MJCCA Book Fest Presents Tova Friedman - The Daughter of Auschwitz
A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
The 31st Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA welcomes the author for a conversation on her book, “The Daughter of Auschwitz.” Friedman will appear in conversation with Rabbi Brian Glusman.
This special Kristallnacht event is free and open to the community. A Cappella will have copies of “The Daughter of Auschwitz” for purchase at the venue. Masks are optional.
About the Book
"I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and a half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So, I must speak on their behalf."
Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was four when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labor camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau.
During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale.
As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited.
In “The Daughter of Auschwitz,” Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it's in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honor the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's meticulous research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about the world's worst ever crime.
About the Authors
Tova Freidman is eighty-four years old and lives in Highland Park, NJ. She is one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz and uses her vivid memories to write and speak against anti-Semitism and prejudice. She was the director of a nonprofit social service agency for twenty-five years and continues to work as a therapist.
Malcolm Brabant is an award-winning British former war correspondent, who witnessed genocide in Bosnia. His evocative writing style and forensic probing of Tova's memories remind readers of the horrors of the Holocaust at a time when hate is on the rise around the world and history's worst crime is fading from memory. He is now a foreign correspondent for PBS, with several accolades to his name.
(Author of the Foreword) Ben Kingsley is a distinguished veteran of stage and screen. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in “Ghandi,” and has starred in other memorable films, such as “Bugsy,” “Sneakers,” and “Schindler's List.”
