Book Reviews
I think that this is the first book written in English describing so authentic and precise the destruction of the Jews in the towns of Belorussia. Your mothers heroic struggle for her survival and to rescue you and your brother reveals also the struggle of all the Jews in the forest. You underscore in your book the heroic fight of the Jewish Partisans against Germans and their collaborators, which is very important. This book has to placed .... in all Holocaust museums over the world.
It is very important for now and for the coming generations to know the fate of the Jews in these dark years, WWII and your mother's memoirs will add to that knowledge. Her fight for survival and to rescue you and your brother is a unique saga.
C.W., Kfar Saba, Israel, Founder of the Zhetler Society (Survivors of the Town of Zhetel in Belorussia)
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Received and read your book. It is great. Great combination of your mother's memoirs, your memories and (my cousin) Kalman's and Zhetel's partisan activities. It is both very touching and very informative. Once again, it is a wonderful tribute to your mother.
L.A., Kfar Saba, Israel
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My husband and I have both read it. It is very affecting; your mother's language compels the reader to feel the cold and hunger, her pain and worry about her children, her sense of being abandoned because of the presence of you children, and the constant uncertainty, not knowing where to go to be safe, or to get some food for survival. It is incredible that you all did survive.
S.D., Palm Desert, CA
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Thank you for sharing this important record..... That's why we need people like you to keep the memories alive, and to tell the truth.
B.W., Prescott, AZ
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I could not I couldn’t put the book down….read it in two sittings.
M.S., Prescott, AZ
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George and I both think Harold's book should be a movie. Tell him we are quite taken with his experience.
B.C., Chino Valley, AZ.
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Mazel tov to you both, I'm thrilled for you. I enjoyed the book myself and purchased a copy for my friend in L.A.
B.M., Prescott, AZ
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I just finished reading My Children, My Heroes: Memoirs of a Holocaust Mother, and I wept throughout the book. What an emotional and heart wrenching story of survival against all odds. I especially cried as I viewed the chronolog of photograhs of you and your family. Hopefully your book will reach many people. Our generation is the last one of witnesses to the inhumanity of that period in history and we can't ever let it be forgotten.
D.C., San Diego, CA
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This book is a remarkable journal that brings the reader into Sonia Minuskin's life. We share her day-to-day struggles for survival and all she endured. And then we gasp with wonder at the miracle that the entire family came out of the war alive.
We thank the author for documenting what happens when humanity loses its soul.
L. W., McLean, VA
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A non-fiction, first-person narrative of the horrors experienced by Polish Jews during WWII. Through the eyes of a young Jewish mother of two young sons, (Shanke "Sonia" Minuskin and sons Henikel "Harold" and Kalmanke "Carl") whose lives are forever changed after the Nazi occupy their small village of Zhetel, she writes of her tortured experiences in a life-and-death struggle for survival. After what can only be described as a living hell, and realizing the only thing waiting her there was........ death, she takes her sons and seeks refuge in the nearby Belorussian forest. In addition, all non-Jewish Poles are rewarded with 600 [Deutsche] Mark for every Jew they hand over to the Nazi, and many Jews were ........... turned in for the money! Her husband, Shlamke "Sam" Minuskin, has joined a partisan resistance group, so she, for the most part, is alone, though she mingles with one group or another during her ordeal, ......... Odds are against her - especially since she has two small children! She is unwelcome company for most groups hiding in the woods, as there is fear her boys might give them away! One narrow escape after another - with no food, warmth, adequate shelter - through frigid winter months where survival was a miracle! After years in the forest, the author hears rumors about how the war is going and that the Germans are being defeated! A ray of hope finally becomes reality and the fugitives are able to return to their homes. ...... I learned about the book through a recent television interview in Prescott, AZ, where Harold is presently living. In the interview he described the heroic efforts of his mother to keep them alive, while many young children were left to die from starvation, disease and exposure to the cold Russian winters. A quick-read, and a reminder of the unbelievably horrific events that we should never forget!
I highly recommend this powerful story of survival.
Amazon.com customer book review.
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This Book was an enlightening perspective into the life of a young woman bravely striving to save herself and her two small children in one of the most horrifying events of our history. I applaud the author, Harold Minuskin, for translating his mothers memoirs so well, keeping the emotions real. Well worth the time!
Amazon.com reader review.