‘We Survived the Holocaust’: Book introduces one couple’s story of love and survival

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Holocaust Remembrance Day was on Friday and world-wide tributes took place to remember the more than six million Jewish people who died during World War II.

‘We Survived the Holocaust’ is a book by Frank W. Baker and shares the story of Felix and Bluma Goldberg. On Sunday, Baker and the Goldberg’s three children, Henry, Karl and Esther, gathered in Augusta to share the story of the couple’s journey to America.

The story is told through pictures, specifically in a graphic novel format to attract younger generations and educate them on history through the eyes of two people who lived it.

Growing up in the deep South, Henry, Karl and Esther Goldberg always knew their parents were different.

“We used to kind of make fun of their ability to speak English. That was a common joke between me and Karl and Henry,” said Esther Goldberg Greenberg.

The story of Felix and Bluma began eight decades ago in Europe.

“Dad was introduced to her and he had a camera after the war and he took a picture,” said Henry Goldberg. “She said what do I owe you and he said nothing just about a kiss. And she said no. And so he kissed her anyway. And then she slapped his face. And then they got married.”

The Goldberg’s story is one of love and survival.

“Both of them they were just happy, happy,” said Henry. “And then Nazis come in, burnt down the house and the you got separated from your family and never ever saw them again.”

The Jewish Couple were two of millions taken into concentration camps under Adolf Hitler’s order.

“Six million ended up being dead, but millions more survived to tell their story,” said Frank Baker, author of ‘We Survived the Holocaust’. “And that’s why we’re here to tell the Goldberg story.”

Felix and Bluma’s story moved to South Carolina after the war ended, where their story lives on in their children.

“That’s always hard for us as their kids to, to see the atrocities they went through,” said Esther. “Because I think we do feel pain, I think every time we read it and see it and tell their story.”

Pictures and narrative packed into one book shed light into the family’s story.

“We addressed the rise of Adolf Hitler, as a leader of the German people,” said Baker. “How did he do that? What efforts did he use to get Germans and others riled up against the Jews?”

The book also addresses anti-Semitism.

“The worst thing you can say to a Holocaust survivor or child of a Holocaust survivor, is that the Holocaust didn’t happen,” said Karl Goldberg.

The Goldberg children hope the story of their parents educates future generations.

“I can die, knowing comfortable that future generations will know how what my parents endured to make it to this country,” said Karl. “If we can stamp out a Holocaust denier or two that would be great.”

According to a 2020 study from the Pew Research Center, more than half of Americans didn’t know six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

The Goldberg family is currently on a mission to put the book in every middle and high school in South Carolina.

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