After over forty years of studying the Holocaust(Shoah) there are still no simple answers available.My journey which began with having the privilege of being a student of Viktor Frankl’s and the number of direct witnesses I met ,gave me a personal connection beyond mere historical dates and numbers. There were so many moments in this pursuit when I felt overwhelmed by the reality of the atrocities. The victims were not merely numbers they were fathers,mothers,children friends and neighbors and keeping their memory alive was not the search for revenge ,but rather the desire to honor their presence in the minds of all who mourn their loss. It has been difficult at times to continue the research ,and I am so aware of the “what ifs” that might have made a difference or at least minimized the numbers of those that were massacred.
I hope that the plot and characters in “The Cross or the Swastika” will in some small way make the story real and lasting in the minds and hearts of the readers.There are heroines, heroes and monsters in the novel and it is important to feel the impulses and choices that led to courage or depravity.No one can touch this period without being overwhelmed by the almost absolute destruction of an entire race.It is with this realization that it is important to keep the stories alive so that it may never happen again.