Karen's Friend Comments

“This extraordinary book enables the reader to see the Holocaust through two different lenses. Each lens gives us a compelling view of a world, far from our present reality, which we need to know. Each lens opens a gate and leads us into a reality from which we return transformed. This book which started as a gift of love from the author to her survivor parents-in-law, turns out to be a gift of seeing life anew to every reader. It enables us – no, it compels us-to see our everyday lives in a new dimension of appreciation, meaning and purpose. I urge everyone to look deeply into this book and accept its priceless gift of a new life."

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, President Emeritus, CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; chairman, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 2000-2002.

“Treiger's important book seamlessly connects past and present and traces the arc of Polish Jewry- from Poland to hell and somehow, despite the odds, back again to Poland.”

Jonathan Ornstein, Executive Director, Jewish Community Center of Krakow

“This story, of survival, faith and family, will fill your soul with sadness, but ultimately with joy as well."

Timothy J. Boyce, Editor of From Day to Day: One Man's Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps, by Odd Nansen

“The author’s quest to preserve this legacy yields a portrait of a multigenerational family with a passionate commitment to active and transformative remembering.”

Katke Reszke, author
Return of the Jew: Identity Narratives of the Third Post-Holocaust Generation of Jews in Poland

"In capturing the storied lives of Sam and Esther Goldberg, Karen Treiger confronts the darkness of war and brings readers into the light, as we witness her grief transformed into gratitude, self-understanding and yes, joy.”

Barbara Mackoff, Author
The Inner Work of Leaders

“Impeccably researched, well-crafted, and profoundly felt, this is a tale of hope and promise that emerges from horror and destruction, as well as one of the powers of the human spirit.”

Steve Steinberg, Author and Baseball Historian
Urban Shocker, Silent Hero of Baseball’s Golden Age

“In Karen Treiger’s important book she tells the story of her in-laws. Their suitcases were filled with only tragic and bitter memories. Yet, they had the courage to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, wipe away the tears, turn despair into hope, and rebuild Jewish life.”

Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean
Simon Wiesenthal Center

“We are haunted by the question of inexplicable evil. If you want to be inspired in spite of the horrors one human being can do to another human being, read this book.”

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland

“It is vital that this book—as well as other accounts of the Holocaust— be preserved and disseminated widely to future generations to help prevent anything similar from ever happening again.”

Marion Blumenthal Lazan, Holocaust Survivor and Co-Author
Four Perfect Pebbles

“Karen has written a powerful and personal account of Sam and Esther Goldberg. This book is a must read for those interested in the greatest crime in the history of mankind.”

Chris Webb, Author/Historian
Founder of the Holocaust Historical Society, Whitehill, UK