Tag: WWII

“Working for the Enemy” and “Blackmail”: Excerpt from Roman Dziarski’s “How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis” with an Introduction by the Author

“Working for the Enemy” and “Blackmail”: Excerpt from Roman Dziarski’s “How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis” with an Introduction by the Author

October 4, 2023

We are pleased to present here an excerpt from Roman Dziarski’s How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis: The True Story of the Holocaust Rescuers, Zofia Sterner and Her Family, accompanied by a personal introduction from the author. The book tells the story how his family  rescued Jews from the Holocaust and survived WWII, against the backdrop of the realities of the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland.

Postcards from a Ukrainian Past: An excerpt from Epic Journey by Andrei Kushnir

Postcards from a Ukrainian Past: An excerpt from Epic Journey by Andrei Kushnir

March 19, 2020

We are pleased to present an excerpt from Epic Journey: The Life and Times of Wasyl Kushnir by Andrei Kushnir. The book presents an account of the author’s father, Wasyl Kushnir, in his own voice, as he and his family lived through the harsh Soviet regime in Ukraine, famine during the Ukrainian Holodomor, and forced labor in Germany during World War II, eventually emigrating to the U.S., making a new life and raising a family. The following excerpt presents selections of postcards sent to Wasyl Kushnir (mostly from his parents) during the years 1943–1944, with a short introduction from Andrei Kushnir.

A Japanese Righteous Gentile: The Sugihara Case

A Japanese Righteous Gentile: The Sugihara Case

January 27, 2020

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2020, we are sharing an excerpt from Meron Medzini’s Under the Shadow of the Rising Sun: Japan and the Jews during the Holocaust Era. This book is Open Access and freely available at OAPEN.org.

In the Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Japan is represented by one individual deemed worthy to be included: a man who helped some 6,000 Jews escape from Lithuania in the summer of 1940. His name was Vice Consul Sugihara Chiune (or Sugihara Sempo), who granted transit visas to Japan to some two thousand, six hundred Polish and Lithuanian Jewish families, thus saving them from either probable extermination by the Germans or prolonged incarceration or Siberian exile by the Soviets.