This is a riveting collective memoir, which is both incredibly personal and yet tremendous in scope, and all profits will be donated to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.This book is written by a Holocaust survivor and is based on her own harrowing experiences, as well as the diary of a young girl. The author interviewed hundreds of the residents of her city after the war and put together this powerful, historic vivid account of how the Nazis occupied her hometown in Poland and systematically tormented and killed thousands of the city's Jews.Starting with Hitler's orders and the Nazi Occupation, the author describes how day to day life changed for everyone around her. Simple routines and joys taken away day by day, but the struggle to survive was strong. From the overcrowding of the ghetto, to lack of food and water to the deportations to concentration camps, work camps and death camps of the Holocaust, the author details it all.This remarkable book honors the strength, hope and bravery of those who strove to survive the horrors of World War II.Compelling details and dozens of historic photos make this book an enduring document of truth.
About the Author: Stefania Heilbrunn, born in Radomsko Poland and now living in South Africa, is a Holocaust survivor who wrote "Children Of Dust and Heaven: A Diary from Nazi Occupation Through the Holocaust". At the end of World War Two, when the author, as a young teen was searching the ruins of her town for other survivors, thrust upon her was a partial diary of a young girl, written by a teenager named Miriam, who died during the war. This teenager's diary propelled the author to research and tell this riveting collective memoir. Stefania is the daughter of Joachim and Helena, who she credits for having taught her "to love my town and my people". She is thankful to her husband Siegfried for being "encouraging, offering wise advice and criticism." Her historic, non-fiction book is based on years of research, interviews and her own harrowing experiences. Stefania Heilbrunn gives a vivid account of how the Nazis occupied her hometown in Europe and ruthlessly, systematically captured, tormented and killed almost all 14,000 Jews, living in her town with a total population of 30,000. Starting with Hitler's orders and the Nazi Occupation, the author details the travesties beginning with the over-crowding of the ghetto, the countless beatings and ruthless killings. She describes the heroic acts of those who fought back to survive, as the Nazis ordered mass deportations to the concentration camps, work camps and death camps, slaughtering thousands upon thousands. Heilbrunn describes the day to day banalities of evil, as well as the courageous acts of bravery and miracles that enabled survival to just a few hundred Jews of her town. Stefania wants her book to bear constant witness, and promote constant vigilance. She states, "the young must know their past, in order to be ready and able to defend their future."