In the Ghetto and In the Forest, is available for $18 plus $3.50 shipping, a total of $21.50. For each book sold, $3 will be sent the Phoenix Bureau of Jewish Education's Holocaust projects. To purchase the book, please make a check out to Harold Minuskin for $21.50 and mail it to: H. Minuskin, 1116 McDonald Dr., Prescott, AZ 86303. Please include where you want the book mailed. In June 2014, PHSA member Harold Minuskin published the English translation of his cousin's autobiography, In the Ghetto and In the Forest. His cousin, Kalman Minuskin, was 12 years old when the Germans occupied their predominately Jewish town of Zhetel. Family Survival Background In the ghetto, my family and I shared the same hiding place with my cousin. This saved our lives when the ghetto was liquidated. When we subsequently escaped into the forest, our families again shared the same camps and underground shelters reserved for women and children. However, even at the age of 12, Kalman was determined to participate with the Jewish Partisans and seek revenge for the loss of his 2 younger brothers during the liquidation of the ghetto. Kalman had blond hair and easily disguised himself as a Gentile shepherd boy. He was able to spy on the Germans. Kalman was on his own for many days at a time while he gathered intelligence information about the Germans. If caught, he would be shot on the spot. The fact that Kalman would return to the Jewish Partisans with valuable intelligence information on a continuous basis was an amazing feat of courage for a 12-year-old. Kalman's information helped the Jewish Partisans conduct successful ambush operations against the Germans, and also helped liquidate German strongholds. After my cousin Kalman passed away in 2008, there was no English language version of his incredible survival story. I took it upon myself to translate his story from Hebrew into English with the help of my relatives and the Center for Jewish Studies at Arizona State University (ASU). The book cover depicts how I remembered the winters in the Belorussian forest, specifically the dense aspen trees covered with patches of snow as winter began to recede. Harold Minuskin |