I Shall Not Die!: A Personal Memoir

By Hart N. Hasten

He came penniless to the United States after surviving the Holocaust Hart Hasten rose to the top levels of finance and industry. He became an integral part of his community at large, not only giving... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9652293024
• ISBN13: 9789652293022
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Gefen Books
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.8" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Therefore Choose Life!

Hart N. Hasten was one of two noted speakers who addressed the 31st annual assembly of the Indiana Jewish Historical Society gathered in the state capital in 2003 and there he gave a telling report on his life story, the summary detailed in "I Shall Not Die." Although Steven Speilberg's Shoah Foundation has captured on video, sixty-three interviews of European-born Jewish survivors, who continued their lives in Indiana, there are only two Jewish Holocaust survivor memoirs printed hereto by national publishers and by those who settled in the Hoosier state. (The late Rose Gutterman Zar of South Bend published "In the Mouth of the Wolf" in 1983; and hopefully Eva Mozes Kor of Terre Haute, a twin, who survived the Mengele experiments and who founded C.A.N.D.L.E.S., `Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments' museum that was destroyed by arson in 2003 will also publish her courageous story.) Hasten's story is unique in that his parents successfully fled with their children to Kazakhstan, and unlike others (see Arnold Herskovics' series, "Another Chapter in my Life" Illiana News in the IJHS Collections of the Indiana Historical Society) who were imprisoned for crossing the Soviet border further north, and Rose Zar who survived in Germany of all the scant hiding places. Most contemporaries, familiar with decades of international telephone communications, centuries of regular postal delivery and of late instant Internet messaging will have to stop and imagine how it was to be cut off, as were Hasten, from all contact with family and friends back in Poland during WWII. Furthermore none of us can imagine the horror of his returning home after the war and realizing the vastness of the Nazi genocide; a civilization had vanished. If Kazakhstan was a strange port for this Orthodox Jewish family, so too was Indiana, but here our tall, handsome and spirited survivor flourished, and the Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis is named in his honor. Although Hart is proud of his celebrity contact and connections, most of us choose heroes much closer to home and those who are much less in the limelight. Hasten's much heralded September relationship with the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin however close, isn't his finest hour, Hart's personal contributions to his home community large and small are what make this man extraordinary. Indianapolis, The Jewish Studies Program at I.U. Bloomington, and all of Indiana Jewry as well as Jerusalem have benefited from Hart Hasten's benevolence. This is the biography of that person.

A GREAT BOOK

There are many books written by Holocaust survivors. There are many books written by Holocaust survivors who made it big in America. There are also many books written by Holocaust survivors who made it big in America and became great Jewish philanthropists. But this is the first book that includes all of the above with an intimate, up close look at the various Israeli politicians who we read about every day in the newspaper.Like the author, Menachem Begin is also my hero -please note- I DID NOT SAY MY IDOL!!! (see the chapter on Mar Begin) The closest I ever came to Begin was paying my respects at his gravesite in Jerusalem. The author's recollections of his many visits with Begin was much more than an ersatz substitute, it was a balanced visit into Begin the man- something that all his biographers never got quiteright (with the possible exception of Harry Hurwitz's biography.)The chapter "Rubbing Shoulders" was arguably the best in the book. The story of the American supporter of Ariel Sharon who tried to convince him to go on a diet may have been the funniest story I have ever read. I laughed so hard my wife thought I was cracking up!!!If you love Israel and her wonderful people- buy this book nowIf you don't love Israel- buy this book anyway. It may just change your mind.

a must read

a story of how true faith in the Al-mighty brought one man in contact with leaders of our generation. a story of how Hitler's and Stalin's plot to destroy the Jewish People will never succeed.