Two Among the Righteous Few author, Marty Brounstein, comes to Grayslake July 6

Author Marty Brounstein,Two Among The Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in the Holocaust, July 6 Grayslake, July 13 Chicago

Doing the right thing was a challenge in the days of the Holocaust, when those protecting Jews and others from Nazi concentration camps could face the same fate if caught. Those who hid Jews or aided them in escaping to places where they might avoid internment in concentration camps were called “The Righteous Few.”

Two among them were Frans and Mien Wijnakker, a Christian Dutch couple whose mission to rescue Jews from Nazi clutches was memorialized in their village of Dieden, in the south of the Netherlands, where Frans also recorded oral histories before his death.

Now the Wijnakkers’ story has been given a new voice by Marty Brounstein, a San Mateo, California consultant and author who has written a book that describes how the couple became involved in assuring the survival of about two dozen Jews, including an infant, who were being hunted by Nazis.

Brounstein will talk about his book, “Two Among the Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in the Holocaust,” July 6 at Grayslake Heritage Center and July 13 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square, Chicago.

Brounstein and his wife, Leah, visited the Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, where a section called “The Righteous Among the Nations” honors Christians and other non-Jews who risked their own lives to rescue Jews. Among them, Oskar Schindler, whose story was told in the movie “Schindler’s List.” The author and his wife also visited Dieden, where he learned he had his own personal connection to the story he discovered there, and now his story has caught the attention of a Hollywood production company, where efforts are underway to turn it into a feature film.

Since the book’s publication, Brounstein has spoken over 400 times in the past five years to schools, businesses, corporate retreats, community organizations and others, traveling to Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Canada to describe the story he discovered in Dieden, one of the happier-ending Holocaust remembrances of that tragic era. He will speak on Wednesday, July 6 at 7:00 pm at Grayslake Heritage Center, 164 Hawley St., Grayslake, IL and again on Wednesday, July 13 at 7:00 pm at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square, 2837 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago. Both events are free and open to the public with books available for sale and signing. For more information, please visit www.MartyABrounstein.com.

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