After the Girls Club : how teenaged Holocaust survivors built new lives in America

After World War II the Girls Club of Brooklyn, New York, became home and safe haven to a small group of young women, orphaned in the Holocaust, whose stories represent the experiences of tens of thousands of child survivors. This book follows them from childhood to the present as they, contrary to early predictions, built new and successful lives in America. In old age the women, once again, are defying bleak expectations. After World War II, the Girls Club of Brooklyn, New York, became both home and safe haven to orphaned teenagers who were Holocaust survivors. They are a small group, but taken together these women's stories represent the broad range of experiences that most Jews suffered during and after the Holocaust. Some endured the ghettos and camps. Some survived in hiding, with partisans, or in the remote far-eastern reaches of the Soviet Union. Consequently this collective, personal history-enriched with relevant information about places, people, events and issues-tells not only their story, but also the story of tens of thousands of child survivors. The work of scholars from various disciplines and genres provides background information and historical detail as this book traces the women's experiences from their childhood days in pre-war Europe to the present. Contrary to what early literature on child survivors predicted, they built successful lives in America. "Carole Ford's sensitive profile of young Holocaust survivors whose lives intertwine at the Girls Club in Brooklyn sheds light on the challenges of forging a new life alone. The Club gave them opportunities for friendship and education. and enabled them to rebuild their lives. Theirs are compelling narratives, told with compassion and grace. As we get to know them, we also find that we like them and celebrate their joys as they become wives and mothers, homemakers, students, professionals, community volunteers, and very doting grandmothers. Despite their horrific experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland, most of them refused to he victimized further and instead overcame the odds and led fulfilling and happy lives.-Myrna Goldenberg, Ph.D., coeditor of Testimony, Tensions, and Tikkun: Teaching, the Holocaust in Colleges and Universities A Meeting With Holocaust Survivors -- Preface And Acknowledgements -- Introduction: The Women And The Girls Club -- Lodz: A Path To The Ghetto -- Growing Up: Coming Of Age In A Nightmare -- Sh'erit Ha-pletah: The Surviving Remnant -- America: A Home At The Girls Club -- After The Girls Club: Settling In, Settling Down -- Betty And Lucy: Different Forks In The Road -- Child Survivors In Old Age: The Aging Women. Carole Bell Ford. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.