Noike: A Memoir of Leon Ginsburg - Paperback

by Suzanne Ginsburg (Author)

Noike's journey begins when the Einsatzgruppen, a Nazi death squad, descends upon his hometown of Maciejow, Poland in 1942, and murders his family and thousands of their neighbors. Noike escapes deep into the Polish forests and assumes the identity of an orphaned Polish Catholic boy. Although Noike wore a cross and attended church, he could never fully hide his past. His only hope was to outlast the war and outwit his enemies. "Ginsburg eluded almost certain death multiple times over the course of many close-call years. 'That's what makes his story unique--that he was so very young and so very resourceful, ' says Dr. Rosanna Gatens, director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education." -- The Palm Beach Post "Some hidden children, such as Leon Ginsburg, were orphaned early and had no other adult to take care of them. But somehow these remarkable children were able to find adult strength in themselves--and make it. Like the late author Jerzy Kosinski's young hero in The Painted Bird, Leon is one who instinctively made the right split-second decisions that saved his life, not just once but numerous times." -- The Hidden Children, by Jane Marks (Ballantine, 1993) "Young Leon Ginsburg sat hiding in a boarded-up wall as, a few feet away, Ukrainian police bayoneted and dragged away his mother, who was hiding under bedding. Later, while out looking for food, Ginsburg escaped from a suspicious teen-ager by sticking his hand into his shirt and pretending he had a gun." -- The Houston Chronicle on The Hidden Children "One of the most moving stories...is that of Leon Ginsburg. Orphaned by 1942, he spent several silent, hungry years in Poland as a little boy on the run. His indomitable spirit enabled him to make several split-second decisions that literally saved his life. Today he is a happily married man and grandfather." -- The Economist on The Hidden Children