Hidden Gold: A True Story of the Holocaust

by Ella Burakowski

Overview

The Gold family lived an idyllic life in pre-war Poland, each doing their part to run the family grocery store and tobacco concession. The oldest daughter, Shoshana, had many friends, her sister Esther was meticulous as she worked at the family store, and young David was doted on by them all. But that life is shattered in 1939 when Germany invades Poland and Jewish people are forced into the streets; their homes, schools, and businesses burned. We follow the Gold family’s journey as they are forced into hiding. Just hours before the Nazis come to take over their current town, their mother has a premonition that today they will have a savior. When that someone appears, they are given hope for the first time since leaving home. But Shoshana has learned to be wary of strangers and knows that her family is in danger. The Golds hide in a cramped, secret enclosure for twenty-six months. Appalling conditions, starvation, fear of imminent betrayal and capture makes this a heart-stopping testament to the human spirit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927583753
Publisher:	Second Story Press
Publication date:	10/02/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	324
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ella Burakowski has been writing a column in The Canadian Jewish News for the past 20 years. Now the Operations Manager at The CJN, Ella has been working full time at the paper, learning the newspaper business from the ground up. Born in Israel to two Holocaust survivors, Ella was compelled to write her family's story when her Uncle David described her family's experience during World War II.

Editorial Reviews

08/10/2015
Burakowski’s account of her mother’s family’s experiences during the Holocaust is based on the memories of the one surviving member, youngest child David. The Golds are well-off Jewish merchants in Pinczow, Poland, when anti-Semitism begins to grow. When Nazis invade Pinczow, 12-year-old David, his two sisters, and mother—separated from the children’s father—flee in search of refuge, ultimately spending 26 harrowing months in a hidden crawlspace in a barn. The story of a Polish-Jewish family forced into hiding from the Nazis is by its very nature compelling, and the Golds’ familial bond and undaunted spirits are commendable, as is David’s memory for detail. However, the book suffers from wooden writing (“Not only was she probing for information, but also she was also genuinely concerned for this woman”), an overwhelming cast of characters (Burakowski jumps from one point of view to another), and occasional errors in the use of Polish names. The final chapter tells the fate of each family member, and a glossary of Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew, and German words is provided. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

...the well-developed characters and the bond between the Gold family members as they endure terrible hardships end up making this an engaging story.... The book also includes pictures of the Gold family, the barn where they hid, and various other objects and documents that help the reader understand this incredible true story.

Resource Links

Exceptionally well written and presented, "Hidden Gold" is a valued and welcome addition to the growing library of Holocaust literature. Very highly recommended for community and academic library Holocaust Studies collections.

The Midwest Book Review

This powerful book is presented like a mystery. The reader eagerly reads page after page in order to discover what will happen to the desperate characters.

Jewish Book Council

In this labour of love, Burakowski reminds us the millions who perished were all individuals who died horrible deaths, and that those few who survived owed their lives to a fate no less arbitrary than that which led others to their death.

Winnipeg Free Press

[Hidden Gold] is a simply told story that grabs at your heart and is a reminder of the horrors of war and the bond of family love.

Calgary Herald

Infinitely stunning... Burakowski crafts an excellent story based on the recollections of her family.

Paper. Work. Blog.

Hidden Gold is a perfect title for this book that pays tribute to the strength of family and the resilience that each member drew upon to help them individually and collectively survive the ordeal. The book will nurture empathy in readers young and not-so-young alike.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

2015-07-15
Burakowski's debut novel, based on her mother's Holocaust experiences, describes a prominent Polish family's desperate struggle to endure. As the Nazi threat looms, patriarch Leib Gold attempts to secure a safe hiding place for his family. Leib leaves his wife, Hanna, and the children, Shoshana, Esther, and David, promising to meet the next day. Hanna never sees him again. Money and Shoshana's fair complexion and fluent Polish help Hanna keep the rest of the family intact and alive, albeit just barely, until the Russian Army liberates Poland. Too much history is ponderously presented at the book's outset, impeding the story and preventing development of the characters. Indeed, it takes a good third of the book to get to the gripping story of the desperate 26 months, beginning in November 1942, that the four Golds spend hiding in the annex of a barn where they are unable to stand erect. Dependent on the avariciousness of unethical Poles, crawling through sewers, living in filth, infested with lice, toileting with no privacy, fearsomely hungry, fearing death: both risks and the boredom are well-conveyed. The book concludes with a short chapter describing their post-liberation lives. Appended is a glossary of German, Polish, and Yiddish words, as well as photos of the family and the barn, which should help stir empathy. Readers who persevere will discover an affirmation of human courage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews