mary Cronk Farrell - 2016
    Irena Sendler was a young Polish woman living in Warsaw during World War II. Irena smuggled thousands of children out of the walled Jewish ghetto in toolboxes and coffins, snuck them under overcoats at checkpoints, and slipped them through the dank sewers and into secret passages that led to abandoned buildings, where she convinced her friends and underground resistance network to hide them.

Behind the Fireplace: Memoirs of a girl working in the Dutch Resistance


Andrew Scott - 2016
    The youngest daughter, Kieks, joined the Resistance, delivering illegal newspapers, guiding British parachutists around The Hague and preparing safe houses for Special Forces who were dropped in from England. As the War continued, she fell in love with a Resistance commander, and worked with him to rescue wounded colleagues, steal weapons from German arms dumps and move weapons around the country. They had a tumultuous parting and she continued her work, acting as a courier with a two hundred km bike ride to the north of Holland. When she returned home, she appreciated how much the war had changed her and her boyfriend, and prepared to try a reconciliation.She escaped a firing squad four times, and survived the war, mentally scarred by her experiences. She sought help, but the help she was offered came in a poisoned chalice, and she kept her secret to herself for almost fifty years.Her family in Holland was recognised by Yad Vashem, the Israeli organisation that records those who saved Jews from the Holocaust, and she was awarded a pension for her work in the Resistance by the Dutch foundation Stichting 1940-1945. It was only when these organisations acknowledged the truth of her claims that she had the confidence to tell her family of the events from long ago.

Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories


James Morcan - 2016
    Verolme (author of The Children's House of Belsen), aims to end the denial once and for all by tackling the bizarre phenomenon head-on.Written in close consultation with Holocaust survivors and World War Two historians, no stone is left unturned in meticulously verifying the historical facts of the genocide. The Morcans present a wide array of sources including Nazi documentation, eyewitness accounts, scientific reports and shocking photographic evidence to shut down the debate deniers wish to create.One by one, the various arguments Holocaust deniers use to try to discredit wartime records are carefully scrutinized and then systematically disproven. Theories debunked include: the six million death toll figure being an exaggeration; gas chamber exterminations being fictitious; Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich being wrongly vilified; the analysis of Holocaust records being a taboo due to specific laws in Europe criminalizing deniers; “Evil Zionists” and Israel being so powerful that they can censor history. The Holocaust is shown in this book’s pages to be one of the most well-documented and most historically and forensically-proven crimes of the 20th Century. In the process, many of the world’s most infamous deniers, including disgraced British historian David Irving and the former President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are revealed to be nothing but anti-Semites seeking to further denigrate, undermine and demoralize the world’s Jewish population. In this enlightening read that covers more than two millennia of global history, anti-Semitism is shown not only to be the root cause of every form of Holocaust denial, but also the reason for the relentless persecution of the Jews since Biblical times. The authors quote verbatim the often sickening and always baseless comments of kings, emperors, politicians, popes, bishops and muftis about the Jews and why they chose to commit numerous genocides against them over the centuries. These historical quotes prove eerily similar to the vicious anti-Semitic statements made by Holocaust deniers of this era… If you wish to learn more about WW2 and the Nazi extermination camps, if you are confused by all the convoluted conspiracy theories circulating on the Internet about the Holocaust, or if you are currently a denier yourself, then DEBUNKING HOLOCAUST DENIAL THEORIES is a must read.

My Brother's Keeper: Christians Who Risked All to Protect Jewish Targets of the Nazi Holocaust


Rod Gragg - 2016
    This unlikely group of believers, later honored by the nation of Israel as "The Righteous Among the Nations," includes ordinary teenage girls, pastors, priests, a German army officer, a former Italian fascist, an international spy, and even a princess. In one gripping profile after another, these extraordinary historical accounts offer stories of steadfast believers who together helped thousands of Jewish individuals and families to safety. Many of these everyday heroes perished alongside the very people they were trying to protect. There is no doubt that all of their stories showcase the best of humanity -- even in the face of unthinkable evil.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of World War II


Michael P. Spradlin - 2016
    And twelve-year-old Anton knows his family can't outrun them. A web of underground caves seems like the perfect place to hide. But danger lurks above the surface. Ruthless Major Karl Von Duesen of the Gestapo has made it his mission to round up every Jew in the Ukrainian countryside. Anton knows if his community is discovered, they will be sent off to work camps...or worse.When a surprise invasion catches them off guard, Anton makes a radical decision. He won't run any longer. And he won't hide. He will stop being the hunted...and start doing some hunting of his own. Michael P. Spradlin's newest thriller is the ultimate game of cat and mouse set during one of the darkest moments in history.

The Lion and the Lamb: The True Holocaust Story of a Powerful Nazi Leader and a Dutch Resistance Worker


Charles Causey - 2016
    Partnering with the Ten Boom Museum in the Netherlands, Causey spent years of meticulous research and analysis into the diaries and letters of the protagonists for biographically-rich authenticity. This stunning new moral thriller begins with a mysterious plane crash and exposes chilling secrets of the Nazi’s during the final weeks of WWII. Bestselling author Cynthia Brian calls The Lion and the Lamb “Absolutely riveting!” Suspenseful like fiction, yet all characters exist in history, their words are their own, and their actions detailed from national archives—this fast-paced narrative stands alone in a genre between biography and historical fiction. The museum director in Holland provided the foreword in English and Dutch.

Not Even a Number: Surviving Larger C - Auschwitz II - Birkenau


Edith Perl - 2016
    Rifcha and her family were living normal, happy lives. There was school, work, family dinners, outings and vacations. That was until 1938 when the first bit of turmoil started to hit their village located in the Sub-Carpathian mountains - anti-Semitism started running rampant like a disease. It began taking ahold of everyone around them. Those who were once friends now became vicious enemies. Rifcha began to realize that her world was about to crumble.On April 18, 1944, Rifcha and her family were ripped from their home and taken by gunpoint to the Mukacheve Ghetto. The conditions were harsh and virulent but the entire family was alive and together. Their stay in Mukacheve Ghetto was brief. One month later they were loaded into cattle cars and taken to Auschwitz II- Birkeneu.Selections were made as soon as the family was pulled from the train. There were no last hugs. No good-byes. As Rifcha's mother and her youngest siblings were being torn away and taken to their final death march, Rifcha's mother made her promise to take care of her sisters, to survive and to make sure she told the world of the atrocities of the Holocaust. At the gates of Auschwitz, Rifcha decided to become someone new. She gave herself a new name: Edita with the meaning: Spoils of war.Over a million people, lost their lives in Auschwitz II - Birkenau, mostly in gas chambers; today, it is the world's largest Jewish graveyard. At the height of the selections, the murders would peak at 10,000 a day. This camp was home to Dr. Josef Mengele. This was where he did all of his medical experiments. Edita fell prey to Dr. Mengele several times, even becoming victim to his knife, which ended up saving her life. When selections were being made for the eviction of Auschwitz-Birkenau II, Edita once again came in front of Mengele and he once again saved her life, but her battle wasn't over.When the Russians started nearing the concentration camps she was moved to the Flossenburg work camp. The living conditions were much better but the risks remained. It was here that she befriended the Hauptsrumfuhrer (the Commander of the camp). He ended up helping both Edita and Joli survive the next six months.In April 1945, Edita was moved again to the Terezin Ghetto. It was here she spent her time waiting for the Russian's, American's, or simply - a miracle. On May 4, 1945 that miracle happened she was Liberated.Edita's father, three brothers and one sister survived the war. They were eventually all reunited. Edita married a Russian soldier and had two daughters. When Edita made her way to America she changed her name again to Edith, meaning happy - because she was happy because despite the worse of circumstances, life goes on and she survived and now she is telling her story, just as she promised her Mother she would.

Hunting the Predator: The True Story of the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich


Jiří Šulc - 2016
    Western Europe is occupied; the Wehrmacht is closing in on Moscow. In these dark hours, a small group of exiled Czech patriots in London comes up with an audacious plan: to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, number three in the Nazi hierarchy, head of security for the Third Reich, and recently appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. Two Czech soldiers are trained by the British SOE, and just before New Year’s Eve 1942 parachuted into their occupied homeland. Operation ‘ANTHROPOID ’ has begun. Under the very noses of the Germans, the team not only manages to survive in hiding for five long months, but is able to slowly gather the information needed to develop a plan of attack. On a warm spring morning in May 1942, the ANTHROPOID team strikes. At first, it seems the attack is a failure: the Reichsprotektor is only wounded. But within a week, the wound proves fatal. On 4 June, Heydrich dies. The Germans stop at nothing to find the perpetrators. Dozens of people are arrested, the village of Lidice is destroyed and its inhabitants massacred. The ANTHROPOID team is on the run, sheltered by the Czech resistance. But this is an uneven struggle. The Nazis ratchet up the pressure on a terrified local population. After three weeks, someone cracks. The parachutists are betrayed. The Gestapo leap into action. Time is running out... HUNTING THE PREDATOR is more than just a thriller. It’s a faithful reconstruction of real events, based on meticulous research, which shows that history is more dramatic than fiction… Originally published in the Czech Republic in 2007, it won the Book Club Literary Prize and became an instant best-seller. Now, for the first time, it is available in English.

An Address in Amsterdam


Mary Dingee Fillmore - 2016
    She's falling in love, and her city has been the safest place in the world for Jewish people since the Spanish Inquisition. But when Rachel's Gentile boyfriend is forced to disappear rather than face arrest, she realizes that everything is changing, and so must she. Although she is often tired and scared, she delivers papers for the underground under the Nazis noses. But after eighteen months of ever increasing danger, she pushes her parents to go into hiding with her. The dank basement where they take refuge seems like the last place where Rachel would meet a new man but she does. An Address in Amsterdam shows that, even in the most hopeless situation, an ordinary young woman can make the choice to act with courage and even love.

A Flood of Evil


Lewis M. Weinstein - 2016
    Improbably, they fall in love and join forces to try to stop the rise of Hitler. The story covers the years 1923-1933, and a sequel set against the events of 1934-1945 is currently being written.

Orchestra of Exiles: The Story of Bronislaw Huberman, the Israel Philharmonic, and the One Thousand Jews He Saved from Nazi Horrors


Josh Aronson - 2016
    Instantly famous, Huberman began touring all over the world and received invitations to play for royalty across Europe. But after witnessing the tragedy of World War I, he committed his phenomenal talent and celebrity to aid humanity. After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Huberman joined the ranks of Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein in calling for peace through the Pan European Movement. But when hope for their noble vision was destroyed by the rise of Nazism, Huberman began a crusade that would become his greatest legacy - the creation, in 1936, of the Palestine Symphony, which twelve years later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In creating this world-level orchestra, Huberman miraculously arranged for the very best Jewish musicians and their families to emigrate from Nazi-threatened territories. His tireless campaigning for the project ultimately saved nearly a thousand Jews from the approaching Holocaust.

The Evil of Banality: On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking


Elizabeth Minnich - 2016
    No one can be so possessed for the months, even years, required for genocides, slavery, deadly economic exploitation, sexual trafficking of children. In The Evil of Banality, Elizabeth Minnich argues for a tragic yet hopeful explanation. “Extensive evil,” her term for systematic horrific harm-doing, is actually carried out, not by psychopaths, but by people like your quiet next door neighbor, your ambitious colleagues. There simply are not enough moral monsters for extensive evil, nor enough saints for extensive good. In periods of extensive evil, people little different from you and me do its work for no more than a better job, a raise, the house of the family “disappeared” last week. So how can there be hope? The seeds of such evils are right there in our ordinary lives. They are neither mysterious nor demonic. If we avoid romanticizing and so protecting ourselves from responsibility for the worst and the best of which humans are capable, we can prepare to say no to extensive evil—to act accurately, together, and above all in time, before great harm-doing has become the daily work of ‘normal’ people.

Kings of the Promised Land


Justin Gabriel - 2016
    OUTCASTS WILL RISE.The Priesthood is in disarray. The House of God has been dismantled. The scattered Twelve Tribes are surrounded on all sides by stronger, more technologically advanced enemies, ready to invade. Will the Chosen People be “wiped off the map?” In this epic tale of faith-based historical fiction, the fate of a nation hangs in the balance as three men struggle for the soul of ancient, Iron Age Yisra’el.Shemu’el: the wise and respected Seer finds himself at odds with the will of the people. They want to replace the rule of Yahweh with the rule of man.Sha’ul: the strong and handsome first King of Yisra’el. Hailed a savior and unifier of the nation, can the King overcome the temptations of absolute power or will he fall into darkness?David: the young shepherd who becomes a legendary Hero, betrothed to the princess. But with great success comes many enemies, and the warrior-poet soon finds himself in a desperate fight for survival.What readers are saying about Kings of the Promised Land:“I actually felt as if these events were unfolding right before me.”“Tolkien-esque.”“A Judeo-Christian Game of Thrones.”“Makes the scarlet thread that weaves all scripture together come alive for me!”“A masculine work of Biblical fiction.”

Where Memory Leads: My Life


Saul Friedländer - 2016
    After abandoning his youthful conversion to Catholicism, he rediscovers his Jewish roots as a teenager and builds a new life in Israeli politics.   Friedländer's initial loyalty to Israel turns into a lifelong fascination with Jewish life and history. He struggles to process the ubiquitous effects of European anti-Semitism while searching for a more measured approach to the Zionism that surrounds him. Friedländer goes on to spend his adulthood shuttling between Israel, Europe, and the United States, armed with his talent for language and an expansive intellect. His prestige inevitably throws him up against other intellectual heavyweights. In his early years in Israel, he rubs shoulders with the architects of the fledgling state and brilliant minds such as Gershom Scholem and Carlo Ginzburg, among others.   Most importantly, this memoir led Friedländer to reflect on the wrenching events that induced him to devote sixteen years of his life to writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945.

Mommy, What's That Number on Your Arm?: A-6374


Gloria Hollander Lyon - 2016
    date: 05/18/2016"--Title page verso.

The Holocaust: An Introduction: Exploring the Evidence


Thomas Dalton - 2016
    Six million Jews, we are told, died by gassing, shooting, and deprivation. Much has been written about this crime. And yet much remains a mystery. Even some basic questions have no clear answers. For example, we would like to know: • Where did the six million figure come from? • How, exactly, did the gas chambers work? • Why do we have so little physical evidence from major death camps? • Why haven’t we found even a fraction of the six million bodies, or their ashes? • Why has there been so much media suppression and governmental censorship on this topic? In a sense, the Holocaust is the greatest murder mystery in history. Not only is it a fascinating story in its own right, but it can point us to deeper truths about our contemporary society. It is a topic of greatest importance for the present day. Let’s explore the evidence, and see where it leads.

Orchestra of Exiles: The Story of Bronislaw Huberman, the Israel Philharmonic, and the One Thousand Jews He Saved from Nazi Horrors


Denise George - 2016
    "The true artist does not create art as an end in itself. He creates art for human beings. Humanity is the goal."--Bronislaw HubermanAt fourteen, Bronislaw Huberman played the Brahms Violin Concerto in Vienna-- winning high praise from the composer himself, who was there. Instantly famous, Huberman began touring all over the world and received invitations to play for royalty across Europe. But after witnessing the tragedy of World War I, he committed his phenomenal talent and celebrity to aid humanity.After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Huberman joined the ranks of Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein in calling for peace through the Pan European Movement. But when hope for their noble vision was destroyed by the rise of Nazism, Huberman began a crusade that would become his greatest legacy--the creation, in 1936, of the Palestine Symphony, which twelve years later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.In creating this world-level orchestra, Huberman miraculously arranged for the very best Jewish musicians and their families to emigrate from Nazi-threatened territories. His tireless campaigning for the project--including a marathon fundraising concert tour across America--ultimately saved nearly a thousand Jews from the approaching Holocaust. Inviting the great Arturo Toscanini to conduct the orchestra's first concert, Huberman's clarion call of art over cruelty was heard around the world. His story contains estraordinary adventures, riches and royalty, politicians and broken promises, losses and triumphs. Against near impossible obstacles, Huberman refused to give up on his dream to create a unique and life-saving orchestra of exiles which was one of the great cultural achievements of the 20th century.Includes Photographs

Children's Letters to a Holocaust Survivor: Dear Esther


Richard Rashke - 2016
    It was the biggest escape of WWII and the subject of ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR. That book, and movie based on it, brought Esther many invitations to speak in public schools. Her courageous story generated hundreds of letters from children expressing their love, concern and outrage. Those letters became the inspiration for the play, DEAR ESTHER. Historic Heroines is pleased to publish a collection of those heartfelt letters, poems and drawings school children sent Esther along with the play DEAR ESTHER. CHILDREN'S LETTERS TO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: DEAR ESTHER is a powerful testament to Esther’s Terner's strength and the empathy of the children she touched.

The Nightingale: by Kristin Hannah | The Summary


Bright Books - 2016
    Here you will find the important details from each chapter condensed into a clear, concise, enjoyable read. Whether you are a book club newbie or a ravenous bibliophile you will be delighted by this new reading experience. And, of course, we encourage you to buy and read Hannah’s full version when you can. After all, her book is a best-seller for a good reason! About the Book The Nightingale is Kristin Hannah's highly lauded epic novel depicting the struggles of Frenchwomen during World War II. The novel follows the lives of two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, who show amazing courage. Although not a true story, major events in the book did happen. The book is a New York Times bestseller and was the Amazon Spotlight Pick for February 2015. About the Author Kristin Hannah is a best-selling author. Her books have sold millions of copies, Firefly Lane alone selling over 1.2 million. Her novels Night Road and Home Front were each on 5 different New York Times bestseller lists simultaneously. Home Front was optioned by 1492 Films, and now The Nightingale has been optioned by TriStar.

The Bus


Adam Pottle - 2016
    Crammed into a bus with thirty-five others and unable to see out the painted windows, the patients are transferred from the Scheuern institution to the Nazi euthanasia clinic in Hadamar, Germany.

Fires Forever Burning


Paul Hookham - 2016
    She was expecting just another uneventful day at the Polish Embassy, where she worked part-time as a translator. She thought about her parents, Izaak and Rebekah, who she'd last seen on the day before the Krakow ghetto was liquidated by the Nazis in 1943. She had no idea what happened to them and feared the worst. Her search for the truth had proved elusive - until now. She never spotted the man who jumped on the train out of the shadows at the last minute. He sat patiently, one carriage back, awaiting his moment as the final steps of his master plan were being played out. It would certainly not be just another day at the office and by the end of it, lives would change forever.

Twenty Years with the Jewish Labor Bund: A Memoir of Interwar Poland


Bernard Goldstein - 2016
    As such, the book offers a corrective view in the form of social history, one that commands attention and demands respect for the vitality and activism of the generation of Polish Jews so brutally annihilated by the barbarism of the Nazis.In Warsaw, a city with over 300,000 Jews (one third of the population), Bernstein was the Jewish Labor Bund’s “enforcer,” organizer, and head of their militia—the one who carried out daily, on-the-street organization of unions; the fighting off of Communists, Polish anti-Semitic hooligans, and antagonistic police; marshaling and protecting demonstrations; and even settling family disputes, some of them arising from the new secular, socialist culture being fostered by the Bund.Goldstein’s is a portrait of tough Jews willing to do battle—worldly, modern individuals dedicated to their folk culture and the survival of their people. It delivers an unparalleled street-level view of vibrant Jewish life in Poland between the wars: of Jewish masses entering modern life, of Jewish workers fighting for their rights, of optimism, of greater assertiveness and self-confidence, of armed combat, and even of scenes depicting the seamy, semi-criminal elements. It provides a representation of life in Poland before the great catastrophe of World War II, a life of flowering literary activity, secular political journalism, successful political struggle, immersion in modern politics, fights for worker rights and benefits, a strong social-democratic labor movement, creation of a secular school system in Yiddish, and a youth movement that later provided the heroic fighters for the courageous Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Love and Luck--A Young Woman's Journey from Berlin to Shanghai to San Francisco


Karen Levi - 2016
    She has been blessed with long life, health, and a youthful appearance that defies the imagination. She was born in Berlin, Germany in 1927 to Jewish parents, part of a large extended family of long-time Berliners; upper middle-class people who thrived in the cosmopolitan cultural life of the city. I heard once that the secret of life is love and luck. These gifts allowed Eva to dodge death or injury, live through bombings, invasions and deadly epidemics and avoid completely the horrors that struck other German Jews coming of age during World War II.