George David Schwab's life began as a cosseted child leading a charmed and comfortable life in the 1930s. He recreates his childhood in pre-war Latvia, giving it vivid life in detailed memories of an extended, accomplished, and adventurous family of aunts, uncles, cousins and delightful descriptions of outings, with a child's view of the joy of cafes, tennis clubs, and swimming in the bracing waters of the Baltic Sea. The 1940s brought World War II and Soviet occupation of Latvia followed by the Nazis. George relates his and the family's terror and grief when his father, a well-known gastroenterologist, is murdered by the Nazis. He, his mother, a musician, and his older brother are shipped with other Latvian Jews to German concentration and work camps in cattle cars. George gives a sheltered child's view of his experiences: separation, death, despair, cold and hunger-with one constant: terror. Reunited with his mother at the end of the war, they emigrate to the United States of America where relatives welcome them. Reestablishing their lives, they visit relatives, George attends high school, lifeguards at Coney Island, develops a deepening awareness of Jewish culture and what it means to be Jewish, becomes involved with the Stern Gang, and begins his studies at City College of New York. Academic intrigue and politics swirl around his graduate studies at Columbia-culminating in the rejection of his Ph.D. thesis on the controversial German constitutional lawyer and political and legal theorist Carl Schmitt. Ultimately, George triumphs academically with his second dissertation on neutral countries and nuclear weapons. Marriage, fatherhood (triplet boys), family life, disproportionate in-law issues, career, association with Hans Morgenthau and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy fill the years. In the early 1980s, after the death of Morgenthau, George takes over the intellectual leadership of the National Committee. He recounts the Committee's influence and involvement with many diplomatic initiatives; a major triumph is the brokering of peace in Northern Ireland. Finally, after many years, George capitulates to Elie Wiesel's insistence that it is his duty to write his memoirs. Odyssey of a Child Survivor: From Latvia through the Camps to the United Statesis George David Schwab's moving witness and testimony to the Holocaust, and his renewed life after the horrors he endured.

This book transports the reader to the very beginnings of the Nazi regime, as seen through the eyes of a young boy -- the only Jew in a school of Hitler Youths in a small medieval German town. It is his life journey -- his traumatic experience of Kristallnacht . . . the destruction of his home . . . separation from his parents . . . exile . . . post-war reconciliation with his ex-classmates . . . forgiveness . . . and ultimate grant of honorary citizenship -- that provides the reader with a rich, inspiring you-are-there experience seldom encountered in the Holocaust canon.

For decades the author did not realize the symptoms of PTSD and ADHD she was experiencing were due to the childhood trauma she was subjected to while a member of the Church of Scientology's Sea Organization. At the age of 17, as one of the first residents of the "Big Blue" (the landmark building in Los Angeles), she not only witnessed the largest FBI raid in history, she was also a member of the infamous 1977 PAC RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force) where she pulled 18-hour shifts performing heavy labor to renovate the new headquarters. What followed were years of sleepless nights as a member of the United States Guardian's Office while the Church battled the government to keep L. Ron Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, out of jail for her role in illegal government break-ins known as Operation Snow White. Sandra left in the 80's only to find herself haunted by the ghosts of the Church for decades. She found solidarity through her work with refugees from Cambodia and Africa and healing through her work as a photographer. She has bonded with her fellow cohorts known as the Children of Scientology, breaking the stigma of isolation so many second-generation cult survivors have struggled with. Her memoir shines the way for the children of the world who have experienced similar trauma (through genocide and war), by advancing the conversation on Adverse Childhood Experiences and how this universal crisis affects over 34 million people in the U.S. alone, transcending all racial boundaries. Her journey spans over five decades and 30 countries culminating in a truth-to-power indictment against Scientology, one of the most powerful cults in existence today, known for their celebrity followers and their well-documented attacks against their victims and critics to keep the truth from coming out. Never once has the Church taken any responsibility for their actions.

EXCERPTS FOR WEBSITE (Survivor's Odyssey - BID # 112614)As I sit by my window, gazing out over the autumnal park, the turning leaves straining in the gusting west wind, and a suggestion of morning sun stippling a clump of trees in the near distance, my thoughts return to the view from my childhood room on Lutherstrasse, a bourgeois, cobblestone-paved street in Wittenberg lined with neatly spaced lindens.How tranquil it all seemed then. Like other early childhoods contemplated late in life, mine seems idyllic in retrospect. A cozy home, devoted parents, playmates and relatives nearby. Who could have predicted then that Wittenberg, this ancient town, the cradle of the Protestant Reformation, would soon, like the rest of Germany, be swept up in the fanaticism and hysteria of National Socialism? When did I first realize that I was not just another German child, that I was merely tolerated, later reviled, and finally cast out? How strange it seems now that it took so long for me to comprehend that what was happening to me and my fellow Jews was extraordinary. **************Finally, in November 1938, all the accumulated hatred reached critical mass. And the dry tinder was ignited by an assassin's bullet. The son of Polish Jews, enraged by his parents' deportation, shot an attaché at the German Embassy in Paris, and this provided a sufficient pretext for what came to be known as Crystal Night (Kristallnacht), the opening salvo of the Holocaust. The official story was that the assassination so outraged the German people that they could not be restrained from seeking revenge. The truth is that, in a clearly coordinated effort across the entire country, synagogues were set afire, Jewish shops looted and destroyed, and Jewish homes invaded and destroyed. A mob mentality nurtured for years had, at long last, found its focus in action. *********************In the late '40s, hitchhiking was still a viable option. I was now in civilian attire, and I knew that drivers, even those open to hitchhikers, had to decide on a dime whether to stop. Most of those who picked me up whizzed past, screeched to a halt twenty yards further on, and watched me run to catch up. Once I got into the car, they checked me out and asked a few questions before deciding whether I was a keeper. Over the succeeding months, I learned a lot about people. Because I was a stranger whom they would never see again, many shared with me confidences that they could not share with family, friends or people in their communities. They told me of their addictions, their adulteries, their sexual proclivities. It wasn't because of who I was. Out of a deep need, they would have shared these confidences with almost anyone. And at times, it was uncomfortable for me to listen. I wanted them to stop talking, but I needed the ride and kept my mouth shut. *******************Aware that I would have to work part time, I answered an ad and landed a job with the Whelan's chain of drugstores as a "soda jerker." I worked two eight-hour shifts, one on Wednesdays from four to midnight, the other on Saturdays. Since I was low man on the totem pole, my employers felt free to shift me around from store to store as vacancies occurred. Most of my colleagues were unskilled drifters who worked only long enough to save a few bucks; few were college students like me. But I was soon disabused of any idea that this gave me special status. The best I could hope for was the occasional gig at an upscale location, but I was just as likely to be sent to a hellhole like the notorious hangout for pimps and drug dealers at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street. The pay was lousy, the tips few and far between, but what I learned about people was a valuable adjunct to what I learned in my college classes. *************************Until about 30 years later. He was by now a gr

These are poems from the vantage point of old age.

It must be a part of human nature to love drama. We never would have sold as many records -- and we never would have been this popular -- if our member changes did not happen. Up until that point, we were squeaky-clean nice girls who couldn't get on the cover of any magazines. --Beyoncé Knowles They're beautiful, they're talented, they're bootylicious . . . From first kisses and broken hearts to pillow fights and legal battles to losing friends and finding strength in God, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams share it all. Their example of survival has made Destiny's Child one of the most beloved, bestselling female groups ever. Here for the first time, the three share the struggles that have made them stronger, from Beyoncé's battles with weight loss and shyness, Kelly's coming to terms with growing up without a dad, and Michelle's triumph over grade-school bullies. They've grown up under the media microscope, and have had to deal with lineup changes and media rumors. Now they set the record straight. The demands and drama, the schedules and scrutiny -- from the tour bus to the dressing rooms to backstage at awards shows, Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle talk about what it takes to be successful. Whether it's changing outfits in the rain, changing their hair color, or changing a name, they've done it. Don't be mistaken, they're not a prefab group of young girls -- they're smart, independent women with a lot of soul. When these ladies had only minutes of studio time to work with Wyclef Jean to remix one of their songs, they didn't stress, they just started singing faster -- and the result was a unique sound that put them on the map. Everyone has caught on to the Destiny's Child groove -- Whitney Houston, Bono, and Michael Jackson have all given them props, and the King of Pop himself serenaded them with a rendition of “Bootylicious.” Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle take you behind the scenes of a video rehearsal at which Aaliyah rewound their practice music, to the set of Austin Powers 3, where a starstruck Beyoncé felt anything but foxy before auditioning for the part of Foxxy Cleopatra, and backstage at the Grammys, where a last-minute costume change fiasco nearly kept Michelle from going onstage. With total honesty, these soul survivors not only dish the details of their past, but share their hopes, plans, and dreams for the future.

Through the dramatic true story of one boy-Eliott ""Lonek"" Jaroslawicz-Dorit Bader Whiteman coveys the stories of the dramatic escape of thousands of Polish Jews from the encroaching Nazi menace. Whiteman draws on hours of interviews with Jaroslawicz, as well as extensive archival and other research, to narrate this saga of the only Kindertransport to leave from Russia.

"This beautifully written memoir, which shifts smoothly from past to present as it blends memory and contemporary experience, is a story that will resonate with any sensitive Jew. [The book] intrigues and challenges, transcends the personal and becomes a universal statement." -- Hadassah Magazine "In an astonishing and moving document, Weiss... describes his 1995 return trip to the Austrian hometown from which, as a boy, he fled Nazi persecution in 1938..... [T]his soul-searching odyssey... will reward readers of all faiths." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A powerful and unusually eloquent memoir of a prominent Austrian Holocaust survivor invited back to face... old ghosts and demons.... An intelligent and profound memoir." -- Kirkus Reviews David Weiss is an eminent biomedical scientist, now living in Israel. But in 1938 he was an 11-year-old boy in Austria who dramatically escaped the Nazis with his family. For some 56 years Weiss held a deep and abiding enmity for everything Austrian and German. Reluctant Return is his account of his emotional return to his hometown of Wiener Neustadt, the remarkable Christian group that brought it about, and the visit's surprising echoes and consequences.

"A Daughter of Many Mothers" is the story of Rena Quint, a Holocaust survivor who continues to give testimony in Israel, the United States, and South Africa. This book explores not only her personal Holocaust experience, but addresses the social and psychological effects on many of the remaining survivors of those horrific years.

Beaten by her mother and whipped by her stepfather, Emily eventually finds her way into the care system at the age of twelve, and has an abortion after being gang-raped at thirteen. Continuously abused in a sequence of homes, she runs away at sixteen, becomes a prostitute in Soho, and convinces herself she is being punished for killing her baby. But it was never meant to be like that. Adopted at birth in 1956 by a middle-class family, Emily shared a golden childhood with her adopted sister Amy, attending private schools, and enjoying singing and dancing lessons. Things soon changed when Emily's jealous mother came to regard her as a rival. A bored and restless woman, she beat Emily for the first time when she was seven years old and from then on seemed to become addicted to inflicting pain on her daughter. Despite Emily's father's attempts to protect her, the parental rows grew more malicious, until the mother moved out and remarried a narcissistic widower with alcohol problems and a vicious, bullying temper. The abuse intensified until Emily was placed into voluntary care. And so began a toxic spiral of remand homes, psychiatric hospitals, and sleeping rough. It wasn't long before Emily became a teenage 'working girl', where she was paid to engage in bizarre sadomasochistic acts for perverted clients, including a senior judge and a policeman. It was only when she was almost murdered that she turned her life around. Set principally between 1966 and 1972, Runawaycaptures the sleazy Soho of the period, and the frightening conditions in which many children were kept in care.