They Never Left Me

The dramatic story of nine-year-old Evelyn's survival through the determination and bravery of her mother and grandmother as they hid in the dense forests of Belarus. Evelyn is a cherished only child in a loving Jewish family in a small shtetl in Eastern Poland. With rich detail of rituals and food, she evokes her early childhood. But this idyll is shattered by the eruption of World War II, thrusting Evelyn and her family into a brutal eight-year struggle for survival. Fleeing to Zhetel, Belarus, Evelyn's father is rounded up and murdered leaving Evelyn, her mother, and grandmother to navigate the escalating horrors of the Holocaust on their own. Together they endured brutal ghetto liquidations, a terrifying week hidden beneath a kitchen floor and two relentless years in the unforgiving forests of Belarus battling starvation, illness, bitter cold and the ever-present shadow of capture. This powerful, moving memoir is a testament to the indomitable will and profound courage of women, without whom Evelyn would not have survived to bear witness for all victims of the Holocaust.

Evelyn Kahn was born in Vilna, then part of Poland, in 1933. She immigrated to Canada in 1953 with her husband Leon, also a Holocaust survivor and former partisan. Evelyn lives in Vancouver, BC, beloved by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren--the living testament of her survival. Hodie Kahn is the daughter of Holocaust survivors Evelyn and Leon Kahn. She feels deeply privileged to have been able to collaborate closely with her mother to write her memoir and preserve her powerful story of resilience and survival, as a lasting legacy for future generations. Hodie lives in Vancouver.