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KUNATI BOOK PUBLISHERS
Infinity Publishing
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Category: Non-Fiction, Anthology, Historical ISBN: 0-9682274-2-2 (v. 1) Publisher: Price: $21.95 Cdn; $ US; trade paperback |
Description:"It is precisely to ensure that we do remember and
care that Alvin Abram has written this remarkable book. Here are the
stories of seven Holocaust survivors, who, through dogged determination,
staggering courage and sheer luck, withstood the dark years of Nazi
barbarism and came to Canada to build new lives for themselves and their
families. These are stories of horror and hope, of terror and triumph.
Above all, these are stories of inspiration, of the indomitability of the
human spirit and of the refusal to surrender to the cruelties of that
dreadful moment in human history. Rather, they fought back with vigour and
creativity to preserve both their lives and their Jewishness. It is a magnificent tribute to these men and women – Zalman (Eugene) Katz, Michael Kutz, Moishe Perlmutter, Dubi Arie, Marjam (Michael) Rosenberg and Batia and Feiga Schmidt (Batia Malamud and Faigie Libman) – that they came forward to share their stories with Alvin Abram, and through him, with the rest of us. These stories are difficult to read; how much more difficult they must have been to tell. And yet as these survivors know, it was imperative to give voice to their memories. Holocaust survivors are the living link to a vanished history that we can never recapture or recreate, and their stories are building blocks to a revitalized Jewish past. In the battle over the years to ensure Jewish survival and continuity, memory is the most important weapon in the Jewish arsenal." ~ Professor Irving Abella, Co-author of: None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948 Inside
the book:
AN
EYE FOR AN EYE: Zalman Katz (Dzisna,
White Russia): A
witness to the murder of most of his family. His brother is murdered by
two farmers and the Chief of Police and Zalman, aged 18,
swears revenge. He kills the two farmers, becomes a partisan and
later joins the Russian army, earning a reputation for ruthlessness.
Revenge or justice, it made no difference to Zalman, it was an eye for an
eye as he searched for the Chief of Police. As events developed, justice
will play a solitary hand. THE
PROMISES: Michael
Kutz (Nieswiez,
Byelorussia): 12,000
Jews were executed and disposed in a pit. Buried alive, eleven-year-old
Kutz escaped to become a partisan fighter for Russia. Before his mother is
murdered she asked him that he keep two promises; never forget he was a
Jew and if he survived, to go to Palestine. For 48 years after the war, he
fulfilled one of the promises. In 1990, he went to Israel where he learned
the meaning of the second promise and not because he planned it. (Mulinsk,
Ukraine): For three
years, he lived in the forests like an animal hiding from the Germans.
After the war, he and his mother journeyed to Krakow, Poland to escape the
backlash of Ukrainian anti-Semitism. Under the protection of Lena Kuchler,
at aged 17, he lived with
her 100 orphaned children in Zanopake. He returned to Krakow, when
he heard his mother was ill. When he returned all the children were gone.
He promised that some day he would find his friends. I
HAVE A MISSION: Dubi
Arie (Warsaw,
Poland): Born on the
eve of Hitler's attack on Poland and carried by his young mother to
Russia, Dubi learns of hunger and fear from the day he is born. After the
war, his mother emigrates to Israel where she dies three years later.
Orphaned, Dubi learns to identify himself as a Jew. He fights in the Yom
Kippur War, Sinai Campaign and the Six Day War. At the liberation of
Jerusalem, Dubi hears the Shofar declaring the Western Wall is in Israeli
hands and realizes he has a personal mission. A mission that will take
more than 13 years to finish in Toronto, Canada. I
KNEW MY ENEMY: Marjan
Rosenberg (Szydlowiec,
Poland): Were they
friends or enemies? One man knew he was a Jew – did the other?
Forty-eight years after the war, Marjan received two letters; one from a
priest and one from a farmer in Poland, requesting recognition from Yad
Vashem as Righteous Gentiles for saving his life when he was 17. Did they
save his life? It was a question he now had to answer. DON'T
WORRY – IT WILL BE GOOD: Batia
and Feiga Schmidt (Kauna,
Lithuania) Survivors
of the Kaunas Ghetto where 35,000 perished. Shipped to Stutthof, Poland
where 30,000 women died and forced on a Death March, Feiga, aged 8 came to
Canada with her mother to build a new life. A life in which both would
touch the hearts and mind of thousands. All orders should be accompanied by a cheque or money order. Mail costs and taxes will be absorbed by Alvin Abram. A.M.A. GRAPHICS INCORPORATED 855 Alness Street Unit 21 Toronto, Ontario M3J 2X3
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Reviews:
"These stories enlarge our
understanding of both history and humanity. Irving Abella writes that
books like this one are profoundly important. I agree. This testimony is
powerful and moving – a most worthwhile read."
~
Bob Hawkins, The
Jewish Post & News "We knew her as The General and made
fun of her. But we didn’t know, we didn’t know. The incredible tale of
Batia Malamud is told in a recent book by Alvin Abram . . . This old
woman, the butt of indignity on Prince Charles Street was the greatest
hero we ever met. And we never knew." ~ Sam
Orbaum, Jerusalem Post
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The
Light After the Dark I
