Under My Bubbe's Wings

This is a true-life memoir of defiant endurance through cruelty and traumatic loss, leading to ultimate survival. The author presents his father’s ordeals during five and a half years of Nazi captivity during the Holocaust. Included is a section of his mother’s similar experiences, although limited by her difficulty in discussing this topic.

As the title infers, throughout he perceives the aura of his late grandma’s spirit protecting him with her angelic wings, as vowed in an early vision. Besides the brutal forced labor, extreme hunger, and massive life upheaval, there are numerous near-death escapes. He consistently feels luck being steered his way.

With this fortune, perseverance, and daring he ends up as the lone survivor of his large family. A similar outcome applies to the author’s mother. Narrated from a first-person viewpoint it depicts forced migrations, Warsaw ghetto internment, and an ever worsening struggle to survive.

Finally he must endure a series of Nazi camps for years until Russian liberation brings the war’s end. He becomes aware of the complete loss of family, being alone in the world in his early twenties. Finally free, DP camp life offers renewal, marriage, USA migration, and starting over.