Displaced: A Holocaust Memoir and the Road to a New Beginning

Written by Linda Schwab and Todd M. Mealy

Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

Displaced is Linda Schwab’s Holocaust memoir, a retelling of her experience surviving 18 months in a man-made cave, another year as an exile in Poland and Germany, and three years as a refugee in a displaced persons camp. Just six years old when a band of Nazi soldiers arrived in her tiny shtetl in Myadel, Poland, Linda observed atrocities no child ever needs to witness.
With her parents and two brothers, during the summer of 1942, Linda was forcibly relocated into a ghetto where most of the Jewish men were led to the nearby forest and killed in a pogrom. After the massacre, Linda escaped with her family into the Ponar Forest, but only after evading Polish nationals and Nazis that patrolled Poland's countryside. Deep in the woods, Linda’s family lived in a cave. They survived brutal winters, eluded partisan fighters that might force Linda’s father to leave the family, and remained out of sight from Nazis and Polish police, who at one point, came only feet from their dugout.

Written with historian Todd M. Mealy during a time when Holocaust deniers aim to rehabilitate the Nazi ideology and as roughly 400,000 survivors remain with us, Displaced presents Schwab’s singular voice. Her narrative will help maintain—if not bolster—Holocaust knowledge, as her story of surviving the Polish wilderness during WWII and in a Displaced Persons Camp after the war is unique from most accounts. Displaced will inspire the rest of us to confront hatred in its many forms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094441146

Linda Schwab

Linda Swidler was born December 1935 in Myadel, Poland (present-day Belarus). The Nazis invaded her shtetl in 1942. After witnessing the killing of the people from her village, the Swidlers went into hiding in the Ponar Forest. With the help of people in the nearby village, Linda and her family survived in cave-like conditions until the end of World War II. After the war, Linda lived in the Fohrenwald Displaced Persons Camp located in Bavaria, Germany. She and her family arrived in the United States in 1949. After decades of silence, she finally opened up about her Holocaust experience in the early 1990s as a participant in Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation Institute for History and Education. Linda now tells her story to K-12 and postsecondary students. She is cofounder of Gesher L’Machar, or “Bridge to Tomorrow,” which sponsors students who wish to participate in the annual Holocaust trip to Poland and Israel called The March of the Living. Linda also sponsors a Holocaust Memorial Day essay contest. Named in honor of Linda and her late husband, Morris, is The Schwab Family Holocaust Reading Room at Penn State University-Harrisburg.

Reviews for Displaced

[Anthony Yap · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very nice book! This is a story of not just surviving the holocaust but of the Parents' love and the father's unrelenting desire to do everything to save his family! Definitely a must read!

[Andra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good book , short but not boring . The intro was also full of excellent information. People need to educate themselves on the holocaust and the suffering of people . I am not Jewish and feel it is especially important for me to know as much as possible so that we could avoid it happening again. No one deserves to ever experience such atrocities. No one!

[Nanette Oosthuizen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like that the author also wrote about the restoration afterwards. It brings hope and inspiration

[James Howat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic story of survival and perseverance. What a great life Linda led after so much tragedy. A good inspiration for anyone who thinks life is getting too tough. Never forget.

[Margaret · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exceptional memoir. It always amazes me how people were able to overcome so much pain, suffering & persecution at the hands of such evil were able to start over & go on to have families & make new lives for themselves while still in many cases, having to put up with anti-semitisim. Thankful for Linda & people like her who have told their story of how they survived the the Holocaust.

[Raymond Bucko, S.J. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This memoir was very interesting l. It’s very important for us to remember the horror of the holocaust.

[brenda joseph · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. It tells of man’s inhumanity but it shows also the triumph of good over evil some times. A must read

[Kelly Izell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hearing this story of survival was amazing. I like knowing that there were those who defied the Nazis despite grave personal risk and aided in hiding/feeding/facilitating hygiene for their Jewish neighbors.