"For half a century these children, now dispersed and in their sixties and seventies, were unaware of the person to whom they owed their lives. To Winton, it was 'just a job'. Even his wife knew nothing of what is undoubtably his greatest achievement, until 1988, when clearing out the attic she came across documentation relating to the episode. From that moment, Winton's life was never the same again.".
The story of what it was like to grow up Jewish in Nazi Germany, to escape danger and fear, and also to leave family and friends, on the British Kindertransport scheme. Among the voices we hear are those of two of the organisers, an English foster mother, and 13 surviving children.
Sue Owen was born in 1968. She lived near London until her legal fight began and she relocated to Oxfordshire with her husband and family. She works locally and this is her first book.
In June 1939, shortly before her eleventh birthday, Vera Gissing escaped from occupied Czechoslovakia, leaving behind her parents, family and friends, to spend six years in Britain.Throughout the war years Vera kept a diary, recording her day-to-day experiences, her longing for her parents, her hopes and prayers for the freedom of her country. By the time she returned to Prague to set up home with her aunt in 1945, she knew that both her parents had died - her mother in Belsen, her father on a death march. She came back to England in 1949 and has lived here ever since.The memories and emotions rekindled by a reunion of the Czech school in Wales where she was educated, encouraged Vera to go back to the diaries and letters from her parents that she had not touched for forty years, and in 'Pearls of Childhood' 'she provides a powerful and moving account of the life of one child growing up in extraordinary circumstances.
Sisters in Sorrow: Voices of Care in the Holocaust gives voice to women who took care of the sick in the camps of Nazi Germany, which had been constructed for the sole purpose of human extermination. For some individuals, like the women whose stories are recounted in this book, there remained glimmers of hope in the irrational camps of the Holocaust. Those who were capable and willing were sometimes able to help others live, thereby retaining a measure of value in their own lives as well as contributing to their fellow prisoners.Although much has been written about the Holocaust and the Nazi labor and extermination camps, little specifically on women has appeared. In recent years that lack has begun to be addressed, and Sisters in Sorrow contributes another perspective on the experiences of women. Women exhibited ingenuity and techniques that differed significantly from those of men in adapting to their horrific environments. The survival skills of the women whose histories appear here frequently resulted from their backgrounds as homemakers and caregivers.To this collection of memoirs Roger A. Ritvo and Diane M. Plotkin have added important historical background, giving context to the stories. In compiling this collection, Ritvo and Plotkin allow these women to chronicle the existence of human decency in those indecent infernos and the paradox of healing in the face of the Final Solution.
The catacombs -- including several labyrinthine burial grounds and underground places of worship -- along with numerous Roman churches and basilicas are depicted with overlays that show how they look today and how they likely appeared in early Christian times.
History and fiction merge in this richly embroidered tale of a young Jewish woman in early 20th-century France. Set in Paris in the early 1900s, Why She Married Him tells the story of Nina Schavranski, a beautiful young Russian Jewish emigre at a crossroads in her life. At 22, in the immigrant community of Belle Epoque Paris, Nina's choices are few. She works in her father's tailor shop, attends political lectures and night school, striving to be an intellectual, modern woman. But Nina's sensual nature and her longing for freedom remain unfulfilled. The answer to the question of why she marries Abraham Podselver, a struggling fashion illustrator with socialist dreams, lies in the sum of Nina's experiences--which unwind like a bolt of silk as the novel moves backward in time. We see Nina enjoy her first real love--who abandons her for better opportunities in America. We see the Schavranskis when they first arrive in Paris, struggling to make it out of the Marais ghetto. We see the family in Yekaterinoslav in Ukraine, where they enjoyed a comfortable, cultured life until a series of bloody pogroms forced them into exile. Capturing both the sweep of history and the private joys and turmoil of a complex young woman, Why She Married Him is rich, satisfying historical fiction. Inspired by an unpublished memoir by the author's grandmother, found years after her death, the novel is infused with passion.
