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Fanya Gottesfeld Heller
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Love in a World of Sorrow: A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs Paperback – September 1, 2015

by Fanya Heller (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 621 ratings
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This book describes Holocaust reality as we have never encountered it before. From the unrelenting fear of death and gnawing pain of hunger, to the budding relationships of an adolescent girl growing into womanhood during the worst of all times, the author withholds nothing. Fanya Gottesfeld Heller's subtle depiction of her parents knowledge that it was a non-Jew's love for their daughter that had moved him to hide them, and their embarrassment and ultimate acceptance of the situation, lead us to wonder how we would have acted under the same circumstances as father, mother, or daughter. Love in a World of Sorrow features Fanya's gripping tale of survival and an updated foreword and epilogue by the author, reflecting more than a decade of experience bearing witness to the Holocaust before hundreds of audiences around the world. On the reading list at Princeton University, the University of Connecticut, and Ben Gurion Univesity of the Negev, among others. Fanya Gottesfeld Heller's book is an indispensable educational tool for teaching future generations about the human potential for both good and evil.
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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Sprache
    Englisch
  3. Publisher
    Gefen Publishing House
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    5.8 x 0.7 x 8.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9652298395
  7. ISBN-13
    978-9652298393
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

...exceptional eye for detail... giving an intimate sense of the day-to-day lives of her family under siege. --Jewish Book News

...had to be written and it has to be read. Every library should have...it alongside Anne Frank's Diary. --Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League

Love in a World of Sorrow is one of the most honest and captivating Holocaust memoirs I have ever had the pleasure to read. I've been teaching Holocaust studies for many years and have read extensively on the subject, but very rarely has a book touched me so deeply. Fanya Heller provides a sensitive and unapologetic view into the world she was thrust into by the Nazi plague. Her memoir reflects the unparalleled love, courage, determination, and other worldly strength called forth to overcome unimaginable realities. Fanya's heart shines through these pages, as she writes of her pain, her hope, and the choices she made in a world that had ceased to make sense. Ms. Heller does not paint herself as a hero, though all who read her story will undeniably agree that she is. She bravely writes the truth, despite the criticisms she anticipated from many fellow survivors. Fanya Heller's work will not only invite you into her heart, but will provide one of the most personal and unflinching accounts of the Holocaust you will ever find. --Kelly Ryan, Instructor, Holocaust Studies

About the Author

Fanya Gottesfeld Heller came to the United States after the Holocaust. She obtained a B.A. and an M.A. in psychology from the New School for Social Research and honorary degrees from Yeshiva University and Bar-Ilan University. She has also studied art history at Columbia University, philosophy and literature at the New School, and family therapy at the Ackerman Institute. In 1998 she established The Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism at Bar-Ilan University. In that same year, New York State Board of Regents awarded Mrs. Heller the Louis E. Yavner Citizen Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to teaching about the Holocaust and other assaults on humanity. Mrs. Heller's writings have also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Jewish newspapers nationwide. To give other educators the tools to effectively teach the lessons of the Holocaust, Mrs. Heller commissions an annual conference on Holocaust education at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. She also lectures at universities and conferences to promote further awareness of the Holocaust.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gefen Publishing House; 2nd edition (September 1, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9652298395
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9652298393
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 0.7 x 8.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 621 ratings

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Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
621 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book riveting, essential, and well worth their time. They describe the story as gripping, amazing, and inspiring. Readers praise the writing as well-written and powerful. They also say the book is hard to put down and informative.

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ReadabilityStory qualityWriting qualityDifficulty to put downInformation qualityPacing
23 customers mention "Readability"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to the point, riveting, and essential reading. They say it's informative and well-written. Readers also mention the book is a page-turner and keeps them interested from start to finish.

"This is by far one of the most interesting and devestating survival stories from the holocaust period that I've read...." Read more

"This book is a comprehensive, well-written memoir about surviving the Holocaust in Ukraine...." Read more

"...The book is riveting. I knew of the atrocities but to see them through the eyes of a young girl who lived it is life changing...." Read more

"Very good book...concerning abhorrent history...that the fortunate survivors of genocide retain their religious faith is amazing...." Read more

23 customers mention "Story quality"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the story gripping, amazing, and inspiring. They say the book is poignant and a heartbreaking true story. Readers also mention the author is incredible and the story needs to be heard.

"...This is a book that leaves a lasting impression and provokes thought about human nature the contradictions we sometimes are, as people...." Read more

"...It is also an account of hope, courage and perseverance...." Read more

"...An amazing story of survival, love, and family." Read more

"I am continually amazed at the will to survive during, what has to be, one of the most harrowing genocides of our times...." Read more

15 customers mention "Writing quality"12 positive3 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written and powerful. They also say the story is beautiful and told from the heart.

"...Heller's descriptions of the miseries they endured were well-written and powerful, however I had trouble remembering who was who among the family..." Read more

"This book is a comprehensive, well-written memoir about surviving the Holocaust in Ukraine...." Read more

"...We really have not learned from our ugly past. Well written and from the heart." Read more

"...It is well written and very moving in it's telling...." Read more

4 customers mention "Difficulty to put down"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book hard to put down and straightforward.

"...]This is one of those books that is really hard to put down...." Read more

"...I thought the book was to the point, straight forward and honest--I think it took a lot of courage for Mrs. Heller to put her experiences onto..." Read more

"...Chilling at times and honest this book is hard to put down." Read more

"Extremely powerful book, hard to put down." Read more

4 customers mention "Information quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative, easy to follow, and authentic. They also say Fanya is intelligent and articulate.

"...Fanya is a very intelligent, articulate girl growing up with a close-knit extended family...." Read more

"I liked this book. Well written. A comforting book. An informative book. Easy tofollow. Authentic. I liked the author's way..." Read more

"Educational and transparent novel that I could not put down..." Read more

"very good, informative.tragic..." Read more

4 customers mention "Pacing"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book very moving.

"...girl coming of age while hiding and fearing death at any moment is deeply moving...." Read more

"...It is well written and very moving in it's telling...." Read more

"Very moving book. The atrocities this poor girl & her family endured were unimaginable! You had no choice but to feel for them...." Read more

"Very very moving!..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Cheryl
5.0 out of 5 stars The real tragedy here is Jan...
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2015
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This is by far one of the most interesting and devestating survival stories from the holocaust period that I've read. It's one of two that I have been unable to put down until the story was completed. This is a book that leaves a lasting impression and provokes thought about human nature the contradictions we sometimes are, as people.

I'm adding to this review one day after the original because I realize now why I am so troubled by this memoir. It's because of Jan. He was persecuted for his involvement with the Jewish family, beaten, and shunned by others in the town as a "Jewish uncle," yet he continued to risk his life and reputation to save the family of the girl he loved. Then when the war ends, he's blamed for killing her father. The same man he risked his life to protect. Now, is it possible? Sure. But I read no evidence other than suspicion. Suspicion that Fanyas mother had initially placed on another Ukranian man! In a Ukranian town, with Nazi sympathizer's on the eve of the end of the war it could have literally been anyone. She says herself, in the memoir, that her father was threatening revenge on everyone in a public way the day of his death. The rea tragedy here is Jan. His persecution never stopped. He was blamed for the death of a man, within a family that he nearly lost his own life trying to protect. In the end, Fanya moves on and the persecution stops. For Jan, he spends 10 years in Siberia for being a nazi collaborator. Returns a broken man but rebuilds a life before being turned in the Russions for having stolen from Jews. Rather than return to Siberia as a slave laborer, he hangs himself. It's as though it all meant nothing. The good! His protection and sacrifice meant nothing! Not even to those he protected. I've been devastated since the completion of this book and it's because, in the end, all of his sacrifice meant nothing. He was persecuted regardless.
One person found this helpful
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Diana H. Maine
5.0 out of 5 stars Please read this book. I feel lucky to have done so.
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2016
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LOVE IN A WORLD OF SORROW: A TEENAGE GIRL’S HOLOCAUST MEMOIRS by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller.
The book contains an author’s preface to the 3rd edition (April 2015), an author’s preface to the 2nd edition (December 2004), a foreword, 8 chapters (spanning Fanya’s 18th birthday, September 26-29, 1942 to Fanya, age 20-21, August-December, 1945), an epilogue (2004) and information about the author, Fanya Gottesfeld Heller. Many photographs are included, also.
I referred to these access points often while reading, especially the epilogue and author information.
[I was given this book to read by Gefen Publishing in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.]

We meet Fanya in September, 1942, on the eve of her 18th birthday. It was the beginning of the aktsia - the extermination of the Jewish community of Skala. Skala was an old, market town on the shore of the Zbrucz River (in present-day Ukraine). The river served as a border between Poland and the Soviet Union after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919. It was a small town of 5,500 inhabitants, consisting of Greek Orthodox Ukrainians, Catholic Poles and some 1500 Jews.
Fanya is a very intelligent, articulate girl growing up with a close-knit extended family. She presents us with a day-by-grueling-day of Holocaust survival. It is an account of unimaginable pain and suffering, starvation, torture, rape, despair and desperation. It is also an account of hope, courage and perseverance. The ruthlessness and persistence of German and Ukrainian militias and their sympathizers in hunting down these people - it is sickening to read about.
I really can’t grasp what these experiences must do to a person’s psyche. What has to be ‘done’, be tolerated, be suffered; the depravity and inhumanity that is witnessed. To survive must be a courageous feat - yet at what cost to one’s soul?
Fanya wants to tell her story - I am glad that she does. I would have to quote the entire 2 author prefaces and the epilogue to list her passionate reasons why.
Please read this book. I feel lucky to have done so. It will stay with you always.
Helpful
 Bericht
Washington Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars A unique account of the holocaust
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2016
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All of the books about the Holocaust that I've read have revolved around concentration camps. This one was unique in that the main characters were in hiding throughout the war and gradually emerged as the war was ending. Heller's descriptions of the miseries they endured were well-written and powerful, however I had trouble remembering who was who among the family members and friends, and would have appreciated some reminders throughout the book. It is amazing that Mrs. Heller went on to live a loving and productive life after everything she witnessed and experienced during the war. The rabid anti-Semitism of the Ukrainians and Poles was horrifying; I was not aware of the scope and intensity of it although I always knew it existed. The author very bravely revealed personal emotions and situations in her life, and has done the world a favor by sharing her life and experiences in this book.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Bericht
California Dreaming
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is a comprehensive, well-written memoir about surviving the Holocaust in Ukraine. Although actively hunted by the Nazis, her family was assisted by a few locals in the village. They survived, against all odds, by staying in very small, hidden barn areas, despite thousands of other Jews killed in their immediate geographic areas.
Her father, at the end of the war, was killed, and she, her mother and brother traveled throughout Europe, trying to find a place to live. They were in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany, again very desperate to find necessities. She then had an arranged marriage, which was very happy, and lasted decades. Fenya devoted her life in the US to helping others, including abused women, and spoke to all types of groups about the Holocaust, survival, and good and evil.
An amazing story of survival, love, and family.
Helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and heartwrenching
Reviewed in Canada on December 23, 2020
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Written with truth and eloquence, you are transported to a horrific time, where humans showed no sense of humanhood, yet others showed how we as humans show God's true intentions for us.
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Samuel
5.0 out of 5 stars Une lecture indispensable
Reviewed in France on February 24, 2018
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Les années de plomb, le temps de l’Holocauste en Ukraine racontées par une jeune fille qui a survécu. Loin des théories fumeuses, la banalité du mal et le dévouement qui sauve l’humanité. A lire absolument. Le danger subsiste. Il est autour de nous.
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Louise Halling
5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, horrifying story of survival beyond all
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2015
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Incredible, heart wrenching, beautiful, horrifying story of survival beyond all odds
One person found this helpful
 Bericht
M. E. Wooding
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2015
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THank You
One person found this helpful
 Bericht
Joy Borthwick
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but Devastating
Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
I originally saw the author on PBS. I find it inspirational that she seems to be the single female voice regarding the plight and survival of women during this horrific period of history. The subject matter is difficult but it is easy to read. She is an inspiration.
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