Series 2
Under the Yellow & Red StarsAlex Levin
I feel my brother’s hand, trembling but strong, grab onto mine. I hear his words, urging me to run, take hold of my body and move my legs. We run, his hand holding mine… to me it feels like freedom.
Under the Yellow & Red Stars is the remarkable story of a Jewish boy swept up by the horrors of World War II. The harrowing tale of Alex Levin’s survival in the forests of Poland, it also portrays his struggle to build a new life in the oppressive atmosphere of Stalinist Russia. Born in Rokitno, where Jews had lived for generations, Alex spent his early childhood surrounded by a loving family, enduring together even under the Soviet occupation of 1939–41. When the Nazis brutally overran Rokitno in June 1941, chaos descended. As a massacre of the town’s Jews was about to begin, Alex’s brother dragged him away from the crowd and into the forest, where they lived by their wits for a year and a half. Alex Levin was barely twelve years old when the war ended in this region and he emerged from hiding into a new world with neither parents nor a community. Relying on the compassion of strangers, Levin found security in unlikely places – in a travelling Russian field hospital; in post-war Moscow; and eventually in a military boarding school. Alex’s story is a personal account of some of the defining moments of the twentieth century and conveys the infinitely resilient spirit of youth, and the remarkable abilities of a boy determined to survive against all odds.
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Title: Under the Red & Yellow Stars
Author: Alex Levin (1932)
Country of origin: Poland
Arrival in Canada: 1975
Published: 2009 as part of Series 2
ISBN: 9781897470077
Pages: 149
Language of original manuscript: English
Introduction: Sara Horowitz and Naomi Azrieli
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Note to teachers
Teachers who plan to use these books as learning material should first read our Note.
Download this book
All books of the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs are available free of charge online in PDF format.
If you wish to download this book in large print on single pages, click here.
If you wish to download this book in regular print on facing pages, click here.
Order this book
Printed volumes of the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs are available free of charge to Canadian libraries, schools and Holocaust education programs. If you are interested in ordering this book, please fill in the online form here.
Title: Under the Red & Yellow Stars
Author: Alex Levin (1932)
Country of origin: Poland
Arrival in Canada: 1975
Published: 2009 as part of Series 2
ISBN: 9781897470077
Pages: 149
Language of original manuscript: English
Introduction: Sara Horowitz and Naomi Azrieli
_______________________________________
Note to teachers
Teachers who plan to use these books as learning material should first read our Note.
Download this book
All books of the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs are available free of charge online in PDF format.
If you wish to download this book in large print on single pages, click here.
If you wish to download this book in regular print on facing pages, click here.
Order this book
Printed volumes of the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs are available free of charge to Canadian libraries, schools and Holocaust education programs. If you are interested in ordering this book, please fill in the online form here.
