Wilhelmina

Tiny Pieces of Hope Wilhelmina

A young child who survived the Holocaust by using her imagination and resourcefulness

Wilhelmina was born into the raging World War II. Her Father was forced to abandon the family and escape Poland to avoid enlisting in the army, and as a result, her mother and grandmother decided to flee from the soon to be occupied Krakow.

Once in Uzbekistan, Wilhelmina's mother knew the only way to survive starvation is by trading merchandise on the black market, even though it meant she was in constant threat of being caught and deported to Siberia.

After her mother was arrested by the soviet N. K. W. D, Wilhelmina's grandmother took her to a Pravoslavic orphanage and left her there.

Starving, lonely and deserted, Wilhelmina had to rely on her cleverness and imagination, which enabled her to picture food. She imagined eating a piece of bread crust and enjoying it immensely, and those tiny pieces of hope kept her alive.

This book is a unique survival memoir of a child who escaped the Nazis by hiding in various countries. She found herself in foreign cultures without truly belonging to any of them and managed to remain alive against all odds by using her vivid imagination, seeing horrific events through playful eyes.