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'A deeply humane memoir, of immense power - there is nothing more affecting than a first hand experience finely told' - PHILIPPE SANDS 'A fabulous memoir . . . a testament to [Malka's] skill and determination' - DAME MAUREEN LIPMAN A Mother's Courage is Holocaust survivor Malka Levine's powerful and moving tribute to a determined and resourceful woman who refused to give up hope so long as her children needed her. Malka was two when the Nazi invaders forced her family into the Jewish ghetto in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, a small city in present-day Ukraine. It was the first step in a campaign of mass murder. Of the 25,000 Jews in the city in 1939, only 30 would survive. Malka's father was shot in the first pogrom, but before he died he begged her mother Rivka to 'save the children'. Rivka kept Malka and her two older brothers alive through eighteen terrifying months, as the Nazis systematically killed the inhabitants of the ghetto. In the midst of the inhumanity, a few people risked their lives to help. A Wehrmacht officer saved them from being shot and a Polish dressmaker gave them sanctuary when the SS went hunting for victims. Then Rivka persuaded Mr and Mrs Yakimchuk, a Ukrainian farmer and his saintly wife, to hide her and the children. The Yakimchuks agreed and kept their word, even after the SS commandeered the farm. They dug a pit under their barn, and there Malka's family stayed through a freezing winter and into the summer until the Red Army came. At the end of the war, Rivka was forced to draw on her strength yet again as she set out to create a new life for herself and her children. A Mother's Courage is Malka's chance at long last to thank not only her brave mum but all the heroes who opened their hearts to her and her family.

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9781035025008

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Reviews

A vivid, compelling book that reminds us of the horrors of the Holocaust but also the resilience of the human spirit. Malka's story of her family's survival in the face of mind-numbing adversity is both moving and ultimately hopeful. * Donald Ferencz, human rights advocate and attorney *

A deeply humane memoir, of immense power - there is nothing more affecting than a first hand experience finely told * Philippe Sands * When you read Malka's story you cannot help experiencing rage at how low human beings can stoop and, at the same time, endless admiration for the best of humanity shown by Malka's utterly courageous mother and the Ukrainian Mrs Yakimchuk who risked everything to shelter Malka's family. This book is not just a deeply poignant memoir paying tribute to a brave and indomitable mother, it is history brought to life. * Jonathan Arkush, (President, Board of Deputies of British Jews 2015-2018) * A vivid, compelling book that reminds us of the horrors of the Holocaust but also the resilience of the human spirit. Malka's story of her family's survival in the face of mind-numbing adversity is both moving and ultimately hopeful. * Donald Ferencz, human rights advocate and attorney * This timely book chronicles one mother’s courage and the fate of a generation. It is poignant to compare the scene in November 1942 when the book starts in Western Ukraine with what is happening now in that benighted land . . . [an] extraordinary account of mankind’s inhumanity to man. Although tragic, it offers hope too because of the role played by Righteous Gentiles in keeping the author’s family safe. * John Bowers KC, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford *

Author Information

Malka Levine was born in Volodymyr in what is today north-western Ukraine. After the Holocaust her mother took Malka and her brothers to live in Israel. Malka married a British journalist and moved to Britain. Today she is widowed with two children and lives near Nottingham. She appeared in the documentary Getting Away With Murders, an investigation into why so many perpetrators of the Holocaust went unpunished. Our Mother's Courage is her first book.

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