Originally published by Pat Black-Gould on September 3, 2022
We witnessed another anniversary this week… an anniversary I wish we’d never have to acknowledge. It was on September 1, 1939, that Hitler invaded Poland and quickly gained a foothold in Warsaw, the Polish capital. Responding to this aggression, France and Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s looked back at this event, and it was a moving show and a tribute to the lives lost and its survivors. Blitzer’s family experienced first-hand the atrocities of the Nazi’s invasion of Poland. I wasn’t aware his family was from Poland or that he lost family members in the Holocaust.
Blitzer introduced viewers to this traumatic time from a personal perspective, and he also took viewers on a tour of the Washington D.C. Holocaust Memorial.
Check out CNN for more about this television special. And you can learn more about the Holocaust Museum here.
For more about the Nazi’s invasion of Poland, visit The Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia here.
You can also learn more on Wolf Blitzer’s discussion about his family’s personal experience during the Nazi’s genocide, explore these additional stories from The Times of Israel and also The Jerusalem Post.
I also recommend you view this special marking the five-year anniversary of the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. With their flaming torches, racist and anti-Jewish slogans, and actual violence, visions of Nazi Germany come flooding back. To learn about the history of today’s conspiracy beliefs that are fueling today’s hatred and violence, view this special event.
People ask why I wrote The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey, I simply say, “This is a story I had to tell.” It’s a tale of a young girl in Poland as the Nazis invade her country. And its message is as relevant today, I’m sorry to say, as it was decades ago.
In my book, The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey, Lalka’s mother knew there was danger ahead from the Nazis and had been preparing her daughter for some time. Seven-year-old Lalka did not understand what was about to happen to her.
As winter approached, Lalka’s mother bundled her up. This trip they were about to make was not a trip to the lake. It would be a journey that would change Lalka’s life forever.The Crystal Beads is available on many booksellers, including on Amazon.