From Nazi Inferno to Soviet Hell

In 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact and secretly agreed to divide Poland. This is the background against which the tale told in From Nazi Inferno to Soviet Hell was played out. The dramatic and moving story turns the spotlight on an aspect of the World War II Jewish experience that will be unfamiliar to many readers. Its portrayal of the corruption, uncertainty, and constant danger of life under the Stalin regime is terrifying, yet a testimonial to the human spirit and man's ingenuity and will to survive. Larry Wenig, today a successful New York City attorney, was just entering adolescence when the war began. After experiencing Nazi violence his family fled to the Soviet half of Poland. There, too, they were subjected to persecution and sent to a camp in the subzero environment of Siberia. After Germany invaded Russia, they were sent to Uzbekistan, where they eked out a meager living by their wits. At war's end, they made their way back to Poland. Finding that as Jews they were unwelcome, they escaped to Austria and then to the West and ultimately made their way to the United States.