Romek's Lost Youth - The Story of a Boy Survivor

  How does a fledgling self-publisher get reviews for a book nobody has ever heard of before?   We went through the gauntlet - emailing tons of inquiries to periodicals and newspapers in Canada and the United States, jockeying for their attention along with some tens of thousands of other hopeful authors; shipping our paperback copies to designated editors - who in their ivory towers would decide if our book was worthy of their stamp of approval (if they have even read it) and hence be featured in their lofty publication. Apparently, not? Q uel dommage. This experience was quite an eye-opener for me and has reinforced the reality of the playing field, so to speak. Needless to say, the publishing industry is still rooted in a distinct hierarchy that focuses only on a narrow cross-section of (money-making) authors which consist of career authors who have a long line of successful titles to their name, as well as esteemed professionals who have ironed out a unique angle to hawk their bo

No matter your nationality, or religious affiliation, or generation.  We are all called upon to show our respect and remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis during World War Two. We pray also for the Holocaust survivors of whom many are no longer with us.   Most of all we pray for the hope of our humanity -  to remember, to understand, and to guard against any darkness that might threaten the peace and stability of our future.  The following prayer is one which I composed, to the best of my ability,  to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.   You may reprint it and distribute it freely. Please join me in prayer.... Dear God,  we ask you to grant eternal peace and rest to all the souls of our brethren whose blood was spilt by the murderers in Auschwitz – Belzec – Bergen-Belson  –   Dachau  –S obibor – Treblinka – Flossenburg   –   Mielec   –   Buchenwald   –    Majdenek – Matthausen   –     Ravensbruck  –  Plaszow  –  Sachsen

Never Again! Never Forget! These words reverberate in the hearts and minds of the few holocaust survivors who are still with us today. But every year there are fewer holocaust survivors. One day there will not be one. Then the only stories we will have access to are their written and video testimonies filed away in library archives. When the Holocaust Survivors  are gone, shall we gather together to read their stories? Shall we read about the terrors they faced in the Nazi German concentration camps and work camps?  Shall we learn about the history of World War Two,  Hitler's Final Solution, Anti-Semitism, Lebensraum, the Anschluss, Kristallnacht, the Nazi concepts of untermenschen, and the so-called Aryan race? Do you know what was the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact? The Munich Peace Agreement?   Or will you, the younger generation simply shrug and dismiss the Holocaust and World War Two history as something of the past, and consider it irrelevant? I recall an experience I had at work, a

I read the article and was shocked. It was an online NBC news article entitled "Survey finds shocking lack of Holocaust knowledge among Millennials and Generation Z."   It was the first nation-wide survey in the U.S. to be held on the subject of the Holocaust. Of those surveyed, 63% were unable to accurately answer the most basic questions - and half could not even name one concentration camp.   This is truly disturbing that in the space of 77 years, Americans have forgotten what was the most heinous calamity of the 20th century - the Holocaust.   While most average Americans have forgotten about the Holocaust, there is one thing for certain - the  Holocaust-Deniers have Not forgotten (but the latter are determined to spread falsehoods about something they know nothing about - or worse, they do know the truth but are motivated by malintent and subterfuge.) The danger lies when these two mentalities merge: if educational institutions do not take more responsibility in teaching

Batory Publishing is pleased to announce that our new title has just been released,  "Romek's Lost Youth - The Story of a Boy Survivor" Narrated by Ken Roman and written by John James. This memoir has been decades in the making - from the initial concept for writing it, the collaboration between Ken Roman and his friend John James, and efforts find a publisher. And now in 2022, it has finally been published, by Batory Publishing The passage of time, and countless barriers could not dissuade the authors from following their vision. Though Ken Roman passed away in 2016 ( and John James years earlier) the dream has not diminished.  I carried on with a determination to fulfill his dream, to honour his memory, so that his story will never die.  Memoirs are timeless, and ageless;  they have been written throughout the ages - even as far back as 58 B.C. when Julius Caesar wrote his commentaries on the Gallic War, which can be considered a memoir.  But it wasn't until the 17t

Batory Publishing has released a very special manuscript which was written decades ago, but only now is in the process of being published. It is a story that must be told and cannot be lost in the obscurity of time. "Romek's Lost Youth - The Story of a Boy Survivor" was narrated by the late Ken Roman, and written by his close friend and collaborator, the late John James.  Sadly, Ken Roman passed away in 2016, preceded by John James many years earlier. This is a personal memoir of Ken's horrific experiences in the Nazi-German concentration camps during World War Two. Romek was only 13 years old when the Nazi Germans invaded Poland.  He was torn away from his family and imprisoned in work camps and concentration camps, enduring years of deprivation, starvation, torture, slavery, and constant terror. When Flossenburg camp was liberated by the Americans near the end of the war, Romek was finally freed. The nightmare was over, but a new one emerged - he learned of the