Synopsis

“I spent the first three years of my life unaware of the disaster that had befallen my family.” Annette Libeskind Berkovits writes: “I was shaped by the aftermath of the Holocaust…I adapted…grew a protective shield for self-preservation, then put on a smile and moved forward to meet the world on my own terms.”

She was born in exile among the red poppy-strewn foothills of the Himalayan Mountains and raised in Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Annette and her parents returned via cattle train to Poland only to discover that the Nazis had murdered almost their entire extended family and reduced their homes to rubble. After her parents obtained exit visas from the Soviet authorities, she became a teenage immigrant to two different countries in the space of two years.

Israel, a country barely ten years old – rough, sweet, vibrant, with its brilliant sky and azure sea – was like stepping into Technicolor after Poland’s dreary grays. Annette fell in love with it. But just two years later Annette’s life was upended again when the family was driven to emigrate to America.

Leaving the blue of Israel behind Annette was greeted by the green patina of the Statue of Liberty as the ship reached New York harbor. Her father and an Auschwitz survivor aunt welcomed the family with excitement, but many obstacles lay ahead.

The American immigrant experience is realized here from a perspective of a young girl. New languages, customs, and cultures, learned at lightning speed while mastering the normal angst of adolescence, make this a vivid and immersive memoir, rich with the detail of everyday life.

Annette graduated from one of the most selective public high schools in America and later became an internationally respected wildlife conservation educator and a writer of memoir, poetry, and historical fiction. Her brother, Daniel Libeskind, the internationally renowned architect, is very much a part of her story.

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Excerpt

During the mid-40s and 50s there was no organization more feared or more powerful in Poland than the UB, the Ministry of Public Security—the secret police. More than 30,000 of its employees were installed in every community to serve as a listening post for the faintest signs of political opposition. Everyone was considered a suspect under the UB’s lidless gaze. To maintain its grip, the communist government depended on neighbor denouncing neighbor. Within a decade more than 300,000 people were arrested and 9,000 executed for alleged anti-government activities.

In our home conversations were usually whispered, especially if they related to money, to our friends or neighbors, or things about our plans for the future, to anything of importance. “Sha, sha,” Mama usually cautioned with a finger to her lips and a look of concern on her crinkled forehead. “Even the walls have ears.”

It wasn’t until much later that I understood the reason for the secrecy. In communist Poland any neighbor could have been a spy and even the most innocent remark could have landed my parents in jail, or subjected them to relentless scrutiny and endless questioning by the authorities. As uncomfortable as such a life must have been for my parents, we kids felt a part of our own little secret society, taking comfort in our togetherness and a shared sense of purpose; us against unfriendly neighbors and a hostile city. In Poland we were keenly aware that we were Jewish, like none of our neighbors. That meant that many of our relatives were killed

during the war, that my parents spoke Yiddish, but only at home, and that Israel was where some of my mother’s relatives lived. It also meant that our neighbors thought we had horns and lice on our heads, and piles of money under our mattresses. At least this is what I surmised from the frequent derogatory comments thrown our way.

About the Author

Annette Libeskind Berkovits is the author of two acclaimed memoirs: “In the Unlikeliest of Places: How Nachman Libeskind Survived the Nazis, Gulags and Soviet Communism” a story of her father’s survival, and “Confessions of an Accidental Zoo Curator.” She has also penned a poetry book, “Erythra Thalassa: Brain Disrupted” and a historical fiction novel, “The Corset Maker.” “Aftermath” is her latest release.

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