Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival - Hardcover

Van Beek, Flory

4.25

835 ratings by Goodreads

9780061176142: Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061176141 ISBN 13: 9780061176142

Publisher: HarperOne, 2008

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In 1939, as the Nazi occupation grew from threat to reality, the Jewish population throughout Europe faced heart-wrenching decisions--to flee and lose their homes or to go into hiding, hoping against all odds to avoid the fate of being discovered. Holocaust survivor Flory A. Van Beek faced this terrible choice, and in this poignant testament of hope she takes us on her personal journey into one of history's darkest hours.

Only a teenage girl when the Nazis invaded her neutral homeland of Holland, Flory watched the only life she had ever known disappear. Tearfully leaving her family, Flory tried to escape on the infamous SS Simon Bolivar passenger ship with Felix, the young Jewish man from Germany who would later become her husband. Their voyage brought not safety but more peril as their ship was blown up by Nazi planted mines, one of the first passenger ships destroyed by the Germans during World War II, sending nearly all of its passengers to a watery end. Miraculously, both Flory and Felix survived.

After recovering from their injuries in England, they returned to their homeland, overjoyed to be reunited with their families yet shocked to discover their beloved Holland a much-changed place. As the Nazi grip tightened, they were forced into hiding. Sheltered by compassionate strangers in confined quarters, cut off from the outside world and their relatives, they faced hunger and the stress of daily life shadowed by the ever-present threat of certain death. Yet they also discovered, with the remarkable and brave families who sacrificed their own safety to help keep Flory and Felix alive, a set of friends that remain as close as family to this day.

A tribute to family, faith, and the power of good in the face of disparate evil, this gripping account captures the terror of the Holocaust, the courage of those who risked their lives to protect their fellow compatriots, and the faith of those who, against all odds, managed to survive.

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Review:

"A simply-told testimony of much power." -- Jewish Week

"An amazing account -- it makes you want to head straight for Holland and shake everybody's hand. . . . Horror is real; the Nazis insisted on it, sponsored it even. But decency is real, too, and sometimes it prevails. This book bears witness to that."--Washington Post

"Flory is a powerful memoir of persecution, survival, and a young couple's devotion."--Richard Paul Evans, New York Times bestselling author

"While the immediate association is Anne Frank's attic, Van Beek's straightforward account brings a fabled and singular Jewish culture to the forefront...her most striking touch is her account of the Dutch restoring their original street names after the defeat of Hitler."--Forward

"A vivid story of the Holocaust and its few survivors."--Booklist

"A simply-told testimony of much power."--Jewish Week

"Flory's story is filled with history, heartache and hope...an important contribution to the understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust and the spirit of survival."--Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League

"This has intrinsic value as a Holocaust survivor testimony."--Publishers Weekly

"This moving story of courage and survival is a must read for everyone, so that future generations of the world should never forget the Holocaust."--Rabbi Marc S. Rubenstein, Spiritual leader of Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach

From the Publisher:

Memoir of survival during the Holocaust.
"I have always believed in survivor's testimonies: they are unique. It is impossible to understand the Holocaust and its meaning without becoming acquainted with their experiences which they alone can tell with true authority." Elie Wiesel, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Boston University, and Nobel Peace Laureate - 1986. "Flory is a powerful memoir of persecution, survival, and a young couple's devotion." Richard Paul Evans, New York Times Best-Selling Author. Like Anne Frank, Flory Van Beek was a young girl caught in the ruthless Nazi occupation of Holland. But Flory survived to recount this extraordinary story of persecution and survival. Flory and her husband, Felix, endured the sinking of a ship bound for safety in the New World, the increasing danger of the occupation, and finally a life in hiding. There, cut off from the outside world and their families, they faced the hunger and stress of daily life in confined quarters along with the ever-present threat of discovery and certain death. This inspiring account vividly captures the terror of the Holocaust while telling a poignant story of love and courage.

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