In Sunshine And in Shadow: We Remember Them - Tapa blanda

In Sunshine and In Shadows: We Remember Them is a perfect title for this outstanding book, for it vividly portrays the beautiful life of a young girl, Vera, and her family — her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents — prior to 1939 and the darkness of the years during; the Holocaust and then once again the sunshine after 1945. All readers will learn much from the autobiography about family, perpetrators, heroes — especially Raoul Wallenberg. and about the consequences of the evils of bias, bigotry, and prejudice. Teachers using the memoir and the photographs will be able to assist students to learn about the Holocaust and specifically in New Jersey to meet the legislative educational mandate to teach about Holocaust and genocide. — Dr. Paul B. Winkler. Executive Director, New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.

The author, Vera Herman Goodkin was born in Czechoslovakia, enjoying an idyllic childhood until the Nazi occupation on March 15, 1939. Her family — the Rothmans and the Burners — lived in Uzhorod, a small town in the heart of the Karpathian Mountains, for five generations. After the Nazi occupation her father and mother as well as nine year-old Vera endured harassment and humiliation because they were Jews. Finally they fled their home, hiding with relatives, in attics, and cellars. Later the three were caught and imprisoned separately. Happily the three came to Budapest, Hungary, where they were saved and reunited by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish lives. The family immigrated to the United States in October 1947, when Vera finished her high school education. Vera's education culminated with an MA in French and a Ed.D. in English. Having retired after thirty-four years of college teaching. Dr. Goodkin now lectures about her experiences during the Holocaust as a cautionary tale about what can happen when hatred and prejudice are carried to the extreme — genocide. This memoir of Vera's coming of age during the Nazi occupation as well as her memories of her grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles is a family history as well as a personal history. Readers will be inspired and moved by this memoir — In Sunshine and In Shadow:We Remember Them.