Author Suzan Hagstrom will read from her book, "Sara's Children," in Park Slope on April 22.

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When Suzan Hagstrom began researching a story about the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida for the Orlando Sentinel in 1990, the financial news reporter could not have foreseen how an interview with center volunteer Helen Garfinkel Greenspun would transform her life.

Helen, daughter of Sara Garfinkel, related a story of suffering and hope that would become the basis for Hagstrom’s book, "Sara’s Children: The Destruction of Chmielnik," a decade later.

Hagstrom discovered that Helen and four of her siblings, Bela, Nathan, Regina and Sonia, the children of Sara and Kalman Garfinkel, had survived the Holocaust.

"The fact that all five suffered so much for so long and managed to live through it - including a final death march - I recognized that they had an unusual story of survival," Hagstrom told GO Brooklyn.

And although the five siblings’ survival is a triumph of the will to survive - selflessly fighting for each other and squirreling food away for each other, even pulling each other from piles of corpses in the nick of time - these survivors grappled with the unimaginable pain of losing their parents and two younger siblings, Rachel and Fishel, who perished after a 1942 deportation to the Treblinka concentration camp.

Hagstrom, who dedicated years of her life to researching and writing the story now travels the country getting the word out about her book. The San Diego based writer purposely scheduled her New York book tour to coincide with this month’s annual observance of the Holocaust, Yom Hashoah, and she will read from and discuss the book on April 22, at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble bookstore.

"Sara’s Children" is the result of seven years of recording the Garfinkel family’s story as well as interviewing numerous survivors from their hometown, Chmielnik, Poland, as well as studying history books, traveling to Germany to verify the information from interviews with the siblings and other survivors and visiting Chmielnik with Helen. Then came the writing process, and, of course, finding a publisher.

Hagstrom did this work in her spare time, without a book advance, because she believed it was an important story to share.

"I guess I’ve taken each phase of the book step by step, not realizing how long it would take and all that was involved," said Hagstrom. "I guess I was a little naive going into it, but I knew this was a story worthy of recording, as all survivors’ stories are. And this one was a little different, and I thought it was a meaningful use of my journalistic skills. Much of what I write for newspapers is of no use a week or two later."

Although the book is now 2 years old, Hagstrom still feels a duty to get the word out about the Garfinkels’ unique story.

"It was a coup to get published," Hagstrom said of the uncommercial nature of the subject matter. "I felt some responsibility to do the promotional phase of it, because unless I personally go, libraries and bookstores don’t know this book exists.

"Since ’Sara’s Children’ was published, I’ve spoken at bookstores, libraries and nonprofit organizations throughout southern California, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center/Museum for Tolerance in Los Angeles. I’ve also organized book tours in northern California, Colorado, Florida and the Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland region."

Almost a third of the book recounts the family’s life in the small, rural town of Chmielnik, where Kalman Garfinkel milled grains for local farmers. It’s surprising that anti-Semitism and the Nazis could even find - never mind permeate - this small, idyllic Polish town, demonstrating how pervasive and widespread was the genocidal tendency.

Hagstrom’s generous dedication of pages to life before World War II also serves to underscore how much the siblings lost. They spent years trying to survive in the town under German occupation before they were shipped to various camps. Sara and Kalman tried to hide their children with Gentile farmers, but the children missed their parents too much and left the relative safety of the farms for the warmth of their mother’s embrace. They witnessed their father’s humiliating beating as he was wrestled to the ground and his beard savagely cut away.

They lost two siblings, their parents, and an aunt and grandmother in the Lodz ghetto, but they also lost their childhoods. When the Nazis rounded up these five siblings in 1942 to be sent to labor camps, they ranged in age from 12 to 22.

In her book, Hagstrom said, "Writing their story is only possible because of the Garfinkels’ courage and generosity. They recognize the importance of studying history to battle bigotry and to avoid repeating past atrocities. "

Their stories truly serve as a terrifying reminder for all people today of the consequences of unchecked racism.

Hagstrom writes, "The Germans converted Chmielnik’s large synagogue to a warehouse. After the war, Holocaust survivors formed an organization to buy the historic structure, dating back to 1638. Today, the building remains gutted. Plywood covers the windows and doors. The stone walls bear swastikas and other hateful graffiti."

Clearly there is still a need for Hagstrom and other writers and educators to share the stories of the Holocaust.

Author Suzan Hagstrom will read from "Sara’s Children: The Destruction of Chmielnik" (Sergeant Kirkland’s Press, $29.95) on April 22 at 7:30 pm at Barnes & Noble, 267 Seventh Ave. at Sixth Street. For more information, call (718) 832-9066. This event is free.

©2003 Community Newspaper Group