''Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story'' is an account by

Ann Kirschner Ann Kirschner is an American entrepreneur, educator, and author of the books Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story and ''Lady at the OK Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp''. A veteran of four start-ups, Kirschner launched the Nati ...

of her mother

Sala Sala or SALA may refer to: Places Europe * Sala, the historical name of the river IJssel and home of the Salii Franks * Sala (Estonian island), one of the Uhtju islands * Sala Baganza, a municipality in Emilia-Romagna, Italy * Sala Bolognese, a ...

's experiences in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, based primarily on a

collection of letters A letter collection or letter book consists of a publication, usually a book, containing a compilation of letters written by a real person. Unlike an epistolary novel, a letter collection belongs to non-fiction literature. As a publication, a le ...

her mother gave her, that she had received while in

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

labor camps, written by about 80 correspondents. The most famous of the letter writers was Sala's friend

Ala Gertner Ala Gertner (March 12, 1912 – January 5, 1945), referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela Gertner, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the ''Sonderkommando'' revolt of October 7, 194 ...

, who was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

at Auschwitz for her role in the only armed uprising at the camp. The original letters and Sala's diary are in the permanent collection of the Dorot Jewish Division of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

, and were exhibited to public in 2006. The book was later adapted into a play by

Arlene Hutton Arlene Hutton is an American playwright, theatre artist and teacher. She is best-known for a trio of plays, set during and after the Second World War, known as '' The Nibroc Trilogy''. The initial play of that trilogy, ''Last Train to Nibroc'', wa ...

titled ''Letters to Sala''.Letters to Sala
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. The letters have also been the subject of a traveling exhibit. The letters at the NYPL are made available to students and scholars involved with productions of ''Letters to Sala'' The book was published by Simon and Schuster/Free Press in 2006, and has been translated into several languages: in German as ''Salas Geheiminis,'' Polish, as ''Listy z Pudełka,'' Italian, as ''Il Dono di Sala,'' French, as ''Le Secret de ma mère,'', and Chinese. It was reviewed by the ''New York Times'', and the first chapter was reprinted in that newspaper on Nov. 12, 2006

References

Personal accounts of the Holocaust Collections of letters {{Holocaust-memoir-stub