'I Choose Life' is the true, first person account of two Jewish youths, Sol and Goldie, who survived Nazi concentration camps and transcended despair by choosing life. The book title derives from a harrowing encounter between Sol and the Commandant in Auschwitz. T
From Joseph S. Finkelstein: This book is a memoir written in the first person and tells the story of my parents' childhoods in pre-war Poland, their Holocaust experiences in various labor and concentration camps, and their rebuilding of Jewish life in America.
Both of my parents rebuilt their lives after the Holocaust as new people. They decided that they would not burden their children, nor to the extent possible, their own marriage with painful memories of the past. So, as the second-generation children of survivors, my siblings and I grew up in America without knowledge of the life and death events that our parents had experienced in Europe.
Gradually, my parents began telling their experiences through oral history projects and other media. But still I felt the need to do more. 'I Choose Life' has enabled my parents to leave a legacy of their experiences to their family and to future generations. As the next generation, I rejoice in the choices and courage of my parents, Sol and Goldie. As a child of Holocaust survivors, I take upon myself the legacy to preserve the history and memories of what they endured. It is the responsibility of all of us to listen, to learn, to embrace these stories, and to educate the next generation.