Product Description

Barbara Ruth Bluman chronicles her mother's dramatic journey from Nazi-occupied Poland to western British Columbia, where her legacy lives on. Bluman sets an urgent and intimate tone as she follows Zosia Hoffenberg from her genteel upbringing in Warsaw through the shock of the Blitzkrieg and on to her escape from Europe through the Soviet Union and Japan. That escape required the help of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, who defied his superiors and helped several thousand Jews to flee. Bluman also reveals how, even as she was recording her mother's tale of survival, cancer was ravaging her own body. In this interwoven narrative, Bluman explains how she garnered strength from her mother's account as a refugee, as she 'stared death in the face'. These twin narratives blossom out of salvaged journal entries and letters, and from the photographs of family members who have reunited after years of displacement. A celebration of the universal struggle for survival, this book offers a hopeful response to one of history's darkest times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2537274 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781553800705
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Barbara Ruth Bluman was a respected Vancouver lawyer and one of BCÂ’s first female arbitrators. She was driven to community activism by her parentsÂ’ survival of the Holocaust. Her deep commitment to Holocaust understanding and her passion for writing inspired her to write the story of her motherÂ’s Holocaust journey from Warsaw to Vancouver. In the middle of the project, Bluman was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and died in 2001. Her daughter, Danielle, completed the story after her death.

Customer Reviews

Perilous escape from Nazi occupied Poland
Zosia Hoffenberg was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. Her father and his brothers owned a successful men's clothing store so Zosia led a comfortable life, even though her mother was somewhat distant. As a young child, Zosia and her siblings, along with their nanny, vacationed at a resort area and met the Bluman family.

Years later, Zosia and one of the Bluman boys, Natek, were re-acquainted and fell in love. Natek's family imported dried fruits and nuts and they sent him to the United States to study for a year. In the US, Natek learned that the situation in Europe was much more grave than the Jews in Warsaw believed. He urged Zosia to join him in the US where they would get married.

Arranged marriages were common in that time and place, so Zosia refused Natek at first, even though she was desperately in love. Natek returned to Warsaw for Zosia just as the Nazis began bombing the city. Natek left for Romania to try to make arrangements to get the Hoffenberg family into the US. Things deteriorated in Warsaw and Zosia begged her father to allow her to join Natek in Romania. Her father agreed that she could be gone for two weeks.

I HAVE MY MOTHER'S EYES by Barbara Ruth Bluman is the story of Zosia and Natek's perilous escape from Europe at the beginning of World War II. (Barbara is their daughter.) There's a little bit of Barbara's own story sprinkled throughout. Zosia and Natek have a fascinating journey - they managed to escape through grit, determination, luck and the help of people like Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Lithuania, who provided travel visas for over 6000 Jews, against direct orders he received. I wasn't as emotionally connected to Zosia and Natek as I would have liked - I think that's because the book is told in the third person one generation removed. I wanted to know how Zosia and Natek felt as well as how they managed to escape. I still liked this book and think others interested in World War II will as well.