February 17, 1921 – December 8, 2017
Christine Brunak
(aka Krystyna Ros.Sorell)
[Note: Christine Brunak (pen name Krystyna Ros.Sorell) passed away in Los Angeles, California, on December 8, 2017, at the age of 96. Visit "Remembering Cristina" website.]
The Wall Between Us
by Krystyna Ross.Sorell
What is most remarkable to me about this book is that I know the author extremely well, and I never knew all these details about her life in Warsaw during World War II. Chris, as we call her, is the companion of my friend Arjan’s father, Evert Jan Post. They live in California. Chris, a retired teacher of English as a Second Language, is now in her nineties, and Jan, a theoretical physicist, is over 100!
The book takes a matter-of-fact tone about some of the most horrific events to take place in our lifetimes. The main character, Barbara, is the voice Chris uses to describe her own non-fiction account of her experiences and those of people she knew.
The book is called “a true story” and a “nonfiction novel”. How much of the story is actually hers, and how much is based on other people she knew, the author leaves a mystery, out of “the need to respect the privacy of the characters in the story, those who are dead as well as still living.” I will respect her own need for privacy, but the majority of what she writes about rings true as a first-person account.
As the book jacket says:
“The Wall Between Us is a true story of incredible survival and sorrow during World War II. We first meet 19-year-old Barbara in 1939, just after the Germans have invaded Poland. The daughter of Jewish parents, Barbara refuses to live in the Nazi-established Warsaw Ghetto, preferring instead to get fake papers and hide on the “other side” with Aryan families, some of which know the truth about her identity and others who would turn her in if they did.”
“As Barbara crosses between her hiding spot on “the other side” and her family’s apartment in the Ghetto, we not only witness the desparation of Warsaw’s Jewish community, but the inability and in many cases— refusal— to do anything to help. Even Barbara— who seeks out hiding spots and fake papers for friends and family in the Ghetto— feels helpless in the face of such horrors.”
“As we follow Barbara back and forth through the Ghetto Wall and watch as her family disappears to concentration camps, we see a young woman who manages to survive one of the worst atrocities in history through undying love for her parents as well as a deep faith in God.”
“A unique character in the world of Jews and Aryans, heroes and villains, Barbara offers us a fresh and honest insight into how her beloved homeland and its citizens became both victims of, and participants, both willing and unwilling, in the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people as well as Polish nationals.”
The book is published by Xlibris in hardcover (ISBN 978-1-4257-4470-0) and softcover (ISBN 978-1-4257-4469-4). Find the book on Amazon.com (may say “out of stock”; available on-demand only).