They Never Left Me A Holocaust Memoir of Triumph and Maternal Courage

by Kahn, Evelyn

• ISBN13: 9781553807322
• ISBN10: 1553807324
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-11-07
• Publisher: Ronsdale Press

Summary

The dramatic story of nine-year-old Evelyn’s survival through the determination and bravery of her mother and grandmother as they hid in the dense forests of Belarus. Evelyn is a cherished only child in a loving Jewish family in a small shtetl in Eastern Poland. With rich detail of rituals and food, she evokes her early childhood. But this idyll is shattered by the eruption of World War II, thrusting Evelyn and her family into a brutal eight-year struggle for survival. Fleeing to Zhetel, Belarus, Evelyn’s father is rounded up and murdered leaving Evelyn, her mother, and grandmother to navigate the escalating horrors of the Holocaust on their own. Together they endured brutal ghetto liquidations, a terrifying week hidden beneath a kitchen floor and two relentless years in the unforgiving forests of Belarus battling starvation, illness, bitter cold and the ever-present shadow of capture. This powerful, moving memoir is a testament to the indomitable will and profound courage of women, without whom Evelyn would not have survived to bear witness for all victims of the Holocaust.

Author Biography

Evenly Kahn was born in Vilna, Lithuania, in May 1933. She moved to Canada in 1953 with her husband Leon, a Jewish partisan fighter. Evelyn and Leon had four children. Evelyn lives in Vancouver, BC.

Table of Contents

Introduction Eishyshok: May 1933 – September 1939 Lida: September 1939 – June 1941 Zhetel: June 1941 – February 1942 Zhetel Ghetto: February 1942 – August 1942 The Forest: August 1942 – September 1944 Liberation: September 1944 – June 1945 Ló dz: June 1945 – August 1946 Berlin: August 1946 – August 1948 Jordanbad: September – November 1948 Gailingen-Landsberg-Bremerhaven: November 1948 – November 1949 New York: December 1949 – May 1953 Epilogue Afterword Glossary