Girl In Hiding: Remembrances of a Holocaust Survivor


Ellen-Ruth Karpowitz Song - 2017
    I was locked in the attic and only the older daughter, Len, was at home. I heard her say that she did not have a key to the attic door since her mother always carried the key, and I knew trouble had come. I moved over into a large box that was pushed under the eaves that was our agreed-upon hiding spot. I closed the top as best I could and soon heard the sounds of the attic door being broken down. In came a man to search the attic. More than once I saw the shadow of the searcher over me.” In this remarkable memoir, Ellen-Ruth Karpowitz Song recounts with astonishing clarity and a touch of humor her harrowing experiences as a child hiding from The Nazis in German-occupied Holland during World War II. Shuffled from family to family over an event-filled three-year period, Ellen-Ruth recalls how her saviors repeatedly risked their own lives to shield hers from the atrocities of the time. Ellen-Ruth’s grown children also provide their thoughts on their mother’s early history, and share insights into how this knowledge has affected their own lives. An extensive Appendix includes documentation of the ordeal and a photo gallery of lives lost and those left to carry on. Featured in Steven Spielberg’s SHOAH project, Ellen-Ruth’s amazing story is a memorable testimony of the strength of the human spirit. May we never forget...

Displaced: A Holocaust Memoir and the Road to a New Beginning


Linda Schwab - 2020
    Just six years old when a band of Nazi soldiers arrived in her tiny shtetl in Myadel, Poland, Linda observed atrocities no child ever needs to witness. With her parents and two brothers, during the summer of 1942, Linda was forcibly relocated into a ghetto where most of the Jewish men were led to the nearby forest and killed in a pogrom. After the massacre, Linda escaped with her family into the Ponar Forest, but only after evading Polish nationals and Nazis that patrolled Poland's countryside. Deep in the woods, Linda's family lived in a cave. They survived brutal winters, eluded partisan fighters that might force Linda's father to leave the family, and remained out of sight from Nazis and Polish police, who at one point, came only feet from their dugout.Written with historian Todd M. Mealy during a time when Holocaust deniers aim to rehabilitate the Nazi ideology and as roughly 400,000 survivors remain with us, Displaced presents Schwab's singular voice. Her narrative will help maintain-if not bolster-Holocaust knowledge, as her story of surviving the Polish wilderness during WWII and in a Displaced Persons Camp after the war is unique from most accounts. Displaced will inspire the rest of us to confront hatred in its many forms.

Just A Little Girl: Despair and Deliverance


Anna Halberstam Rubin - 2018
    In this fascinating coming-of-age memoir of the years 1942-1946, the sole surviving descendant of a prominent European dynasty of Hasidic rabbis describes her miraculous survival as a teenager wandering through the Holocaust.

Sevek and the Holocaust : The Boy Who Refused to Die


Sidney Finkel - 2018
    Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die is a unique and powerful memoir about a young boy's journey during the Holocaust and his effort later to make peace with the past.

Gerda's Story: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor


Gerda Nothmann Luner - 2019
    Told through the eyes of a young girl, the book shares Gerda’s memories of Hitler’s rise to power and passionately describes the cruel toll that history can have on those who experience it. The book is much more than Gerda’s story. Through letters she received from her parents, who made the heartbreaking decision to send their two daughters to live with foster families in the relative safety of Holland, we learn how a mother and father try to raise a child from far away in times of great distress. Letters from them to Gerda’s foster parents, and desperate notes to an American family they hoped would act as sponsors, reveal their growing despair. The story is both deeply personal and universal as people wrestle with terrible choices to save their children and protect their families. These issues remain as relevant today as they were during the Holocaust. In 1939, while trying to arrange an escape from Germany, her parents sent 12-year-old Gerda and her younger sister to live with separate families in Holland, which was still safe for Jews. What was intended as a temporary move became permanent and Gerda never saw her parents again. Ultimately, she was the only member of her immediate family to survive and also had to bear the loss of the foster family she had come to love as her own. Gerda describes in searing detail her experiences in six concentration camps, her protection as a worker for the Philips Corporation, and her arrival in the U.S. in 1948 as an 18-year-old Holocaust survivor literally alone in the world. The memoir is a testament to the loving family Gerda built in America. Her husband added translations of the letters from her parents, grandparents and sister. After her oldest child and first grandchild were born, Gerda added notes to them. This group effort illustrates the special generational pull of trauma endured by Holocaust survivors.

The Boy Who Outwitted Mengele


Michael Popik - 2018
    Miki grew up in the small town of Levice in Czechoslovakia. In 1944, his life changed forever. At the age of 13, Miki and his family were sent to the concentration camps at Auschwitz. Miki survived against all odds and ultimately triumphed to live a life of love. “Miki Popik shares an incredible tale of survival, courage and resilience. He speaks of his life as a child in Czechoslovakia at the dawn of World War II, of his imprisonment at two concentration camps, of his family’s struggles for survival, and his efforts after the war to locate his family. Though he was the only one from his extended family to survive, he felt very fortunate to have learned where in a mass grave in Mühldorf, Germany, his father and brother had been interred. Mühldorf was a sub-camp of the infamous Dachau, not far from Munich. Miki’s story moves like none other.” – Alan S. Blaustein, JD, MD “In 2012, my classmates and I from the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute were fortunate to hear you speak at the Museum of Tolerance. Your words were truly inspiring! I left the museum that day speechless and humbled. I realized that nothing in my life can be assimilated to what you have experienced in yours. It shed a new light on the human race and how we treat one another.” – Sergeant Robert O’Brine, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept.

Holocaust Memoirs: Georgina: True Holocaust Survivor Stories from the Darkest Days of the Holocaust


Gabriella Kovac - 2012
    Sheknows that to go into is virtually a death sentence. But she must find food within the next few hours or her baby will certainly die.For Georgina there is no choice. Alone and completely vulnerable, she heads out into the freezing cold.

My Eyes Looking Back at Me: Insight Into a Survivor's Soul


Menucha Meinstein - 2015
    Rejoice over the bonds of love, friendship and forgiveness, of finding relatives, and share the triumph of unexpected turns in Leah's story that will inspire you, leaving you breathless. "How did she do it?" You'll find it all here, as you follow Leah through the many phases of her life, her redemption and revenge against Hitler's evil, and to grateful happiness during her 90th year. When Leah Cik Roth decides to write her secret memoirs for her children, writer, Menucha Meinstein, walks into her life as a volunteer. The two develop the deepest of human bonds as together they uncover Leah's lifelong bitterness and suppressed Holocaust memories. Through Soul-Writing, they struggle to relive Leah's stories, revealing heroic patterns of resilience from the young age of five. Her memories bring out fresh pain, and renewed feelings of loss and loneliness. The Holocaust is merely a backdrop to Leah's life. Together, the two women share joy in the legacy that Leah leaves for the world.

Good-bye for Always: The Triumph of the Innocents


Cecile Kaufer - 1997
    The Nazis had overrun a great deal of the continent, bent on the domination of the world and the annihilation of an entire people. The death camps, unknown to most outside Europe, claimed more than six millions Jews during that time. Some endured -- and most have breathtaking stories of survival. Why they survived when so many perished is a matter of coincidence, luck, the will to live and the courage and sacrifice of many others. The full scope of that sacrifice will never be completely chronicled, it is just too vast. "Good-bye for Always, The Triumph of the Innocents" is the story of the youngest members of the Widerman family, who moved to Paris from Poland, only to be caught up in the horror of the Nazi occupation. In 1942, Cecile and Betty Widerman began a journey into the belly of the worst beast mankind has to offer. For two years they were literally one step ahead of death, as Nazi cruelty sought to envelop them as it had millions of others. How they survived, why they survived and who nearly gave their own lives to protect them is a story of inspiration and will that is sure to live forever.

Henri's War: A Buchenwald Holocaust Story


A Survivor - 2015
     Readers Reviews: A powerful and detailed account and very chilling to the thought of human activity to other humans. Very gripping and hard to put down, a highly recommend book. A compelling read and an insight into mans inhumanity to man.it seems unbelievable today how one deranged lunatic in Berlin could cause such destruction and persuade people to act in such a barbaric fashion towards others. I found this to be a fascinating read. Recommended. From the Heart of a man. From the depths of Hell. A harrowing narration of the Worlds darkest hours. This book should be compulsory reading in Schools. We must never forget. Thank you for all of the amazing reviews and purchasing this eBook.

Stella's Secret: A True Story of Holocaust Survival


Jerry L. Jennings - 2005
    But it is Stella’s voice, the amazing way that she tells her story, that makes this Holocaust story so unique, powerful and endearing. The reader listens to Stella’s stunning simplicity of expression, her use of Polish and Yiddish phrases, her humor, her all-so-frequent grammatical errors – and is charmed. It is a story that only Stella Yollin can tell, and it can only be told in Stella’s sweet and incomparable way.

Together: A Journey for Survival


Ann Arnold - 2016
    Married to the man of her dreams, mother to two beautiful children, and a member of one of the most respected families in town; she had it all. The year was 1939, and the world was about to change. In a heartbreaking instant, she had to trade her life of security, family, and simple pleasures--for one of unspeakable loneliness, hardship, and danger. Nothing more than hunted prey, she relied on her inner strength and indomitable will to keep her children alive. But would it be enough? How far would she have to go, and did she have the resolve to get there? One thing she knew for sure ...she and her children would live or die one way …. TOGETHER. Manek was six years old when his world began to collapse. At first, his young eyes failed to see it, but reality came quickly into focus, when his loving gentle mother was forced to beat him in order to save his life. That is when he realized the Nazis wanted to kill him. Suddenly thrust into a new role as man of the house, would he be able to help keep his family safe? Was he strong enough to protect them? He knew only one thing ... they would survive if they could stay …TOGETHER. In Together: A Journey for Survival, Ann Arnold shares her family's journey through Poland's countryside as a war of nations thunders around them. The story displays the magnificent strength of a mother's love and the incredible courage of good people during the worst of times. "An important work. Ann Arnold's effort to both tell their tale of her family's survival during the Holocaust while being a part of encouraging the next generation to embrace tolerance is inspiring." -Michael Cohen, The Simon Wiesenthal Center "A fascinating story that takes a reader inside an already wounded family toiling through horrific difficulty in the pursuit of life itself. .. it forces readers to ask themselves if they could endure a struggle or whether they might support another person in a life or death battle. This angle makes the book valuable for teachers to use and beneficial for students to read at the high school level.” -Lawrence M. Glaser, N.J. Commission on Holocaust Education “Incredible Story” –Northern Valley Press "Arnold’s perspective is colored not only by those non-Jews who saved her father’s family but also by her experience visiting Brzostek as an adult." –New Jersey Jewish News

See You Tonight and Promise to Be a Good Boy!: War memories


Salo Muller - 2017
     Former Ajax physiotherapist writes his WW2 memories. 'See you tonight, and promise to be a good boy!' were the last words his mother said to Salo Muller in 1942 when she took him to school in Amsterdam, right before she was deported to Auschwitz. She and her husband were arrested a few hours later and taken to Westerbork, from where they would later board the train that took them to Auschwitz.The book is, in his own words, “the story of a little boy who experienced the most horrible things, but got through it somehow and ended up in a great place.” Salo, at only 5 years old, spent his time during the Second World War in hiding, in as much as eight different locations in the Netherlands. The book tells the story of his experiences during ww2, but also explains how he tried to make sense of his life after the war, being a young orphan. ˃˃˃ His memories are interwoven with historical facts and explanations, making it both an autobiography and a historical narrative. Salo Muller became famous in the 1970s as the physiotherapist for Ajax, the Amsterdam soccer team. He treated renowned players such as Johan Cruijff, Sjaak Swart and Piet Keizer. The why of the tragedy is something he can’t let go: ˃˃˃ 'Hardly a day goes by when I don’t shed a tear but, unfortunately, it doesn’t change a thing.’ 'See You Tonight and Promise to be a Good Boy!’ was the result of Salo’s participation in of the Shoah Project, initiated by Steven Spielberg and the USC Shoah Foundation, where his testimony was recorded. This encouraged him to write down his story. Scroll up and grab a copy today.

Tilli's Story: My Thoughts Are Free


Lorna Collier - 2004
    The small, poignant touches are riveting." -"Kirkus Discoveries""I think about what I want and what makes me happy, But orderly and quietly to myself. Because my thoughts tear down fortresses and walls, My thoughts are free. -German folk song, author unknown"The beautiful, safe, joyful places in young Tilli's imagination were her only refuge from the bombing that tore through the sky above her during World War II. Her thoughts were her only freedom from Hitler's Nazi tyranny, and they were her strength to survive after the war ended, when Russians invaded her tiny farming village in eastern Germany; forced her into months of hiding in a dark attic crawlspace; and took her innocence, her childhood, and nearly her life.Tilli's dreams-of a time when she could think and act freely, and travel, work, write, worship, and live however she wished-were what fueled the sixteen-year-old to courageously and single-handedly escape the terror of Stalin's harsh Communist rule and create her own happy ending in a free America.This true tale of sorrow and terror, hope and triumph, is Tilli's story-but it's also the story of the unthinkable suffering and untold bravery of countless innocent children who have lived through a war and its aftermath.

I Promised My Mother


Ludvik Wieder - 1984
    And with G-d's help, he saved not only himself but also his parents and a host of friends, relatives, and strangers from almost certain death. If Ludvik Wieder's adventures were fiction, they would seem too contrived. But everything told is the unembellished truth. At the age of 26, Ludvik had it all—health, wealth, good looks, popularity, and a growing business in one of Europe's brightest capitals. Then, one dreadful Sunday in the spring of 1943, the Nazis marched into Budapest and imposed a series of repressive measures that threatened the life of every Jew in Hungary. From that day on, all that mattered was survival. Suddenly, life hung by a shred of paper— the proper “Aryan” identification. Determined to survive, Ludvik boldly entered the black market to buy those precious scraps of false identity that might save him and his loved ones from disaster. Soon he was living a double life, outwardly forsaking his Orthodox Jewish upbringing to pose as a gentile, at the same time clinging steadfastly to his beliefs, never for a moment forgetting who he was and where he came from. Soon he became a master of deception— whether it was posing as a trusted “gentile” factory employee, disguising himself as a drunken peasant, or assuming the dress and manner of a member of the Hungarian S.S. Somehow, he had the capacity to enlist the aid of an unlikely assortment of non-Jews, who helped him at the peril of their lives—among them, a peasant woman who befriended him in prison and offered her home as his haven for the duration of the war… a Hungarian Air Force officer, who “adopted” Ludvik's niece as his own illegitimate child, lent him his apartment as a hiding place and smuggled a series of vital ID papers to him… the Skid Row derelict who saved the life of Ludvik's nephew by pretending to be the boy's uncle. The book traces Ludvik's life, beginning with his placid, essentially easygoing boyhood in Czechoslovakia. Then, in 1940, after the Hungarian takeover, he was inducted into forced labor. It describes the cruelty and black humor of the labor camp, which helped him to develop the cunning and ingenuity that enabled him to sharpen his survival skills and avoid being sent to fatal service on the Russian front. The story then focuses on the Nazi occupation, culminating in Ludvik's near-execution at the hands of his Russian liberators. Armed with optimism, unswerving faith in the Almighty, and his own resourcefulness, Ludvik never let fear keep him from doing whatever was necessary to save himself and his fellow Jews. Throughout his heart-stopping adventures —and even in the darkest moments of despair, when events propelled him to the brink of suicide—Ludvik was motivated to go on by consummate devotion to his beloved mother. He knew he had to survive, for he had promised her he would.