The Touch of an Angel (Paperback)

Scotia Gilroy

ISBN 10: 0253050340 / ISBN 13: 9780253050342

Published by Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 2021

About this Item

Paperback. The Touch of an Angel is the extraordinary story of a child's survival of the Holocaust. Henryk Schoenker was born in 1931 into one of the most prominent and highly esteemed Jewish families of Oswiecim-the Polish town renamed Auschwitz during the German occupation. He and his family managed to flee Oswiecim shortly before the creation of the Auschwitz death camp, and survived the war through sheer luck and a strong will to survive. The Schoenker family's return to Oswiecim in 1945 provides a fascinating glimpse of challenges faced by Jewish people who chose to remain in Poland after the war and attempted to rebuild their lives there. Schoenker's testimony also reveals an astonishing fact: the town of Oswiecim could have become the departure point for a mass emigration of Jewish people instead of the place of their annihilation. Documents included with the narrative provide support for this claim. Although he was only a child at the time, Henryk Schoenker's life experience was the Holocaust. Even so, death and the threat of death are not the focus of this memoir. Instead, Schoenker, with a touching personal style, chooses to focus on how life can defy destruction, how spirituality can protect physical existence, and how real the presence of higher powers can be if one never loses faith. His story has been made into an award-winning documentary film in Polish and German, The Touch of an Angel, directed by Marek T. Pawlowski. Pawlowski. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780253050342

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Touch of an Angel (Paperback)
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253050340
• ISBN 13: 9780253050342
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The Touch of an Angelis the extraordinary story of a child's survival of the Holocaust. Henryk Schönker was born in 1931 into one of the most prominent and highly esteemed Jewish families of Oswiecim―the Polish town renamed Auschwitz during the German occupation. He and his family managed to flee Oswiecim shortly before the creation of the Auschwitz death camp, and survived the war through sheer luck and a strong will to survive. The Schönker family's return to Oswiecim in 1945 provides a fascinating glimpse of challenges faced by Jewish people who chose to remain in Poland after the war and attempted to rebuild their lives there. Schönker's testimony also reveals an astonishing fact: the town of Oswiecim could have become the departure point for a mass emigration of Jewish people instead of the place of their annihilation. Documents included with the narrative provide support for this claim. Although he was only a child at the time, Henryk Schönker's life experience was the Holocaust. Even so, death and the threat of death are not the focus of this memoir. Instead, Schönker, with a touching personal style, chooses to focus on how life can defy destruction, how spirituality can protect physical existence, and how real the presence of higher powers can be if one never loses faith. His story has been made into an award-winning documentary film in Polish and German,The Touch of an Angel, directed by Marek T. Pawlowski.

About the Author

Henryk Schönker (1931–2019) was a mechanical engineer in Poland and Austria. He worked in the aeronautical industry after immigrating to Israel in 1961. In his later years, he became a painter and writer.

Scotia Gilroy is a literary translator.