Half of My Family-Tree is Missing - Article by Shari J. Ryan
Half of my family tree is missing. I’ve spent endless hours searching to reconnect the branches to the roots, but even with the detailed records kept during World War II, there’s only so much information to find. Because of this, I will never know much more than the name of my great-grandfather because he was a Jewish man who wasn’t lucky enough to survive the brutalities of living in a concentration camp during World War II. I’ve wanted to find photographs of him or learn about his interests to see if my dad or I had any similar features or commonalities, but there’s no information. Years ago, the mention of him would cause so much pain that just two generations after World War II, names are missing and family trees are in pieces.
We’re born into a family, and we don’t ask questions. We should ask questions, but most often, we don’t. My dad is the son of a Holocaust Survivor—my grandmother. I knew this from the time I was old enough to comprehend the basics of life. To me, it was just the same as being told: my hair is a color called brown and my eyes are a color called blue. What we are told as a child is definitive. Those teachings go into our understanding of who we are and where we came from. I wouldn’t have thought anything different about my life compared to others because I thought everyone had a grandmother who survived the Holocaust. This was my reality until I became old enough to understand what the Holocaust is—what it means, and how lucky I am to be alive eighty years later. If my grandmother didn’t survive, my life would not exist.
My grandmother, Nina, as we called her, spent our overlapping years sharing stories with me, ones she hadn’t shared before. I don’t know if it was because she knew I couldn’t comprehend the unimaginable details, or if it was because she realized the stories would not survive beyond her lifetime.
Throughout my school-age years, Nina became a “popular figure” to other influencers in my life. My teachers would ask her to come in to speak with the classes and share her experiences. I would then be at the receiving hand of gratitude by these teachers because they had the privilege of meeting my grandmother. She was just my grandmother and I still couldn’t wrap my head around the grand importance of her existence. It just felt surreal, and it was too big to comprehend the full picture.
The years sped by, and age took a toll on my grandmother, as it will on us all. We lived in different states and I was busy with college and dreaming up a future. The irony of what my future would become would have taken me by shock back then, and I would have asked the most profound woman I’ve ever known, the questions that often keep me up at night.
It’s only been eight years since she passed away, and I’m on the cusp of turning forty. I had a lifetime with her, but she didn’t have a lifetime with me. Nina lived an extraordinary life and refused to let the evil of World War II own any part of it, no matter what it stole from her. That and a few short stories were all I felt I knew about her, and it was then that I realized it was too late to ask anything more. Losing her caused me an overwhelming sense of need to put the puzzle pieces of her past together to find out what else she was keeping to herself.
She left behind a book she had written and her mother, my great-grandmother, left one as well. They are my most treasured possessions, and I wish I could tell her so. I learned more about my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and the rest of their family who did not survive the concentration camps through their books than I did while listening to the stories from the first-person point of view. However, much of what I read brought back memories of those stories and new images formed within my mind—vivid ones I couldn’t forget. I had no clue what extent she and my great-grandmother lived through until I read the words.
She worked in the administration office at Theresienstadt in the Small Fortress, keeping records of incoming and outgoing bodies and lives. They survived the inhumane conditions of starvation and widespread disease while being crammed into a small barrack block with dozens of others. I couldn’t bear to wrap my head around some of the information I learned, but I needed to know everything. Those awful memories for my grandmother and great-grandmother could only serve the purpose of being a lesson for future generations. My life changed because of those books.
By the time I read their autobiographical books, I was already a few years into my publishing career, but never considered the idea of veering off into another direction like Historical Fiction. Though, I couldn’t forget about their stories either, and it disheartened me to know they weren’t on shelves as they deserve to be. I couldn’t move on because I felt guilty for never knowing as much as I came to know. Then I realized their stories would, in fact, fall behind someday if no one picked them up to carry forward.
The thought of writing historical stories felt more like a calling, and I knew how much I would gain from the experience. I wasn’t sure if I could put together a book worthy enough of the experiences that eliminated most of my family in the 1940s, but there was only one option and I had to try. It took me a while to conduct enough research combined with their autobiographies to put together a fictional plot based on non-fictional occurrences. Over the course of the year it took me to write the book, I felt like my connection with my grandmother grew so much, and I had a deeper understanding of who she was and why she did the things she did. My experience of living through her words and the words of others has given me a much broader aspect of what shapes our lives today.
It’s been four years since I wrote my first Historical Fiction book with a focus on Jewish lives during World War II, and I will continue to fill pages with untold stories using fictional characters hoping to carry on the true stories of what those generations lived through. My upcoming novel focuses on life within the walls of the Dachau concentration camp, and life from the outside as well. The effects of what two people endured between 1940 and 1945 trickled down to touch the life of a young woman in today’s society who has been desperately searching for a biological connection she was told she would never find.
From the back cover of The Bookseller of Dachau:
When Matilda’s childhood sweetheart Hans is in danger, she doesn’t hesitate to hide him in her attic. Protecting him from her parents and the soldiers downstairs, she smuggles him food and communicates in whispers. For months, they exist by candlelight. But how long can they survive?
America, 2018: Grace opens a mustard-yellow envelope, and her world unravels. She has inherited a bookstore in the small town of Dachau from the grandmother she did not know existed.
Grace visits her legacy––a bookshop on a cobbled lane filled with lost memories. She combs through faded photographs and handwritten letters, unearthing the story of a young woman who devoted her life to returning the keepsakes of Dachau prisoners to their families. A woman who was torn from her one true love––who never gave up hope…
As Grace pieces together her family’s heartbreaking past, she discovers the long-buried secret of her own identity. But when she learns the truth, will she ever be the same again?
This heart-wrenching yet hopeful tale will restore your faith in humanity, and in the power of love to triumph over evil. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Orphan Train and Kristin Hannah will be blown away by this breathtakingly gripping page-turner.
Author Bio
Shari J. Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Historical Fiction writer. Her desire to write stories revolving Jewish livelihood during World War II stems from being a descendant of two Holocaust survivors. After the passing of Shari’s grandmother, she pursued an active interest in learning more about the inherited stories she yearned to understand better. Shortly after earning a bachelors degree from Johnson & Wales University, Shari began her career as a graphic artist and freelance writer. She then found her passion for writing books in 2012. In 2016, Shari began writing her first Historical Fiction novel, Last Words, a story about a lifelong journey through the eyes of a Holocaust survivor. With two character related books to follow, Shari quickly found a new passion to share untold World War II stories within a fictional setting. Shari is a lifelong New England girl who lives to make people laugh. She is happily married with two wonderful sons and a spunky Australian Shepard, who fits right in with the family. Social Media
Website: https://www.sharijryan.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorsharijryan Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharijryan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorsharijryan/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7060506.Shari_J_Ryan
Book: The Bookseller of Dachau
Author: Shari J. Ryan
Pub Day: Oct 29th 2021
Buy Links:
https://geni.us/B09BNLV7D8social Audible: UK: zpr.io/q9SMpEDKD7qz US: zpr.io/2VdajCg8Z2fR https://soundcloud.com/bookouture/the-bookseller-of-dachau-by-shari-j-ryan-narrated-by-kelly-burke About the Book:
Germany, 1940: “Can’t I say goodbye?” I shout, cupping my hands over my mouth. The Nazis dragging him away stare at me, soldiers with icy glares. No. No, no, no, they can’t make him leave. In Nazi Germany, innocent people vanish every day, torn mercilessly from their homes and loved ones. When Matilda’s childhood sweetheart Hans is in danger, she doesn’t hesitate to hide him in her attic. Neighbors their whole lives, and desperately in love with one another, she’ll do anything to protect him. For months, they exist by candlelight, smuggling food and communicating in whispers. But, in the end, nothing can stop the soldiers charging in… America, 2018: Grace opens a mustard-yellow envelope, and her world unravels. She has inherited a bookstore in the small town of Dachau from the grandmother she had no idea existed. Her mom, adopted as a baby, spent her life searching for her biological parents––and died without ever knowing. Grace visits her legacy––a bookshop on a cobbled lane filled with lost memories. She combs through handwritten letters, unearthing the story of her grandmother Matilda. A woman whose one true love was locked within the barbed wire of Dachau––a woman who never gave up hope… As Grace pieces together her family’s heartbreaking past, she discovers the long-buried secret of her own identity. But when she learns the truth, will she ever be the same again? This heart-wrenching yet hopeful tale will restore your faith in humanity, and in the power of love to triumph over evil. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Orphan Train and Kristin Hannah will be blown away by this breathtakingly gripping page-turner. Previously titled: The Secret in the Attic
Thank you so much for this featured spotlight! I'm so grateful! - Shari J. Ryan (www.sharijryan.com)