I borrowed this book for free with my Prime Reading membership. If you are on Prime then I highly suggest you borrow this book or purchase it if you aren't a member. This is based on a true story that will resonate all the horrors of WWII and the occupation of aggressors with no compassion for humans or probably any other living creatures. I don't think I will ever forget this one--ever!!
Rachel was born in a Polish Ghetto. Her parents wanted her to live and managed to bring her to some Polish friends who took Rachel in as their own--they changed her name and managed to get forged papers to protect both Rachel and themselves. This very young child was sent from orphanage to orphanage to keep her alive. She never quite understood why she was always being moved around and why very few ever came to see her.
She only had one living relative-her mother's brother, who had left Poland for Israel years before. He finally found out she was still alive and again she was moved from place to place until they were able to send her to her uncle. She could not stay for long at her uncle's home and he had her put in a very good school. At least he came to visit every week! Once out of school she was taken to a Kibbutz where she could work and feel accepted and loved.
All she had of her original life were pictures of her Mom and Dad and Grandmother. Her Mom had written on the back of each of them. Except for her Uncle-her entire family died in concentration camps. Her Mom managed to get poison and killed herself before they could do it for her.
I had tears in my eyes through most of this book as I read about this confused little girl. At least at the end it was a happy ending.
About the Book: (from Amazon)
A non-stop bestseller for over 2 years since its publication, Lalechka is a moving tribute to courage, strength, and a mother's love in the darkest of times, based on a true story.
A little girl is smuggled out of a Ghetto. Two courageous women. And an inspirational story of survival.
In 1941, the height of World War II, in a Polish ghetto a baby girl named Rachel was born. Her parents, Jacob and Zippa, were willing to do anything to keep her alive. They nicknamed her Lalechka.
Just before Lalechka’s first birthday, the Nazis began to systematically murder everyone in the ghetto. Her father, understood that staying in the ghetto would mean certain death for his child.In a desperate but hope-filled move, Lalechka’s parents decided to save their daughter, no matter at what cost.
Jacob smuggled them outside the boundaries of the ghetto where Zippa’s Polish friends, Irena and Sophia, were waiting. She entrusted her beloved Lalechka to them and returned to the ghetto to remain with her husband and parents – unaware of the fate that awaited her.
Irena and Sophia took on the burden of caring for Lalechka during the war, pretending that she was part of their family despite the grave danger of being discovered and executed.
Lalechka is based on the unique journal written by the young mother during the annihilation of the ghetto, as well as on interviews with key figures in the story, rare documents, and authentic letters.
Read a Chapter or Two Here
Purchase the Book Here
About the Author: (from Amazon)
Amira Keidar was born in the fall of 1963 in a kibbutz in Israel. After serving as an officer in the Israeli Army, she lived for 3 years in Paris where she studied Business French and Political Science. Coming back from France, she completed her B.A. in International Relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Amira worked for six years as a flight attendant for the Israeli Airline EL-AL and then started to work as a researcher in a national T.V. channel.
During her work as a researcher, Amira wrote dozens of mini-biographies for an interviews show that aired on the channel at that time. Researching and writing about people's lives made her realize that writing biographies might be her target.
In 2003, Rachel, a long-time friend of Amira's mother, was dying from cancer. On her death-bed, Rachel gave her friends the diary her mother wrote during the liquidation of the ghetto of Siedlce (east of Warsaw) in August 1942. In the diary – a 9 page document translated from Polish – the 27 year old woman described in bright and sober words all the atrocities of the Nazi rule in her home-town and above all – the horrifying days of the Jewish community annihilation in Siedlce. Rachel's mother described in details the days she and the one year old Rachel spent in an attic while the Nazis were pursuing Jews in the streets of Siedlce in order to send them to extermination camps.
Reading this diary as a young mother, about the baby struggling to stay alive and about her mother fighting against the dangers outside and inside the attic, made Amira decide she wants others to know about this stunning story.
In June 2007, Amira quit her work as a researcher and a month later she found herself on a plane to Poland, starting her own research for the book she already had in mind.
It was not until 2009 that Lalechka was completed.
Since then, Amira wrote biographies and other family stories for her living.
After living almost 20 years in different places, Amira now lives with her two daughters in the kibbutz where she was born.
Author's Website
Bookbub
Goodreads
All opinions expressed are my own honest opinions. For more information please check my Disclosure Statement. Our giveaways are in no way sponsored or promoted by Facebook or Google.
0 comments :
Post a Comment