This wise and honest account is a moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. In lucidly eloquent prose that resonates with quiet power, Samuel Goetz reminds us that we must never forget one of the greatest crimes against humanity.
As the Nazis tighten their stranglehold on the Jewish ghetto in Tarnow, a young Polish boy gathers the courage, cunning and resiliency he will need to survive.
Sam Goetz is only eleven when he begins a harrowing odyssey. An innocent but perceptive child, he is perplexed by the seeming passivity with which the adults in his world accept the restrictions imposed by their oppressors. Even as his family struggles to sustain a semblance of normality, he witnesses brutality in the streets of the ghetto and begins to understand the sinister reason for the disappearance of neighbors and relatives. After he watches the departing train that will transport his parents to certain death, he sublimates his despair and fear to a steely determination to survive.
I Never Saw My Face chronicles the Holocaust through the eyes of a remarkable youth. When the Nazis inevitably apprehend Sam, this intensely personal narrative takes us across the surreal landscape of war-torn Europe, as Sam, with extraordinary maturity, resolve and ingenuity, lives by his wits to endure the unspeakable horrors of the death camps.
Samuel Goetz was born in Poland. He lived in the town of Tarnow under German occupation until he was deported to the first of three concentration camps. Following liberation he spent four years in a displaced personsŐ camp in Italy, where he met his future wife, Gertrude.
After emigrating to the United States, he resumed his education, graduated from the UCLA School of Public Health, and earned his doctorate in Optometry. Following years of private practice, he joined the faculty of the Southern California School of Optometry.
A prominent spokesman for Holocaust survivors, he founded the UCLA Chair on Holocaust Studies and organized the unprecedented preservation project that recorded on videotape the testimonies of Holocaust survivors.
He is currently a member of the Content Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and has received numerous awards for his outstanding work for humanitarian causes.
Dr. Goetz lives with his wife, Gertrude, in Los Angeles, California.
