Newcomers' Accomplishments II: Hidden Children and Holocaust Survivors

by A Robert Neurath

Testimonies provided by Holocaust survivors usually emphasize the terrible experiences endured during World War II in Nazi-occupied European countries. This might have been encouraged by interviewers. There has been little, if any, positive repercussion from surviving and starting a “new life”, mostly in another country. Accordingly, a tendency to emphasize negativity has mostly prevailed. Favorable attributes, including determination, aspirations, ability to prioritize, willingness for change, self-reliance, readiness to collaborate with and trust others, appreciating new opportunities - all prerequisites for success in a new environment - have received much less attention. Instead, traumatization for “never forgetting” has dominated. Attending to the terrible ramifications of the Holocaust does not require that it be treated forever as a current fact of life. To honor professional success, we selected achievers in sciences, visual and performing arts, literature, business, sports and foreign affairs from lists of survivors’ names (relevant to Slovakia; accessible at Yad Vashem [Israel] and the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation) by looking for additional information linked to each name. Results of this comprehensive research are described herein.

342 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2016

Reviews

[Alexander Neurath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Official Review: Newcomers' Accomplishments II

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Newcomers' Accomplishments II" by A. Robert Neurath, PhD.]



4 out of 4 stars

Review by raikyuu


Newcomers' Accomplishments II is a non-fiction book that portrays the successful lives of Holocaust survivors emigrated from present-day Slovakia after 1953. The author, A. Robert Neurath, Ph.D., makes a point to remember the lives of the survivors by celebrating their professional achievements instead of pitying them. The author makes use of comprehensive research to provide us with a book full of empowering biographies.

The book starts off with a brief history of Slovakia after the Holocaust. The author talks about an ethnic cleansing that took place between 1945 to 1950, driving out about 200,000 people and ending about 30,000 lives. After that, the book proceeds with biographies of survivors who excelled professionally in literature, science, arts, and business. Images of the survivors, as well as their works, are shown in the book.

The author intends to make the book celebratory through the survivors’ achievements. This is observed in the book cover, wherein the survivors who emigrated to other countries are still a part of a progressing world even with their traumatic past. The biographies are short, but enough to illustrate the joys, the struggles, and the successes of each survivor.

By taking a closer look, the biographies are standard. Most of them follow a format that starts with the survivor’s experience during the Holocaust or the Slovak National Uprising. This follows up with the survivor’s education, usually after emigration. Afterward, the book talks about the survivor’s works and how they became famous. This common format, I believe, is an effective way to show the lives of more than a hundred people in the book. The format is easy to read, and it follows a familiar narrative of struggle to success, a narrative that is fitting in this book. The format may seem repetitive, but this is hardly a problem if the reader is presented with the unique lives of more than a hundred people.

What I like most about the book is that it understands how narratives can shape people’s reality. What’s better is that the book applies this narrative to give us an empowering account of the lives of people, especially the Holocaust survivors. Overall, Newcomers' Accomplishments II is a worthy read full of life mixed with comprehensive research. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I can recommend this book to anyone, especially to people in the Jewish community who still feel traumatized from their past. Out of all the non-fiction books that I encountered, this book is one of the few who knows the true value of good storytelling.

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Newcomers' Accomplishments II
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