About this item
- David A. Adler, author of The Number on My Grandfather's Arm In 1944, at the height of World War II, 982 European refugees found a temporary haven at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. They were men, women, and children who had spent frightening years one step ahead of Nazi pursuers and death. They spoke nineteen different languages, and, while most of the refugees were Jewish, a number were Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. From the time they arrived at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter on August 5 they began re-creating their lives and embarked on the road to becoming American citizens. In the history of World War II and the Holocaust, this "token" save by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the War Refugee Board was too little and too late for millions.
About the Author
Norman H. Finkelstein is the author of twenty nonfiction books, mainly for young readers. He recently retired as a school librarian for the Brookline (Massachusetts) Public Schools but continues into his 36th year of teaching history in the Prozdor Department of Hebrew College. Among his writing honors are two National Jewish Book Awards, the Golden Kite Honor Book Award for Nonfiction and a "highly recommended" award from the Boston Author's Club.His interest in history and biography developed early. "I was the only kid in the sixth grade who regularly read the New York Times," he said. His books reflect an eclectic view of his world. From his love of old-time radio came Sounds in the Air: The Golden Age of Radio and from his fascination with plastics came a social and cultural history called, simple enough, Plastics. He also served as the series editor for the Jewish Publication Society's JPS Guides. His most recent books are The Capture of Black Bart: Gentleman Bandit of the Old West and Union Made: Labor Leader Samuel Gompers and His Fight for Workers' Rights.He is married to Rosalind who he calls "my first-line editor". They have three grown children and three grandchildren. Finkelstein lives in Framingham, Massachusetts.
