The Year of Goodbyes: A True Story of Friendship, Family, and Farewells

This book tells the true story of what happened to a 12-year-old girl named Jutta (Debbie Levy's mother) in 1938. Actual entries in a posiealbum (autograph book) serve as stepping stones in a crucial year in German history, when people of Jewish ancestry were systematically stripped of their rights, hunted down, and sent to their deaths. Jutta was one of the lucky ones who escaped to America. Remembrances from Jutta's friends and relatives introduce chapters, written in verse form, that describe her experiences-many of them typical of any teenager anywhere-and report some of the history of the era. Debbie wrote these verses in consultation with her mother to reflect her voice, feelings, and thoughts as she was living through this memorable year. The book also includes excerpts from Jutta's diary. Together the poesie writings, verses and diary entries reflect a year of change and chance, confusion and cruelty. Most of all, they describe a year of goodbyes.

 

Debbie Levy's (www.debbielevybooks.com) article for The Washington Post about her mother's escape from Nazi Germany led to a reunion between Jutta and former classmates from Hamburg. Debbie wroteThe Year of Goodbyes in consultation with her mother to reflect Jutta's voice, feelings, and thoughts as a girl. Debbie lives in Maryland.