IMPOSSIBLE TO FORGET
Living with Anti-Semitism
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Anna reflected on her freshman year. She had made a few nice friendships on campus, but nothing that would sustain her during her time at this school. Some of her classmates wanted to be friends with her, but were fearful of reprisals. It really was a terrible situation. She had survived so much: Initiation, and looking as ugly as Sin during that week, and putting up with more hateful prejudice and ignorance than could be imagined in a supposed civilized world. She remembered the Swastikas on her lockers, and on her book covers, which she changed almost daily with fresh grocery brown paper bags, that her parents never saw. Add to that, the pushing and shoving she endured for no particular reason, which caused skinned knees, hands and elbows. She never did know who was responsible. She endured verbal abuses by the teachers and the adults in the school whom she should have been able to go to when her heavy cross got too hard to carry. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why being Jewish was so terrible. God was a Jew, wasn’t He? Yeah, well look what happened to Him!
She made up her mind that if more persecution followed her into her sophomore year, she would just do her best to ignore it. She remembered saying about a thousand times, “I’m not Jewish, I’m Egyptian,” to no avail. Thank God that first year was past, and hopefully, never to be repeated.
Nice try, Anna, but NO SUCH LUCK! The outrageous and ridiculous jeering of “Hey, Jew, you here again?” followed her right into her sophomore year, along with the same Swastikas back on her locker doors. Anna kept telling herself that she could handle it.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The year was 1945, and Anna Balak was 13 years old, and beginning her much-awaited Freshman year at a high school in
Anna was Egyptian, and of Middle Eastern heritage. She had an olive complexion, dark hair and eyes, and a large nose, which separated her from the mostly German and Hispanic students --Hispanic being the only other race on campus. Anna didn’t resemble anyone at that school, so therefore she was tagged as a “Jew”. She was instantly placed into a hateful arena of physical and verbal abuses, mental torment, and terrible anguish. The wonderful freedom she so excitedly looked forward to was taken from her and replaced with, “Hey, Jew girl, are all Jews as ugly as you?” This kind of persecution affected her health and mental stability, and was indeed: “IMPOSSIBLE TO FORGET!”
About the Author
The author is a 72-year-old Senior Citizen who lives and plays in
She loves to read, write; and “shopping” is her favorite past=time. She is very devoted to her loving husband, wonderful family -- and adores her three grandchildren.
In 1993, she studied for 2 years with the Childrens Institute of Literature, which was a very satisfying experience, and brought about the publication of “Impossible to Forget”. She has also been published many times for her Poetry, which are included in various Anthologies.