SALES SHEET - PDF

STARE LIPKI PRESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:  Karen I. Treiger

 Publisher/Author

info@karentreiger.com

www.karentreiger.com

A Family Journey to Learn and Document 

Survival of Parents during Holocaust:  Just Steps from Death Camp Treblinka, Poland

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON; AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOK & THROUGH INGRAM CONTENT 

SOON TO BE RELEASED IN POLAND  - POLISH TRANSLATION 

SEATTLE, Washington February 20, 2019 - My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story, by Karen I. Treiger, tells the harrowing tale of her husband’s parents, Sam and Esther Goldberg, who survived the Holocaust to ultimately settle in the United States. It’s also a journey of ancestry and discovery for their family, as they visited Poland in 2016 to retrace the Goldbergs’ steps from the Death Camp Treblinka, to a pit in the Polish forest (their hiding place), to liberation in 1944. 

Over 870,000 were murdered at Treblinka, but Sam Goldberg was one of approximately 65 prisoners to escape the Death Camp and remain alive until the end of the war. After escaping, he ran to the forest where he met Esther. She had evaded the Nazis twice. Through their determination, and with the help of two families of righteous Gentiles, named Styś, Sam and Esther avoided capture. 

Using letters found in Sam’s apartment after his death, author Karen Treiger located the three surviving children of the Styś family, who had provided a place for Sam and Esther to hide.  As the story unfolded, Sam and Esther’s life became Karen’s story.  Her blog was seen by a Polish Priest who reached out and introduced her to a Goldberg cousin who survived the war as a boy, Józef (Idul) Lis, who stayed in Poland, married and had three daughters. During their visit to Poland, Karen and her family were able to meet Idul and two of his daughters, Eva and Marta, and learn a little more about life during the Holocaust. 

All of this comes together in Karen’s book - the history, the miracles, the gumption, the discovery of her husband’s ancestry, the internet, the horror of humanity, the beauty of humanity. It brings to life the toll that the Holocaust exacted on so many, especially the Jewish community. This is also a story of hope, love and determination.  It reminds us that there are still lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. 

After 18 years of practicing law in Seattle, Karen Treiger felt an unmistakable call to explore the story of her in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg. Educated at Barnard College and New York University Law School --where she was editor-in-chief of NYU Law Review, Treiger made the momentous decision to retire from her law practice and pull together the threads of a family story she had heard for many years.

The result of her three-year inquiry is the widely praised book, My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story. In it, Treiger chronicles both Sam and Esther Goldberg's journey, including Sam’s escape from the death camp Treblinka, as well as her family’s experiences in Poland when they retraced the path from Treblinka to the pit in the Polish forest where they hid until their liberation.  As Treiger became invigorated and inspired by the people she encountered, Sam and Esther’s story became her story too. 

Since the book’s publication, Treiger has crisscrossed the country to bring this compelling story to a wide audience. In June she will travel to Poland to launch the Polish translation of the book and speak at the POLIN Museum and at the Krakow Jewish Festival. She has been named to the Jewish Book Council Author’s Network and the Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity Speaker’s Bureau. 

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If you would like more information, please contact Karen I. Treiger, (phone), karen@treiger.com, www.karentreiger.com.

Editor’s Notes: My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story, by Karen I. Treiger, Stare Lipki Press, ISBN: 978 0 692 11579 4, Paperback: $14.99, Kindle $4.99, Audible Audio book $13.97.  The book is also available to book stores and libraries through Ingram Content.

RABBI IRVING "YITZ" GREENBERG

This extraordinary book enables the reader to see the Holocaust through two different lenses. Each lens gives us a compelling view of a world, far from our present reality, which we need to know. Each lens opens a gate and leads us into a reality from which we return transformed. This book which started as a gift of love from the author to her survivor parents-in-law, turns out to be a gift of seeing life anew to every reader. It enables us – no, it compels us-to see our everyday lives in a new dimension of appreciation, meaning and purpose. I urge everyone to look deeply into this book and accept its priceless gift of a new life.” 

Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, President Emeritus, CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; Chairman, United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 2000-2002

RABBI MICHAEL SCHUDRICH

"We are haunted by the question of inexplicable evil.  If you want to be inspired in spite of the horrors one human being can do to another human being, read this book." 

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland

RABBI MARVIN HIER

“In Karen Treiger’s important book she tells the story of her in-laws. Their suitcases were filled with only tragic and bitter memories. Yet, they had the courage to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, wipe away the tears, turn despair into hope, and rebuild Jewish life.” 

Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of Simon Wiesenthal Center

EPHRAIM KAY

"Karen Treiger, the daughter-in-law of two Holocaust survivors, Sam and Ester Goldberg, has written a riveting memoir of their life story- “My Soul Is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story”. Karen weaves two separate stories, that of Esther Wisznia from Stoczek, Poland and that of Sam Goldberg, of Bagatele, Poland.  Once the two meet in the Polish forest, not far from Treblinka in 1943, their story becomes one.  I highly recommend this memoir to anyone who wants to learn about resilience, courage and faith during the Holocaust."

Ephraim Kay, Director, The Jewish World and International Seminars for Educator, The International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel 

MARION BLUMENTHAL LAZAN

"It is vital that this book - as well as other accounts of the Holocaust - be preserved and disseminated widely to future generations to help prevent anything similar from ever happening again." 

Marion Blumenthal Lazan, Holocaust Survivor and author of Four Perfect Pebbles.

“Karen Treiger’s My Soul is Filled With Joy presentation is so much more than an author talk: it is an amazing multimedia, multilayered, multi-generational interactive story of family, survival, love, and luck. A lawyer by training, Treiger’s passion for dogged research and vibrant storytelling enable her to not only cogently communicate how disparate lives intersected in the most harrowing of times but she also does justice to her in-laws’ fated and mind-boggling story.  “When you marry someone,” she says, “you marry their family too. I married into a family of survivors.” Their intense stories of slavery to freedom came up annually around the Passover Seder table. Treiger, their daughter in-law, had the courage to stitch their far-off accounts and fabled anecdotes into an epic book. And her live presentation truly leaps off the page.”

Pamela Lavitt, Director of Arts+Ideas and Festivals, Stroum Jewish Community Center

“During the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, Karen Treiger gave a captivating lecture on the brand new and expertly translated Polish edition of her book My Soul is Filled with Joy. Karen presented the remarkable survival story of her in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg, in German Occupied Poland, and her own family’s journey to Poland over a half-century later to meet the children of the righteous Poles who saved Sam and Esther during the Holocaust. Both accessible and erudite, Karen described Sam’s extraordinary escape from the infamous Death Camp, Treblinka, and Esther’s no less harrowing survival, with historical precision and sociological detail. Despite the serious and traumatic nature of the story, Karen also recounted moments of kindness, joy, and laughter in that period of hell. As the last survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust pass, Karen’s work is all the more urgent and necessary. It is an intergenerational history of preserving memory.”

Jonathan Zisook, Fulbright Research Fellow, Faculty of History and the Institute of Jewish Studies, Jagiellonian University of Kraków

“Karen Treiger is a dynamic and poignant speaker. She has a remarkable story to share and is a gifted writer and presenter – we were honored to have her join us at Temple Beth Am for our Yom Hashoah commemoration.”  

Alexis Kort, Director of Community Engagement, Temple Beth Am, Seattle

Karen Treiger’s presentation to our Middle School was compelling, informative and touched the spirit of everyone present. No small task. Our teachers were impressed with Karen’s dexterity; connecting history with her book’s narrative, our students were captivated by her engaging and thoughtful presentation and everyone was taken with the unfolding story of Karen’s research and family experience. Of all our presenters at the Seattle Hebrew Academy – Karen is the only one whom students asked to return for further question and answers. Now that says a lot! 

Rivy Poupko Kletenik, Head of School of the Seattle Hebrew Academy.

“Karen Treiger spoke to 70 residents at Mirabella Seattle on Thursday, May 2, 2019 for an hour.  She presented the story of her husband’s family who survived the horrors of occupation in Nazi controlled Poland.  The lecture brought tears of joy to all attendees as she included her revisit to where here husband's parents hid in the woods.  The people at Mirabella loved Karen's eloquent story and professional power point presentation.  Mirabella only allows the most qualified speakers to speak and Karen is forever on our list of great speakers.” 

Leslie Klein, Chair of Programming Committee and Resident of Mirabella

“Karen Treiger’s account of her family’s Holocaust experience in Poland is riveting. My students sat on the edge of their seats, as she told the story of her father-in-law Sam’s escape from the Nazi death camp, Treblinka.  Her mother-in-law Esther Goldberg’s story of evading death in the Polish forest is equally compelling. Karen’s presentation was a game-changer for the students in my Everett Community College Humanities course, Surviving the Holocaust. They were able to connect what they had hitherto only read about to real people who demonstrated tremendous courage and resilience to survive. Karen presentation makes this dark chapter in human history come alive. I look forward to reading her book, My Soul is Filled with Joy.”    

Dr. Charles Fischer, Instructor of English and Humanities and Director of the Humanities Alliance, Everett Community College

Although I read the book, I was newly inspired by Sam and Esther’s story and newly impressed by your ability to tell it.  We find many times in Rabbinic writing the expression "אינה דומה שמיעה לראייה"  - one cannot compare the clarity of perception that comes from hearing about something with the -- much greater -- clarity of conception that comes from actually witnessing it.  After having read your book and now hearing your presentation, I would like to say that אינה דומה קריאה לשמיעה  - one cannot compare the clarity of a story after having read it with the -- much greater -- clarity acquired after having heard you retell it!

Your in-laws and the people who helped save them were heroes and role models for their children and grandchildren for generations to come and you in your own way are heroic as well for capturing and documenting and publicizing their story as you have done (and as you are doing) for these past four years.  May your children be inspired by your own heroism, idealism, and accomplishments just as you have inspired others by publicizing the heroism, idealism, and accomplishments of others. 

Rabbi David Twersky, Jerusalem, Israel

After 18 years of practicing law in Seattle, Karen Treiger felt an unmistakable call to explore the story of her in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg. Educated at Barnard College and New York University Law School --where she was editor-in-chief of NYU Law Review -- Treiger made the momentous decision to retire from her law practice and pull together the threads of a family story she had heard for many years.

The result of her three-year inquiry is the widely praised book, My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story. In it, Treiger chronicles both Sam and Esther Goldberg's journey, including Sam’s escape from the death camp Treblinka, as well as her family’s experiences in Poland when they retraced the path from Treblinka to the pit in the Polish forest where they hid until their liberation.  As Treiger became invigorated and inspired by the people she encountered, Sam and Esther’s story became her story too. 

Since the book’s publication, Treiger has crisscrossed the country to bring this compelling story to a wide audience. In June she traveled to Poland to launch the Polish translation of the book and speak at the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw and at the Krakow Jewish Festival. She has been named to the Jewish Book Council Author’s Network and the Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity Speaker’s Bureau. Her perspectives have been shared in The Forward and the Jewish Press. 

She is happy to speak to audiences around the world, in person or via video hook-up.  She a number of presentations, including: 

• Sam & Esther: Escape, Rescue & Resilience
•  What Does it Mean to Be Human? A story of Holocaust survival and present day discovery    
• Step by Step: Researching and Writing a Family Memoir.

My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story 

By Karen I. Treiger,

The motive or purpose in writing the book has layers. 

· As time marches on, there are fewer eye-witness survivors to tell us what happened. We must shoulder the responsibility of passing on the stories and educating the world about the Holocaust. It is through individual stories that we see the true horror of those years. 

· Sam and Esther Goldberg’s story should join the lexicon of Holocaust literature. This book brings their story to life for their descendants and for the world. I am convinced that their story of rescue, resilience and survival will resonate with all who encounter it. 

· I had been thinking about this book for 25 years, but I was motivated to write the book after my father, Irwin Treiger, died in 2013. I took stock of my life and decided to leave my law practice to research and write this book. I haven’t looked back. 

· I hope to inspire others to research their own family stories. Once you begin, you may find a treasure trove. 

· By writing this book, Sam and Esther’s story has become my story. As my family went to Poland and met the Styś family and the Lis family, we took their experiences and entwined them with our own. It was life changing.

· I hope to leave the world a little richer than I found it. 

Reader Experience: 

I want the reader never to take life for granted again. Through learning about what Sam and Esther lived through, I hope the reader will look at his or her own life and ask what would I have done – if I was Sam or Esther or a member of the Styś family or Idul Lis? I also want the reader to understand that we can choose how to live in the world and we can be part of the change that we want to see. Finally, I want each of us to know that we can learn more about our family’s history and when we do, our lives will be deeper and fuller because of the knowledge and the journey that gets us there.

Unique Aspects:

The typical Jewish Holocaust experience was one of torture and death. The unusual story is one in which a person survived. Sam and Esther’s story is particularly unusual because Sam was one of approximately 65 to survive the Death Camp Treblinka, one of 50 to plan and execute the uprising, and one of two survivors who were brought to build the Death Camp in June of 1942. Esther survived the Nazi’s massacre of the Jewish community of Slonim and the round-up of Jews in Stoczek. She then hid in the Polish countryside for two years. Esther and Sam met in the forest after Sam escaped Treblinka during the prisoner uprising and so it became a love story as well. On top of their unique story, remarkable and miraculous events occurred as I was researching and writing this book. Through some letters written in Polish found in Sam’s apartment after his death, I located and met the three surviving children of the Polish families that aided Sam and Esther in hiding. Through my blog and a Polish Catholic Priest, we discovered that one member of the Goldberg family survived the war and still lives in Poland. In this way, the story takes on a 21st century dimension. The history, the miracles, the gumption, the internet, the horror of humanity, the beauty of humanity, come together in this book. 

Intended Market:

As evidenced by the many Holocaust-related books published and republished in the past 10-12 years, we see that there is a strong market for Holocaust books. This book will draw on a vibrant market with several elements:

· History lovers. There is a market for this book among history readers. It is through learning about individual stories that the War can best be understood and I have endeavored to include many historical facts in the telling.

· Holocaust and Treblinka. There will be a market for this book among those interested in the Holocaust. It will be of special interest to those who wish to learn more about Treblinka and stories of Righteous Gentiles.

· Memoir. This book is a triple memoir and will tap into the current appetite for this genre. The book tells of the lives of Sam Goldberg and Esther Wisznia. It also tells my personal story as one who joined the Goldberg family as an adult and lovingly threw herself into the family’s story.

· Poles. There is a growing market for Holocaust literature in Poland. Since the fall of communism in 1989, the Polish people have been coming to grips with the Holocaust and the loss of Jews and their unique culture. Before the War, Jews constituted ten percent of the population. While there is a resurgence of Jewish life in Poland, the vibrant pre-war Jewish community of three and a half million was destroyed. Books by Jan Gross, which highlight the complicity of the Poles in the murder of Jews have created a stir. The Styś family is an example of the righteous ones who helped. I intend to have the book translated to Polish.

· Israelis. There is a strong market for Holocaust books in Israel. Israel became home for many survivors. Now, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren live throughout the country. Israel became a State in 1948 and there is a feeling that it was built on the ashes of the Holocaust. Jewish Israeli high school students travel to Poland with their class and thus, the events of 1939-1945 are of deep interest. The chapters about my experiences in Poland will speak to the thousands that have traveled there and walked through Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka, with the myriad of emotions that emerge. I intend to have the book translated to Hebrew.

STUDENTS: this book is an excellent teaching tool for students.  The author is working on a curriculum she can share with teachers.

STARE LIPKI PRESS

NEW RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:  Karen I. Treiger

  Publisher/Author

 info@karentreiger.com

 www.karentreiger.com

NOW AVAILABLE AT BOOKSTORES AND LIBRARIES

MY SOUL IS FILLED WITH JOY: A HOLOCAUST STORY 

BY LOCAL AUTHOR KAREN TREIGER 

SEATTLE, Washington, February 6th, 2019 - My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story, by Karen I. Treiger, has only been available through Amazon, Kindle, and Audible, making it easy for on-line customers to purchase the product. Starting immediately, Stare Lipki Press is pleased to announce that through an arrangement with Ingram Content, paperback will now be available to bookstores and libraries. 

“Customers have asked that availability included more than Amazon,” said Treiger. “The partnership with Ingram Content allows for more purchasing options. People can now ask their favorite local bookstores and libraries to order the book.” 

Bookstores and libraries wishing to order "My Soul is Filled with Joy," can contact Ingram Content through their ipage ordering site at: https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage (an account is required).  

Ingram's global headquarters are located in La Vergne, Tenn., just outside of Nashville. They provide distribution to 220 countries and territories, and have 19 offices, distribution centers and manufacturing plants around the world.  They have been providing ordering and distribution solutions of over 50 years.

“Holocaust stories need to be shared.” added Treiger. Treiger may be right. Recent polls in Canada and the United States concluded that many do not know the basic facts about the Holocaust, such as; where it took place, how many died, the names of key places or people. “We need to make sure something like this never happens again by remembering our past.”

My Soul is Filled with Joy tells the harrowing tale of the author’s in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg, who survived the Holocaust to ultimately settle in the United States. It’s also a journey of ancestry and discovery for their family, as they visited Poland in 2016 to retrace the Goldbergs’ steps from the Death Camp Treblinka, to a pit in the Polish forest (their hiding place), to liberation in 1944. 

"In capturing the storied lives of Sam and Esther Goldberg, Karen Treiger confronts the darkness of war and brings readers into the light, as we witness her grief transformed into gratitude, self-understanding and yes, joy.”

Barbara Mackoff, Author 

The Inner Work of Leaders

Karen’s book brings to life the toll that the Holocaust exacted on so many, especially the Jewish community. This is also a story of hope, love and determination.  It reminds us that there are still lessons to be learned from the Holocaust.

After 18 years of practicing law in Seattle, Karen Treiger felt an unmistakable call to explore the story of her in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg. Educated at Barnard College and New York University Law School --where she was editor-in-chief of NYU Law Review, Treiger made the momentous decision to retire from her law practice and pull together the threads of a family story she had heard for many years.

The result of her three-year inquiry is the widely praised book, My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story. In it, Treiger chronicles both Sam and Esther Goldberg's journey, including Sam’s escape from the death camp Treblinka, as well as her family’s experiences in Poland when they retraced the path from Treblinka to the pit in the Polish forest where they hid until their liberation.  As Treiger became invigorated and inspired by the people she encountered, Sam and Esther’s story became her story too. 

Since the book’s publication, Treiger has crisscrossed the country to bring this compelling story to a wide audience. In June she will travel to Poland to launch the Polish translation of the book and speak at the POLIN Museum and at the Krakow Jewish Festival. She has been named to the Jewish Book Council Author’s Network and the Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity Speaker’s Bureau. 

# # #

If you would like more information, please contact Karen I. Treiger, info@karentreiger.com, www.karentreiger.com.

Editor’s Notes: My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story, by Karen I. Treiger, Stare Lipki Press, ISBN: 978 0 692 11579 4, Paperback: $14.99, Kindle $4.99, or Audible Audiobook $13.97.