The Lost Town: Bringing Back
Trochenbrod
by Avrom
Bendavid-Val
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: YA
Nonfiction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Trochenbrod was a bustling commercial center of more than 5,000
people, all Jews, hidden deep in the forest in Northwest Ukraine. It thrived as
a tiny Jewish kingdom unnoticed and unknown to most people, even though it was
“the big city” for surrounding Ukrainian and Polish villages. The people of
Trochenbrod vanished in the Holocaust, and soon nothing remained of this
vibrant 130-year-old town but a mysterious double row of trees and bushes in a
clearing in the forest.
In this new book, Avrom Bendavid-Val makes Trochenbrod’s true
story accessible, enjoyable, and memorable for young readers. The Lost Town
follows his adventures while uncovering the lost history of the magical place
where his father was born and raised. An imagined Trochenbrod was the setting
for Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Everything is Illuminated, and the movie by
the same name.
EXCERPT:
As
I was growing up, my father did not often mention the town Trochenbrod
(pronounced Trawkhenbrawd) in Eastern Poland where he was born and raised. But
when he did, his longing and affection for it were unmistakable. After my
father passed away, I realized I knew nothing about his beloved hometown. He
had never volunteered information about it, and I had never asked. Although
none of my relatives knew where Trochenbrod had been located, other than “in Poland
someplace,” they were certain nothing was there anymore. I was told that after
the Nazis murdered all Trochenbrod’s Jews, they destroyed all its buildings,
and the memory of it was lost.
How
could that be? I wondered. How could all traces of a town and its people
vanish? If the town was destroyed in the Holocaust, wouldn’t something—derelict
buildings, house foundations, low stone walls—still be found there? And what
happened to Christian neighbors of the Jews who lived in Trochenbrod? They weren’t
destroyed by the Nazis; maybe their descendants were still there and could tell
me something about Trochenbrod in the days when Jews also lived there. I had to
find out. I had to see for myself.
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Author Bio
Avrom Bendavid-Val was working as an
environmental consultant in Poland in 1997 when he decided to cross the
Ukrainian border and visit the place his father came from, the town of Trochenbrod.
Finding nothing there, he was determined to uncover the history and spirit of
the vanished town. Avrom continues to this day to research, write and make
films about the town, and serve as the anchor for the American community of
Trochenbrod descendants. Avrom Bendavid-Val lives in Washington, D.C.
The Lost Town
Documentary based on the book – 7th Arts
Bacon Press Books
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Bacon Press Books
Purchase Links
Amazon Paperback
Amazon Ebook
Barnes and Nobel paperback
Powell’s
Avrom Bendavid-Val will be awarding a $10 Amazon
or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour. Use the link below to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
