Harry Pila

Belgium, 1941. Rosa and Charles Russ give their newborn son, Jean-Pierre, to their non-Jewish friends for safekeeping; they are not aware that the couple is involved in espionage for the British, putting their baby in grave risk. In the home where they've placed their son, soirees are held for high-level Nazis who believe that the baby they bounce on their knees is Christian. The alcohol flows along with German secrets. In April 1944, Rosa and Charles are arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Both endure barbaric treatment in multiple camps. One parent succumbs a mere month before the end of WWII. The other survives to reclaim Jean-Pierre. This stranger's appearance, he recalls, is the worst day of his life. Thoroughly and meticulously researched, The Journey of a Hidden Child traces the Holocaust trajectories of Charles and Rosa, as well as Jean-Pierre's years as a hidden child. It is a story of unimaginable sacrifice and courage, testifying to the strength of the human spirit and the ability to build a new life from scratch.