Near Normal Man

In this powerful memoir, Ben Stern tells his own, unforgettable story as a Holocaust camp survivor who by the age of 24 survived two ghettos, nine concentration camps, and two death marches. In story after story of near impossible survival, he lives with singular courage and unshakable kindness and hope – his only weapons against the Nazis’ determination to destroy everyone and everything Jewish in Europe.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1921, Ben is seventeen years old when the Nazis invade his town of Mogielnica. His parents
and grandmother insist that he flee: Whatever you do, you save yourself! And indeed, he escapes to Russia and safety,
but when he learns his family has been thrown out of their business and home and his mother is sick, he resolves to
return to them, dodging the Russian army, the German army, and Poles hunting for Jews they might turn in for a bag
of sugar. They wind up together but soon are forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. We hold our breaths and our hearts as
we watch Ben’s on-the-fly decisions that in a mix of resourcefulness, canniness, and plain luck manage to save him
from the brink of annihilation via slavery, starvation, beatings, shootings, whippings, and a certain death sentence
from Dr. Mengele himself.

Liberated at last on May 8, 1945, Ben finds he can be free only when he chooses to let go of hatred. Thirty years later,
he sparks and leads the resistance when Nazis in America plan to rally in his adopted hometown of Skokie, Illinois. Standing up against tremendous opposition, Ben builds national support, prompting the Nazis to cancel at the last minute.

Forty years later, Ben defies Nazis again for the third time in his lifetime.