Coffee Grounds and Potato Peeling Pancakes

About the Book

It takes courage beyond belief to sneak out in the night to dig in the garbage for scraps to keep from starving when you know you would be killed if you were caught, or to crawl through ice and snow to freedom because the muscles in your legs atrophied from sitting in a hay mow for almost two years. To defect to the west, leaving all your family behind, not knowing when or if you’ll ever see them again, or to endure the work, starvation diet, and beatings of concentration camp life also were courageous acts. However, these and other challenges were everyday living for millions such as those in this book. While those around them fell victim to WWII atrocities and did not survive, these people fought hard and won the right to live.

About the Author

Helen Bigelow lives on the family farm in North Branch, Michigan, where she and her family raise strawberries and have a greenhouse business. She and her late husband have two sons and two great grandsons. While raising a family, working on the farm, involving herself with charity work, and being an educator, Helen earned a master’s degree. She retired in 1987. In the 1970’s the Bigelow family expanded to include two girls, Pilar and Eliane, exchange students from Mexico and Brazil. In her many travels to foreign countries, Helen has visited the girls and their families several times. They have visited here in recent years, visiting their numerous friends in North Branch. Through her work as a counselor, Helen placed students in American homes. Both of Pilar’s sons have gone to school in North Branch, as have Eliane’s two daughters. After fifty years on the farm, Helen now enjoys being involved with her church and playing cards several times a week. This is her first book. People interviewed for this book were referred to the author by friends in her community and through contacts from the Holocaust Memorial Center of Farmington Hills, Michigan.