Heller - Love in a World of Sorrow: A Teenage Girls Holocaust Memoirs

Thank You for Downloading this Gefen Publishing House Ebook.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and get special offers on exciting new titles about Israel, Judaism and the Jewish People.

To sign up click here!

Copyright 2015 Fanya Heller and previous copyrights
Jerusalem 2015/5775

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission from the publishers.

COVER DESIGN: Sara Jaskiel
TYPESETTING: Benjie Herskowitz, Etc Studios

All photos are from the private collection of Fanya Heller

ISBN: 978-965-229-839-3

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Gefen Publishing House Ltd.
6 Hatzvi Street
Jerusalem 94386, Israel
972-2-538-0247

Gefen Books
11 Edison Place
Springfield, NJ 07081
516-593-1234

www.gefenpublishing.com

Printed in Israel

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Heller, Fanya Gottesfeld

Love in a World of Sorrow: A Teenage Girls Holocaust memoirs / by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

p. cm.

1. Jews Ukraine Skala-Podolskala Biography. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (19391945) Ukraine Skala-Podolskala Personal narratives. 3. Jewish girls Ukraine Skala-Podolskala Biography. 4. Skala-Podolskala (Ukraine) Biography. I. Title.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005920693

Printed in Israel

DEDICATED TO THE
LOVING MEMORY OF MY PARENTS,

Benjamin and Charlotte Gottesfeld

The memoir is an extraordinary work by any standards. It was so vividly written that I could picture even the seemingly unimaginable. It was so honest and candid that I trusted your memory implicitly throughout. I was deeply moved from beginning to end.

Christopher R. Browning, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, New Jersey

Fanya Gottesfeld Heller has given us all a precious gift. In recounting her wartime experiences with unflinching candor, she not only put on the record a powerful story of survival in a very human context, but she has also created a potent medium and message that speaks directly to young people. It is as if the teenage Fanya, who animates the pages of this book, reaches across time and speaks directly and meaningfully to a current generation. Fanya Heller, who experienced the worst that one can imagine found the best in herself and is a compelling example of the power of the human spirit.

David Marwell,Director, Museum of Jewish Heritage

Fanya Heller is far more than just an inspiration she is the personification of hope for educators, students, and the entire world. She shares her heart with us through the eloquent words in her book, offering love and wisdom and continuing to speak out about the poisons of hatred. By baring her soul, she truly makes the realities of the Holocaust personal to millions; her courage and wisdom are without measure. Fanyas compassion for our young people, and her humanity across every sea, is a true testament to the power of light to conquer the deepest of evils.

Kelly Ryan,Educator, The Bushwick School For Justice

Love in a World of Sorrow is a unique contribution to Holocaust literature. It is a compelling rendering of the crushing effect of Nazi infamy, of painful choices, of unending sorrow, but it is also a strangely uplifting story of the power of the triumphant spirit during a time when a piece of the world had gone mad. Everything about this book marks it as a stunning choice for academic or personal reading.

Dr. Sondra Melzer, University of Connecticut, Stamford

It has been a privilege to witness the connections made between Fanya and my Brooklyn students. She is an inspiring role model to all youth who face seemingly insurmountable adversity. Her timeless messages strike their mark over and over again My time spent with Fanya is truly the highlight of my 35-year teaching career.

Susan Cohen, Educator, Pacific High School

Love in a World of Sorrow is a searingly honest, deeply moving memoir. In it, Fanya Heller has found the courage not only to remember her own painful past, but to share it with readers in beautifully written and vivid prose. She pushes past the conventions of Holocaust narrative, telling a love story that is as complicated as it is poignant. In so doing, she has made a unique contribution to the historical record of the Holocaust.

Alexandra Zapruder, Author and Editor, Salvaged Pages: Young Writers Diaries of the Holocaust

1. I. THE AKTSIA
   My Eighteenth Birthday: September 2629, 1942
2. II. GROWING UP IN SKALA
   Birth to Age 15: 19241939
3. III. EDUCATION UNDER THE RUSSIANS
   Age 1516: September 1939Spring 1941
4. IV. UNDER THE GERMAN BOOT
   Age 1617: Summer 1941September, 1942
5. V. IN HIDING AFTER THE AKTSIA
   Age 18: September 1942August 1943
6. VI. UNDER SIDORS WING
   Age 1819: August 1943March 1944
7. VII. LIBERATION
   Age 1920: March 1944July 1945
8. VIII. DISPLACED PERSONS IN BYTOM
   Age 2021: AugustDecember 1945

S ince the publication of my book Love in a World of Sorrow more than a decade ago, I have traveled around the country, speaking primarily to high school and college students about my experiences. My message is simple that one person can make a world of difference.

Students today may view the Holocaust as ancient history, but the lessons of the Holocaust are more relevant now than ever, and we must be creative in our teaching to ensure that they will always be relevant.

Our mantra in Holocaust education is Never Again. But where was Never Again in such places as Bosnia? Kosovo? Rwanda? Sudan? Darfur? and on September 11? So many question marks mark the passing of so many hundreds and hundreds of thousands whom the world dismissed as not living here, as the other.

Unfortunately, the world continues to demonstrate that the human potential for evil lurks just below the surface and that hate only breeds more and more hate. To indoctrinate us as young Communists, we were forced to watch the hanging executions of traitors. Today, we are just steadying ourselves from the stark and disturbing images and videos released by ISIS as they bear the similar trademark of unbridled malevolence and tyranny. Or from the terrorist attacks that have unfortunately taken place in France, Spain, England, Kenya, Israel again.

I write this knowing that I am a member of the last generation of Holocaust survivors. With the survivor population growing older, with most of us in our seventies, eighties, and nineties, there is an urgent need to record the events of this most tragic period in our history.