We Who Lived ─ Two Teenagers in World War II Poland

Hava (Eva) Bromberg and Ephraim Sokal were Jewish teenagers in Poland when the Nazis invaded their homeland in 1939. Hiding in plain sight, Bromberg evaded the Germans by living among the non–Jewish Polish population, always in danger of discovery or betrayal. Sokal and his family were deported as “enemies of the people” when the Russians occupied eastern Poland—a calamity that ultimately saved their lives. Liberated by the 1941 Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Sokal fought the Germans, serving with the Polish Navy and British armed forces. When Bromberg and Sokal met in 1947, they both faced the challenges of surviving in a postwar world they were unprepared for. This combined memoir tells their story of resilience in the face of human brutality.

Retired librarian Hava Bromberg Ben-Zvi served for 27 years as the director of the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles. She is the recipient of the Ezra Award from the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles for a major contribution to Jewish education in the community. Today she visits schools and libraries, telling audiences about her life during those years of tears, in the hope that such events will not occur again.