Foreword Family TreesPrewar Bedzin Prewar Comanesti Bedzin GhettoForced Labor CampsThe Kamionka GhettoExtermination through Work Expulsion from Comanesti Trading Shoes for FoodDestruction of the Jews of BedzinDad’s First Family Sonderkommando Angel of Death Resilience and Resistance Oksenhendler Family SurvivorsZloczower Family Survivors Liberation and the Aftermath An Eye for An EyeNew Life in Israel Walking the Streets of Bedzin Trauma and Memory Who names a Child Willie Handler? My Earliest Memories Guilt Trips Evil Faceless Bureaucrat Blood Money The Shtetl Market in Toronto Other Types of Camps Drek from California The Society Moving up North The Favorite Child Dad hated Sports Retail Circus Dad’s Philosophy to Life Food within a Holocaust Family Back to Haliburton You never Call Struggling to Make Sense of Judaism Aging Survivors Memory Loss Poland’s Jewish Revival Afterword Acknowledgments Photos Glossary Bibliography Amsterdam Publishers Holocaust LibraryIn this poignant memoir, the author uncovers his family's hidden Holocaust history, revealing their extraordinary survival, devastating losses, and the lasting impact on his own life.Growing up, the author and his family constantly lived under the shadow of the Holocaust. There was persistent tension at home. He was frequently told: “Finish your dinner. We didn’t have food like this in the camps.”His parents only provided bits and pieces of their Holocaust experiences, since he “didn’t need to know.” A few years ago, Willie Handler decided that he did need to know. Thus began a journey into his family’s past, eventually revealing their extraordinary survival and painful losses. Their stories reflect not only the evil that swept Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, but also the resilience of the human spirit.His parents appeared to have taken some shocking secrets to their graves, forcing the author to view them in a different light. With the acknowledgement of his own buried trauma, and following years of research, he has finally stepped out from the shadows.Growing up, the author and his family constantly lived under the shadow of the Holocaust. There was persistent tension at home. He was frequently told: “Finish your dinner. We didn’t have food like this in the camps.”His parents only provided bits and pieces of their Holocaust experiences, since he “didn’t need to know.” A few years ago, Willie Handler decided that he did need to know. Thus began a journey into his family’s past, eventually revealing their extraordinary survival and painful losses. Their stories reflect not only the evil that swept Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, but also the resilience of the human spirit.His parents appeared to have taken some shocking secrets to their graves, forcing the author to view them in a different light. With the acknowledgement of his own buried trauma, and following years of research, he has finally stepped out from the shadows.