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by Stephan J. Helgesen (Author)
The Holocaust killed six million Jews, but Isaac Kraicer managed to survive it by deceiving the Nazis into believing he was a Polish gentile. From his earliest moments in the ghetto in his hometown of Gostynin, Poland in 1940 to his work on the German State Railway and finally to his liberation in May of 1945, the story of Isaac Kraicer is one of hiding in plain sight while working in the company of his Nazi occupiers. Immediately following the war, Isaac went to work for two Jewish organizations: the Haganah and Bricha, and was successful in spiriting out hundreds of fleeing Jews from Germany and Russa to Palestine. Emigrating himself in 1948, he joined the effort to create the State of Israel until his family's departure to the United States in 1958. Today, at the age of 92, Isaac Kraicer spends much of his time speaking to groups of middle school and older children about his wartime experiences.
Author Biography
Stephan Helgesen is a retired career U.S. diplomat who lived and worked in over 30 countries over a 25-year period. He has authored nine books on politics, economics, social trends and cultural history, two of which are about Holocaust survivors. He is also the Honorary German Consul in New Mexico and a frequent political commentator on the U.S. political scene for the Danish National Broadcast System. He currently resides in the mountains outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.
