Book Description

Full of love, joy and hope, Nathan Garfinkel's wedding portrait captures one of life's turning points. The occasion, however, was more momentous than any one could ever imagine. Only six years before Nathan and his sisters, who surround him in the photograph, were reduced to living skeletons, victims of anti-Semitism that raged out of control during World War II. Nazi Germany and its sympathizers brutally murdered more than six million Jews across Europe, wiping out entire families and, in some cases, villages. Through sheer luck and by helping each other, the Garfinkels overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to evade death. Sara's Children records how the five siblings survived slave labor, starvation, beatings, typhus, exposure and fatigue. The starkly-written narrative relies heavily on the Garfinkels' own words and interviews with other survivors from their hometown of Chmielnik, Poland. The non-fiction work begins with what they lost: loving parents, an extended family, loyal friends and a simple, but vibrant, lifestyle. Nonetheless, disturbing signs of anti-Semitism marred their happy childhoods. Violence and hatred escalate as Germany razes Poland and sweeps Europe. Each chapter explodes with descriptions of the Garfinkels terrible ordeal. Heartbreaking testimonials from other Holocaust survivors, maps, photographs from the late 1940s, and written records culled from Germany reinforce and verify their account. Sara's Children is one family's saga of instinct victory over and triumph amid destruction.