During April and May in six sessions, The Berkshire Institute for Lifetime Learning in Western Massachusetts is offering members the following intriguing course.

April 19 – The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survive the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer in collaboration with Susan Dworkin is the story of Edith’s life as a “U-boat,” a Jew hiding in plain sight in Nazi Germany throughout the war. A motion picture based on the book will begin filming in Europe this spring.
Susan Dworkin, author of 14 published books; former editor of Ms Magazine and Moment Magazine, has written numerous articles; has taught writing courses for BILL.

April 26 – A Rescuer’s Story: Pastor Pierre-Charles Toureille in Vichy France by Tela Zasloff is the story of Holocaust rescuer, Pierre Toureille, a French Protestant pastor whose efforts resulted in the saving of hundreds of refugees, most of them Jews, from the Nazis in Vichy France in WWII.
Tela Zasloff, Ph.D. in Rhetoric; English professor; editor and author of several books.

May 3 – Long Way Back to the River Kwai by Loet Velmans is the story of one’s man’s survival of the brutal slave-labor conditions that inspired the classic film Bridge Over the River Kwai. It depicts the experiences of a Japanese P.O.W. who finally escapes from the Nazis in 1940.

Loet Velmans, studied English and Sociology at the University of Amsterdam; retired chairman, president and CEO at Hill and Knowlton, Inc: has published numerous articles in professional magazines.

May 10 – Edith’s Story by Edith Velmans is based on an account of a young girl’s courage and survival during the infamous Nazi occupation of Holland. The story is told through her diaries and letters to and from her family. The book has been published in nine languages and has won two literature prizes.
Edith Velmans, M.Ed. Teachers College, Columbia University; Director for the Second Career Program of the Mayor’s (NY) Voluntary Action Center; knighted by Queen Beatrix of Holland.

May 17 – Before the Silver Cord is Snapped: Looking Back on My Journey by Peter Cukor chronicles the brutal circumstances of his early years. Nazi persecution, ghetto, deportation, work camps, living under a Communist dictatorship and his ensuing immigrant adventures in America.

Peter Cukor, Ph.D. in Chemistry, St. John’s University; Adjunct Associate Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Adjunct Associate Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

May 24 – Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai by Sigmund Tobias describes his family’s escape from the Holocaust in Germany and their subsequent hardships in a Japanese controlled ghetto in Shanghai Two documentary films were made about the book.

Sigmund Tobias, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Columbia University; faculty, City College of New York; Distinguished Research Scientist; Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.