Sala: More than a Survivor

While in the gift shop of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, I met Sala Lewis.  She is as beautiful in person, perhaps even more so, as she is on the cover of her memoir.

Her memoir tells of her survival on the streets of Poland, and her subsequent capture and imprisonment in Auschwitz. But, the bulk of the story is her arrival in the United States and her life once she was in the country.

It is very apparent that Sala wants it known that she triumphed over Nazis and became a successful model, mother and wife.  When I read Holocaust survival stories I want to learn more about how people survived the atrocities during that time period.  Mrs. Lewis's story was more about how she survived once she emigrated.

Unfortunately, the writing and the editing of the memoir is poor.  I truly believe the way the story was written impacted the emotional impact the story had on me.  I found myself correcting grammar or looking for typographical errors rather than investing myself in the remarkable woman.