Secrets In the Suitcase

About the Book

Molly Greenberg, was born on December 22, 1924, in an Eastern European Jewish shtetl called Skala Podolska in Poland. An orphan by age three, she was raised in poverty by five older siblings. Her world was shattered on September 17, 1939, when the Soviet army seized control of Skala. This was the beginning of the end of a flourishing Jewish community. By the end of July 1942, the German military was in control of the area. Molly survived by pretending she was Mary, a non-Jew. She lived in constant fear of discovery and extermination. By the end of World War II, only one hundred and fifty out of two thousand Skala Jews survived. Molly married another survivor. In January 1949, following a few years in a displaced persons camp (where a daughter was born), they came to America to start a new life. In December 1950, another daughter was born. Growing up in Brooklyn, her children were only told that the Nazis murdered their father’s father, his sister, and their mother’s entire family. This part of Molly’s life was off limits—too painful to talk about. When she entered her sixties, during a senior writing class, Molly finally faced her painful past. This book is about her life, in her own words. Her ability to survive and thrive serves as an inspiration to us all. The stories were found in a long-forgotten case, hence the title, Secrets in the Suitcase.

About the Author

Rosalie Greenberg, MD, is a child of two Holocaust survivors, Sam Greenberg and Molly Feuerstein Greenberg. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, with her older sister, Evelyn, her parents’ past profoundly influenced her path in life. She received a BA Cum Laude from New York University and her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her adult psychiatric residency and child psychiatry fellowship at Columbia University. Throughout her professional career, in addition to being an award-winning child and adolescent psychiatrist, she has been a teacher, lecturer, and educator to both professional and public audiences, working to increase awareness of childhood mental health issues. She is the author of Bipolar Kids: Helping Your Child Find Calm in the Mood Storm and co-producer of the DVD Rescuing Childhood: Understanding Bipolar Disorders in Children and Adolescents. She is also the producer and host of the 2012 Telly Award-winning Kids First with Rosalie Greenberg, MD, a cable television program for parents. Dr. Greenberg specializes in pediatric psychopharmacology and maintains a private practice in Summit, New Jersey. She resides in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and is the mother of two grown sons.