NEW YORK (MMD Newswire) July 12, 2010 -- In Psalms, Hirsch Grunstein describes his two-year hiding ordeal as a Jewish teenager during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II. "I feel it was a story that cried out to be told, prompting copious note-taking for decades, until I found, in retirement, the time and the tranquility to write it," explains Grunstein.
Grunstein covers the preceding two years of ever-tightening Nazi decrees against the Jews that culminate in their deportation by the tens of thousands from Belgium to the death camps. Psalms follows Grunstein as he flees Antwerp and finds a second home with a Flemish village blacksmith. In his new home, he must change his name to Henri Govaerts.
In an effort to cope as a recluse, Grunstein passes the time by playing solitaire, reading the newspaper and a weekly magazine, daydreaming, and spinning fantasies. Two books give him a moral lift: the Book of Psalms, which his father gave him when they parted and becomes a vessel for his emotions ranging from fear and rage to yearning and hope; and an automobile course that the blacksmith gave him and which sparks his resolve to become an engineer and inventor.
Psalms describes the violent, emotion-laden, almost surreal 18-hour episode of Grunstein's capture by the SS. After his capture, he is held in a children's home, but, along with more than 600 other children, he is saved from deportation by the Belgian Underground with the help of the local population. Henri's parents, younger brother, and rescuers also survived.
Psalms is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author
Hirsch Grunstein was raised in Antwerp, Belgium. By age 12, he was fluent in Yiddish, Flemish, French and modern Hebrew. He resumed his studies after the war and received an engineering degree from the University of Liège. He worked for several years in Belgium and Israel. In 1958, at age 30, Grunstein immigrated to the United States where he worked until his retirement as an engineer, consultant and lecturer. He lives in New York.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Hirsch Grunstein
E-mail: hgrunstein@rcn.com
Phone: (212) 582-1095
Web: www.createspace.com/900004363
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