Ellen Fried­man always knew that she was born to Pol­ish-Jew­ish par­ents on the run from Hitler, but her fam­i­ly did not describe them­selves as Holo­caust sur­vivors since that label seemed only to apply only to those who came out of the con­cen­tra­tion camps with num­bers tat­tooed on their arms. The title of the book comes from the close­ness that set sev­en indi­vid­u­als apart from the hun­dreds of thou­sands of oth­er refugees in the Gulags of the USSR. The Sev­en, a name giv­en to them by their fel­low refugees, were Pol­ish Jews from War­saw, most of them relat­ed. This sto­ry pro­vides a glimpse into the reper­cus­sions of the Holo­caust in one extend­ed fam­i­ly who sur­vived because they were loy­al to one anoth­er, lucky, and end­less­ly enterprising.

Based on pri­ma­ry inter­views and told in a blend­ing of past and present expe­ri­ences, Fried­man gives a new voice to Holo­caust mem­o­ry – one that is sure to res­onate with today’s exiles and refugees. Those with an inter­est in World War II mem­oir and geno­cide stud­ies will wel­come this unique perspective.