The book of ‘I Am Sasha’ written by Anita Selzer was published on the 2^nd of April 2018. In the remarkable historic book about her father’s experiences, during German-occupied Poland, was a story to be heard from other people. The book is based upon maintaining hope, luck, decision-making and gender identity. It is about how they survived WW2 in Poland, as Jewish people when they were in great danger.

To survive during WW2 in Poland, Sasha at the age of 14, was a young boy who had to maintain his sense of hope. In great adversity, Sasha maintained his sense of hope during the harsh war and later lived a long, happy life, with his own family. When he and his mother were hiding in the barn, Sasha saw something a child his age should never see. During the cold sleepless nights in the barn, he would be woken up by the smell of smoke and the bright flames during the night. He would hear screams, gun shots, crying and German soldiers marching around with their weapons and the silence after the gunshots were always deafening but at least his mother was right beside him.                                                                                                “I was mama’s soul responsibility and she’d always do whatever it took to protect me” -Sasha. He knew he had no other choice but to trust his mother’s decisions and even his own gut. Sasha trusted his mother to look after him and to keep him safe and he had hope that they would survive the war because he knew someone was there to keep him safe no matter what.

The Jews in Poland during WW2, had no escape and were in great danger, Sasha and his mother can no longer be themselves. Larissa knew that they couldn’t hide from the Nazis forever and that if they were caught hiding or have been identified as a Jew, their life could be at stake. When Sasha’s mother, Larissa came back to the barn after several days to find Sasha hiding their alone and malnourished, she came back with an idea. Her idea was to get fake identification papers and to pretend to be someone they weren’t. “This is your chance to live. It is our last hope, Sasha.” –Larissa. Despite the fact that Larissa’s solution sounded like the most insane idea Sasha had ever heard from his mother, he knew it was the only way to be able to move from place to place without being identified as a Jew during the war. This was when Sasha had to act, dress, talk and look like a girl. Larissa had hope, that this idea would decrease the risk of Sasha and Larissa’s death or punishment from the Nazi soldiers if they ever found out. If Larissa had no hope, she wouldn’t have taken the risk and they could have had a very high chance of being caught and executed by the soldiers.

During the harsh times in Poland due to the war, especially when anti-Semitism had a big role, Larissa and Sasha could only rely on certain people. At the start of the book, Larissa and Sasha had Zayda. He was Sasha’s grandpa who he thought was a hero because he always had the greatest and smartest ideas. He was the kindest and gave the best advice for his children and for his grand-children and educated them to never lose the sense of hope in God. Larissa and her aunt, Binka sent letters to each other to get as much information about the war but this was not the most efficient way of communicating. Fortunately, Zayda had a good friend who was a driver, his name was Mr. Donsky who was sent to pick up Larissa, Sasha and Binka to transport them to Zayda’s house.                                                                                                                    “Thank you for your kindness, Mr Donsky. I will always remember it.”-Larissa. Larissa’s siblings would also gather up at Zayda’s house to discuss what was happening. They worked together, they made decisions and they made plans to try and survive through the war but of course, all of them cannot stay in one house together but they all had to be there for each other through thick and thin. Fortunately, Larissa also had a great friend, Bella who she trusted and considered her as family. Bella was in contact with many people who helped Larissa and her family through the war. This was very lucky and convenient that Larissa’s family had respect and kindness for everyone which meant many people that knew them would try to help them during the war no matter if they were a Jew or not.

The book “I Am Sasha” shows bravery and their hope during their survival in the time of great adversity. Without their hope, they would not be taking the risks they had took that contributed to their survival. Larissa was Sasha’s hero and guide, she had hope that she could find something that could help them, she took risks to gather up information and travelled from place to place to find anything that could spare their lives, which she took a risk and left Sasha on his own. Larissa encountered many people, Jews or not who helped them guide to other leads. This was a story of German-occupied Poland, a severity environment, reuniting, decision-making and finally hope.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

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• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

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