Ruth Klein's story is about merchants and landowners - aristocratic Polish Jews. It's about their lives in refugee and concentration camps. About parents who survived the Holocaust but could not overcome the tragedy they had experienced, and about their children, who became indirect victims of the atrocities endured by Holocaust victims. After their liberation, Ruth's parents were brought to the Displaced Person Camps in Germany, where they awaited departure to the United States. They were traumatized, starving, and impoverished - but they were among the survivors. Once in America, however, their struggles didn't end. Nearly penniless, Ruth's family - and the close-knit group of Polish refugees they belonged to - were placed for settlement in Los Angeles, where they lived in poverty only a few miles away from the wealth and glamor of Hollywood and Beverly Hills in the early 1950s. Ruth tells how, time after time, her parents had their dreams broken, only to rebuild them again. She also shares what it was like to grow up with parents who were permanently damaged by the effects of the war. Theirs was a dysfunctional household; her parents found great joy and delight moving through life's experiences in their new country, yet tumult and discord colored their world as well. As a young girl, Ruth developed a passionate relationship with the piano, which allowed her to express a wide range of feelings through her music - and survive the chaos at home. Full of both humor and unfathomable tragedy, Surviving the Survivors is Ruth's story of growing up in an environment unique in time and place, and of how, ultimately, her upbringing gave her a keen appreciation for the value of life and made her, like her parents, a survivor.

About the Author
Ruth Klein was born in Berlin, Germany and arrived in America as a three-year-old with her parents and older sister. She grew up in Southern California and later moved to Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Since early childhood, her training in classical music has been the focal point of her life. Growing up surrounded by the history of the Holocaust, she and her sister developed a keen understanding of the impact of the Holocaust on the world-an understanding that led her to write this memoir. Klein taught piano in Houston, Texas, for twenty-three years. Her other interests include the fine arts, literature, and foreign languages . She still lives in Houston with her husband, a biomedical scientist.


Book Information
ISBN 9781631524714
Author Ruth Klein
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint She Writes Press
Publisher She Writes Press