 |
Escape
From Antwerp: |
The
Story
| Eda Lew Balsam is what she appears to be: a grandmother living the life of an active retiree in Santa Cruz, California. But within this exuberant, inquiring personality lives an amazing story of transformation and triumph. | with the help of non-Jewish friends. Tragically they had to leave behind close family and friends, who still underestimated the great danger of their situation. | |
| Eda Lew grew up in Belgium, living an ordinary, comfortable life. Her birthplace, Antwerp, became the center of a battle for its strategically important harbor. When Hitler's Blitzkrieg began in 1939, Eda was suddenly catapulted from her comfortable life into the chaos and contradictions of life as the eldest daughter of a Jewish family. | In Paris they hid in close quarters, much like the Anne Frank family, again in peril from the Nazi-collaboration of the Vichy government. Eventually they were able to reach the relative safety of Franco's Spain. From Bilbao, Spain they crossed to Cuba, then went on to the United States. | |
| During the bombing of Antwerp Harbor, her family's attempted escape to England via Calais was thwarted by the battle of Dunkerque. Forced to return to Belgium for two, long years under Nazi tyranny, her family at last migrated to Paris | Eda's brilliant, inquiring mind carries us with her through the events of her extraordinary life. Do not miss this inspiring story of human hope, courage, persistance, and triumph against enormous odds. |
©
2003 by Eda Balsam