Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story
Encyclopedia
Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story is an account by Ann Kirschner
of her mother's experiences in the Holocaust, based primarily on a collection of letters her mother gave her, that she had received while in Nazi labor camps, written by about 80 correspondents. The most famous of the letter writers was Sala's friend Ala Gertner
, who was hanged at Auschwitz for her role in the only armed uprising at the camp.
The original letters and Sala's diary are in the permanent collection of the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library. The letters have also been the subject of a play written by Arlene Hutton, a traveling exhibit, and a documentary film underway by director Murray Nossel.
The book was published by Simon and Schuster/Free Press in 2006, and has been translated into several languages: in German as Salas Geheiminis, Polish, as Listy z Pudełka, Italian, as Il Dono di Sala, French, as Le Secret de ma mère,, and Chinese.
It was reviewed by the New York Times, and the first chapter was reprinted in that newspaper on Nov. 12, 2006
Ann Kirschner
Ann Kirschner is an American academic, entrepreneur, and author, best known as the author of Sala's Gift. She was the former head of Columbia University's interactive knowledge network, Fathom, and is now the University Dean of William E...
of her mother's experiences in the Holocaust, based primarily on a collection of letters her mother gave her, that she had received while in Nazi labor camps, written by about 80 correspondents. The most famous of the letter writers was Sala's friend Ala Gertner
Ala Gertner
Ala Gertner , referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of October 7, 1944.-Early life:Gertner was born in Będzin, Poland, one of three children in a prosperous Jewish family...
, who was hanged at Auschwitz for her role in the only armed uprising at the camp.
The original letters and Sala's diary are in the permanent collection of the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library. The letters have also been the subject of a play written by Arlene Hutton, a traveling exhibit, and a documentary film underway by director Murray Nossel.
The book was published by Simon and Schuster/Free Press in 2006, and has been translated into several languages: in German as Salas Geheiminis, Polish, as Listy z Pudełka, Italian, as Il Dono di Sala, French, as Le Secret de ma mère,, and Chinese.
It was reviewed by the New York Times, and the first chapter was reprinted in that newspaper on Nov. 12, 2006