Presenter: Dr. Shalom Eilati

Against a backdrop of Lithuania's occupation - first by the Red Army, next by the Germans, and then again by the Russians - this a story reflected through the prism of a sharp-eyed young child, Shalom Eilati. His story starts in the occupied Kovno Ghetto and ends with his flight across the Soviet border, through Poland and Germany and finally, his arrival in Palestine. The adult survivor, while recalling the terrorized child that he was and how he then perceived the adult world, also takes stock of his present life. Throughout the memoir, Eilati attempts to reconcile his present life as a husband, father, scientist, and writer, with the images, feelings, and thoughts from the past that have left an indelible mark on his life and that continue to haunt him. A book-signing will follow the meeting.

Shalom Eilati, was born in 1933 in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, and in 1941 he and his family were imprisoned in a ghetto created by the occupying Germans. In 1944, at his mother's initiative, he escaped from the ghetto alone. He survived the ghetto (as did his father) and reached Palestine in 1946. After earning a Ph.D. in the cultivation of citrus fruits, he taught at Hebrew University and later was among the founders of Israel's Environmental Protection Service, and coordinating editor of Cathedra, a quarterly on the history and settlement of Israel. He is married with three children and five grandchildren, and lives in Jerusalem.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12:30 to 1:45 for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.

Ticket Info: Free to Jewish Genealogical Society members, $5 for others.