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"""This is a moving remembrance, as historically edifying as it is dramatically affecting; it’s also a marvelous amalgam of scholarly objectivity and poignant psychological reflection. A gripping work of familial history. "" – Kirkus Reviews When the Germans march into their little Polish shtetl at the start of the Second World War, the Jews of Włodawa see their lives abruptly torn apart. For Hil and Alexandra it marks the beginning of a struggle to survive during which they will experience ghettos, roundups, will need to use hiding places and false identities – a struggle where the line between life and death will depend on every small decision made along the way. With the destruction of Polish Jewry as a backdrop, Jeannette Grunhaus de Gelman tells us the remarkable tale of her parents’ journey through the dark years of Europe at war, to safety and finally a new life in Venezuela."

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Jeannette Gelman writes with great clarity and passion her personal story of the Holocaust, which is also the story of her parents Alexandra and Hil. As my family's genealogist, I was especially interested in Ms. Gelman's genealogy of her family, which is very different from mine. Yet the people in the book and the story are highly relatable today, as these were ordinary people, and what happened to them could happen to any of us. Ms. Gelman's family had the misfortune to be swept up in the tide of the worst of human history. Her parents did manage to survive but also paid a heavy price, in terms of mental health, for their survival. How this price was ultimately resolved is a fascinating story. - Leigh Hallingby This book is not only a Holocaust story, it's a testament to the life of a survivor. This is the story of the author's parents. The book describes how both of them lost their families in the war and no one else left except them. It reflects their struggle to survive, how they finally got away from the dark years of the war, and how they started a new life in Venezuela (South America). - Christine Harnist

Author Information

Jeannette Grunhaus de Gelman is a Venezuelan professor, researcher, and writer. She was born in Szczecin. Poland in 1946, to Polish Holocaust survivors who came from Wlodawa. Her family emigrated to Venezuela, settling in Maracaibo. Gelman received her undergraduate degree in French from Wellesley College. In 1970, she went on to receive an MA in Spanish Literature from New York University via their extension program in Madrid and in 1976 was awarded her MA in the teaching of French from the Université de Paris III. She was a professor of French Language and Literature at the Universidad del Zulia in Maracaibo from 1971 to 1996. Travelling was one of her passions but finally in 2013 she moved to Miami, Florida with a purpose in mind. As Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor, her parents' trauma was always present in her life and she felt the need to understand what happened to the family she never had. From 2013 to 2018 she was accepted as a Research Scholar at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, focusing on Holocaust studies. As a result, she wrote On Sunny Days We Sang that was first published in Spanish in 2018 under the title En los días claros cantábamos. It is the author's first full length work, telling the story of her parents' survival in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Before the Covid pandemic, Gelman had the opportunity to lecture-high school seniors and college students on the events that lead to the destruction of Polish Jewish life. She expects to continue with these activities in the future.

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