Temple B’nai Chaim in Georgetown is hosting a special author appearance this Sunday, April 23, to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, “Yom HaShoah.” Author Ann S. Arnold and her father, Mark (Manek) Schonwetter, a survivor of the Holocaust, will be appearing and speaking about Mark’s experience escaping death as a young Jewish boy in Poland during World War II.
Arnold tells her father’s story in her just-published book, Together–A Journey for Survival.
Sunday’s presentation begins at 10 a.m. and will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. The event is appropriate for ages 12 and up, and is open to the public.
According to the synopsis, Arnold’s grandmother, “Sala Schonwetter, lived the perfect life. Married to the man of her dreams, mother to two beautiful children, and a member of one of the most respected families in town, she had it all. The year was 1939, and the world was about to change. In a heartbreaking instant, she had to trade her life of security, family, and simple pleasures, for one of unspeakable loneliness, hardship, and danger. Nothing more than hunted prey, she relied on her inner strength and indomitable will to keep her children alive. But would it be enough? How far would she have to go, and did she have the resolve to get there? One thing she knew for sure …she and her children would live or die one way…together.
“In Together: A Journey for Survival, Ann Arnold shares her family’s journey through Poland’s countryside as a war of nations thunders around them. The story displays the magnificent strength of a mother’s love and the incredible courage of good people during the worst of times.”
Temple B’nai Chaim is located at 82 Portland Ave., in Georgetown.