“Beautifully written”

Elke Babicki at her book launch Across the Ocean in Germany where over 200 people crowded the historical library in the town’s castle. Elke is bringing her book to the English speaking world under a new title Identity – from Holocaust to Home. It is available on Amazon January 27, 2021.

Not many people peer over the abyss, but my family did. My German grandfather objected to Hitler and was thrown into a concentration camp and my mother’s family became destitute. My father’s educated and wealthy Jewish family in Poland was sent to camps where he lost track of all of them. My father spent five years in concentration camps before making his escape. He was ​taken in and cared for by German farmers, and later met my mother, a Bavarian Catholic. The war that should have set my parents apart actually brought them together. My father, who was only 15 when he was taken, lost his chance for higher education and made his living as the owner of a butcher store. I describe what life had become and how I grew up as a result.

To most outside observers, my parents’ lives would seem to be a success story. As the owners of a popular delicatessen and butcher shop, they were well respected members of their community. But my father was never able to move beyond the fact that the life his parents had planned for him was stolen away, along with his family and even his country. In his own mind, he would always be a settler in a foreign land, and he would never be all that he could have become. My father’s scars, both physical and emotional, were especially deep, and my mother was his continued support.

As their only child, it became my mission in life to be good and not give them anything more to worry about. As a teenager, however, I began to resent that role and rebelled by trying to be a normal kid. That meant dating and kissing boys—particularly German boys (meaning boys who weren’t Jewish), which sent my father into an emotional tailspin.

I know now that my dad was suffering the torments of PTSD well before the term was actually coined. Ultimately, the only way I could manage to define my own future was to create a physical distance, which led me first to Toronto. There I completed my Masters Degree in Psychology at the University of Toronto and then worked as a consultant to businesses, individuals and families. I moved to Vancouver where I’ve been a successful therapist for 25 years.

Mine is not intended to be a morality tale, but there is a moral to my story. In the end, I believe, it is not the hand we are dealt that matters, but our resilience in the face of adversity—the ability to persevere despite our fears and to keep moving forward. More and more people these days are looking for a purpose greater than themselves in their lives, and it is my hope that what I have to say will help readers find a way to connect with what they are seeking.

The story attracts a core readership concerned with learning from history, effects of immigration or dealing with other obstacles within their own country. It is a coming of age story and the book can be utilized as a teaching tool for younger readers. In addition, it reaches beyond this more obvious core and attracts readers of memoir in the tradition of bestseller such as Educated and The Glass Castle. And finally, there is a spiritual component to the story which speaks to readers who are seeking some kind of greater meaning in their life.

Elke Babicki’s journey of publishing in Germany first lead to History Collectives, the company under which the English Version is published.