Advance Praise for Tatae’s Promise
Betty Sue Flowers, Professor Emeritus UT-Austin, former Director, Johnson Presidential Library, and editor, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
“In this great book, Tatae’s Promise, Hinda Mondlak has three goals that she must accomplish, at all costs, and she does it with tremendous determination and resilience. This book should be read by anyone who wants to grasp the unfathomable suffering that Hitler and his followers intentionally caused; but most importantly, it should be read by the people who, in spite of massive evidence, still have the audacity to deny that the Holocaust occurred.”
Dr. Arturo Constantiner Sourasky, Board of Governors, Tel Aviv University and Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
“As a student of the Holocaust and one who interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah History Foundation, I thought I had heard it all. Now, I know I was wrong. This is not your ordinary Holocaust story. Do yourself a favor. Find out for yourself.”
Mike O’Krent, Founder and CEO, LifeStories Alive, LLC & Holocaust Survivors Interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah History Foundation
“How does one live by the fifth commandment and honor one’s mother? This accounting, authored by Dr. Moises Goldman and Sherry Maysonave, bring Hinda Mondlak’s (a”h) life to each of us as an offering of love. This recounting is at turns, tender, defiant, staggering, and hopeful. How can we know our parents and what they have lived through? What sacrifices do our parents make for us so that we can live? Let us not forget, so we can know our parents as heroes. Tatae’s Promise is a tribute that penetrates our heart deeply. Let us learn this story and teach it to our own children.”
Neil F. Blumofe, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Agudas Achim, Austin, Texas
“Hinda Mondlak’s story is nothing short of extraordinary.
To survive the selections in Auschwitz, followed by more than two years of brutal incarceration in this infamous factory of death, and then to be one of the very few brave souls to successfully escape the heavily guarded compound, is a testament to the truly remarkable spirt of Hinda Mondlak.
Inspired by her father’s promise and last words to her just before his execution – You Will Live; You Will Tell – this riveting adaptation urgently demands only one thing from us – We Must Listen!
In doing so, we engage in a sacred duty and pay tribute to the millions of martyred souls whose lives were so tragically cut short during Nazi Germany’s long and dark Kingdom of Night.”
Eli Rubenstein, Religious Leader, Congregation Habonim Toronto; National Director, March of the Living Canada; Director, International March of the Living
“Salomon Mondlak, father of Hinda, asked Hinda to promise him that she would be both mother and father to her younger sisters, protecting them. He promised her that she would survive and tell the family’s tragic fate. Against all odds, Hinda and her younger sister Rachel escaped Auschwitz in order to: “survive and tell”.
This book is based on factual events, which Hinda recorded on eleven audio tapes in three languages during the final years of her life in Mexico, while suffering terminal cancer. She died in 1985 in Moises’ arms as she entrusted the tapes with him. Moises promised her that he would tell her story to the world, and fulfill the prophecy of tatae Salomon, back in Poland 52 years earlier.
Hinda’s story is so harsh and hard to believe, that it took Moises another 37 years to TELL and honor his promise to his mother when Hinda gave him her final goodbye.
During all my life, I was exposed to the Holocaust horrors with ongoing descriptions and testimonials. Every year, Israel honors Holocaust Memorial Day with a shutdown. The media tunes up to listen to testimonies of survivors. Every year each testimony is carefully selected and transmitted. I expose myself to them year after year.
BUT NOTHING compares to Hinda’s testimony in this book.
Victor Yagoda, Deputy Director General, United Israel Appeal of Canada, Israel Office, Retired
A Heartfelt Thank You to Dr. Michael Berenbaum
Our deepest appreciation and most sincere thanks for the historical guidance of world-renowned Dr. Michael Berenbaum, a globally acknowledged expert on the Holocaust. Michael was the Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as President and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Michael is author and editor of twenty-four books, as well as Executive Editor of the Second Edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica. His work in film has won Academy Awards and Emmy Awards.