Barry Fireman

The Holocaust has come to be known as the greatest attempt in history to destroy European Jewry. But the plight of the Jews began many years before the events of World War II. The author, Barry Fireman, compiled the stories told to him mostly by his father and expanded the events with contributions from his mother, grandmother, cousins, other family members and friends of the family who came from similar towns and villages. While the subject matter was very painful for most people who escaped from that terrible time and place in history, Mr. Fireman's father regaled anyone who would listen to his stories of life in Shargorod and how he tried to join the Bolsheviks and fight with them for the Utopian World they promised.

Mr. Fireman traveled to Ukraine and spent several days in Shargorod to see first hand what is left of the crumbling shtetl and to experience the remnants of the street on which the family lived. He traveled the actual roads and experienced the terrain over which the family had to travel in order to escape. Many of the villages and towns still exist there, but soon will pass into history as the Jews are few and are either dying out or moving to other countries. The story includes their flight to freedom in an historical narrative that echoes the grim memories of those sinister years, yet illuminates a spark of hope for humanity.

From The Broken Windows chronicles the survival of the one family during historically unheralded times when Jews found themselves under attack in their towns and homes in early 20th century Ukraine/Russia. Many ruthless armies and bandits roamed the land and pogroms increased in frequency and ferocity. The victims, unjustly hated, found it difficult, if not impossible, to escape. The American descendants of those people who braved the perilous circumstances of the appalling escape and flight to freedom's beckoning light will take pride in reading this book. This is their story.