Survivor Biography

This book chronicles the journey of Eritrean-born Joseph Woldu. As a child refugee, he found himself having to adapt to changes of place, language, and customs; then as a man forced to relearn much of the same after involvement in a disastrous accident two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What makes Joseph's story so incredible is not that he survived change and tragedy, but how he continually found the strength to improve himself and his circumstances. His story reflects the importance good relationships play in our lives.

This is the true story of my childhood and the experiences I survived. When I, as a Holocaust survivor, tell of what happened, the brutality is always obvious. It is true that the most horrendous and cruel crimes were perpetrated on the Jewish people and others during the war, but I want to remind everyone that not all Germans or Polish or Ukrainians were bad people. There are, and always have been, many people in every nation who are good. We should always strive to find the good in everyone, to find ways to love and not to hate. That is the message of my story.

My life has been full of unrequested lessons. Some traumatic. Others can be described as torturous. But I have always learned something of value. I am a survivor. "Angst to Ascension" is part of my story, in poetic form. I say 'part' of my story because my story is still being written. But, no matter what life brings my way, I promise to keep surviving and learning. I will continue my ascension.

In the haunting reality captured in this audiobook, a 13-year-old soul finds himself ensnared within the harrowing confines of a nightmarish residential treatment facility. In those 60 days, his very humanity teetered on the edge, threatened to be torn asunder. This raw and unflinching account paints a vivid portrait of a young spirit's resilience and the chilling depths of human suffering.

Henny had just graduated from high school when the Germans invaded Lithuania. Her care-free life rapidly changed from a life of privilege to a living hell. Simply because she was Jewish. The horrors inflicted upon the Jews of Kovno, taken place in the old forts built during Czarist Russia, are not as well known as what happened in the German Nazi camps during World War II. Henny recounts her beautiful life in Kovno before the invasion by the Nazis when she and 35,000 other Jews were put in the ghetto. We hear about the acts of cruelty done to her family and friends.

Sala Lewis, who at age 10 was left alone to wander the streets of Poland after her family was taken away by the Nazis. She had been out with her friends and came home to find her family gone and the apartment where she lived closed off and she was not allowed in. Everything she possessed was no longer hers. She had no family, no clothes, no food, and at that moment in time, no future. It was because she was strong willed and confident that she made her way to find her sister who had been taken to a concentration camp.

What would you do if it happened to you? If you awoke one day when you were twelve years old to be informed that your life was suddenly over? Well . . . Here is what I did. If you became the wealthiest person you would ever know just three and a half years later? What would that be like? Well, this is what it was like when it happened to me.

While heartbreaking at times, these powerfully honest stories are ultimately uplifting and extremely reassuring to patients and their families. They offer the wisdom and hope that only survivors can give. Live Strong is a remarkable testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Holocaust survivor Henry Melnick was born in Lodz, Poland. Shortly after the Nazis occupied Poland in 1939, he was sent to perform slave labor in the Nowy Sącz, Tarnów, and Szebnie ghettos and work camps. He was then transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buna, Dora-Mittelbau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.

As a young child I was moved from a modern American orthodox home to my grandparents' home located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. There I met a new type of Jew, Hungarian Jews, refugees from Europe. Many had their children born in "displaced person camps." They had just arrived with their families to New York after a hard-earned escape from the Russian suppression of Hungary in 1957.

Leonore Dvorkin shares her experiences with breast cancer and the fruit of her extensive research on the subject. Her story is presented in factual, but personal manner. On the journey from chilling diagnosis through her decision to undergo a mastectomy, then 10 years of life after the surgery, her story is an uplifting voyage of personal discovery sure to inspire all who listen to it.

Georgiana White isn’t a self-help guru or spiritual leader. She doesn’t have a degree in psychology, nor is she a licensed therapist. But, she is an expert in survival. In Whispers of Hope, she narrates her story, a story of hope and resilience of the human spirit. Beginning in her childhood and continuing through the years, White shares the lessons she’s learned during her journey as she unravels the memories of trauma.