David Shachar

'From the Holocaust to a New Dawn,' begins with David Shachar's family genealogy, which caused me to immediately lose interest. It reminded me of being in a situation in which a friend wants you to view family vacation photos, but you have absolutely no interest in them. You politely sit through them and hope the time will pass by quickly. In addition, the beginning of Shachar's book includes a lot of Jewish and/or Polish terminology which made it extremely difficult for a non-Jewish person show more to understand. It would have been very helpful if the terminology had been defined or translated so that I might have been able to understand it more thoroughly.

I found the story extremely interesting when Shachar began telling of the events which took place when the Germans invaded Poland, the suffering which his family endured, and how they were given the option of remaining in Poland or traveling to Siberia. His description of the life he and his family experienced and how they survived the hardships was an engrossing account of survival.

David made the statement that when he moved to Israel, he found that he was not accepted by the Jews already living there. He stated that the Jews in Israel looked down on the Jews who had survived the Holocaust as "not having the sense to immigrate to Israel in time, for marching to our deaths as "sheep led to slaughter,' or even worse - for surviving the Holocaust only because we were egoistic manipulators or collaborators." What a terrible thing to be accused of after having already suffered so much.

Shachar goes on to tell how he worked toward the betterment of life for Jewish people and the state of Israel. However, near the end of the book, I began to feel that he was bragging of his achievements and that he wrote this book in order to show how he worked toward building a Jewish Memorial, while showing that others who were involved were only trying to profit from it. I found myself neither impressed nor interested in these events. show less

Opening what looked to me like a textbook, I discovered the autobiography of a man who lived in five different countries during the course of his life, beginning with Poland, and ending in Israel. In this book, David Shachar tells about the twists and turns of fate that led him to also live in the Soviet Union, France, and Italy after life as he knew it in his native city of Krasnosielc, Poland, was suddenly interrupted with the invasion of the Nazis at the beginning of World War II. His show more large and religious family was driven apart as Jews at that time were either killed by the Nazis or became refugees taken into the Soviet Union.

This book was basically a list of lifetime events as with most autobiographies, but there were few events that pulled me out of the direct chronology of the story and into more of an understanding of individuals or relationships. I learned about David’s family, friends, and acquaintances but not in very great detail. Mostly I learned about David's education, jobs, and aspirations. It almost felt as if this book were written for David's own family and not for a wider audience. Nevertheless, I grew to like reading David's story more and more the faurther I progressed through its pages. I would not recommend this book for a general readership. However, for those who are familiar with modern Jewish history or would like to know more about it as well as for those who have a feeling of “knowing” Israelis, David does have an interesting story to tell.

Had I put this book together myself, I’d have given it a different binding – one which would display more of its being an autobiography. I’d have eliminated the Hebrew map since the rest of this book had no other Hebrew. Additionally, I would have more clearly identified the people in the group of pictures at the center of the book.

I found David’s life story fascinating and finished this book in only three days. However, each person who immigrates to Israel has his or her own amazing story. It’s just nice that David had captured and shared so many details of his own experiences.

Truthfully, what first interested me in reading this book at all was the fact that David lived for seven years in Kiryat Shmona, a development town in Northern Israel. I lived in that same town years later. In choosing to read this book, I really wanted to relive the feeling of being located in the lovely Hula Valley between Mount Naftali and Mount Hermon once again. As David Shachar put it, “I am again filled with gratitude for how well my fateful decision to move to Kiryat Shmona turned out.” I personally share that feeling. show less

"From the Holocaust to a New Dawn" is an enjoyable read by Israeli citizen David Shachar. In this book, the author reveals his life during World War II and the efforts of his family to survive the Holocaust. The book is however, mostly about the man himself, his values, his struggles to provide for his nuclear family and his wish to make a significant contribution to his adopted homeland, Israel.

Born in Krasnosielec, Poland his father and other innocent Jews were brutally killed by Germans show more and their bodies burned and buried secretly near the synagogue. This incident happened when David was a youngster and he never forgot it. One of his dreams was to commemorate these victims which he managed to accomplish when he was older with the aid of an acquaintance, Mr. Sami Shamoon. The author has a strong sense of self and a strong desire to make a difference in society. In fact, he is instrumental in establishing a memorial on Mount Herzel in Jerusalem to honor Jewish soldiers who served in Polish armies. Whether he is serving in the Israeli army, working in Italy for a n Israeli water company or living in northern Israel on a kibbutz, he is an active, socially conscious individual.

What is most interesting about this book is how the author continues to keep the reader's interest while revealing his life story. It is a tale of an ordinary man who lives an ordinary life. During his lifetime every now and again he meets some extraordinary people and overcomes some unusual challenges. Shachar writes in a pleasant, easy-to-read manner As a reader, you will gain respect for a man like Shachar. He is typical of the many individuals who made significant sacrifices to build Israel into the great country it is today. show less

Obviously this is considered an important book by the publisher, family, and fellow citizens of Israel, and, as a record of the experiences of a Holocaust survivor, it also has an inherent historic and human importance.

However, I am not sure who were the intended audience for David’s autobiography outside of that particular circle, or why it is being published internationally, after translation. It reads as a textbook, perhaps to accompany a visit to the Mount Herzl memorial for the fallen show more Jewish and Polish soldiers that the author conceived, sponsored and saw to completion. In one of the opening letters of approbation, by a Knesset Member, one importance is recognized ‘that it be read by the youth in order that they know with what suffering this state (Israel) was established, and …it is because of people like David that it exists to this day’…and another Knesset member noted that the author ‘serve(s) as a model for our generation’.

His travels and travails took the author through Nazi-occupied Poland, Siberia, France, Italy and then, as part of the peopling of the Promised Land, as a settler to Israel. An interesting and challenging life then, but this reader felt that the book, written by David himself, failed to portray the excitement and drama and needed editing, restructuring and polishing in order to become more readable by those of us without his shared experiences. show less