Print
E-mail
Comment
Daughter’s book honors her parents
  
|
By Michele Sample
Nancy Ringel’s story is one of pain and profound sadness that began long before she was born. Yet, it is also a story of great strength and love.
Ringel, a Larkspur resident of 13 years, was raised in a suburb of Chicago as an only child by her parents, Leo and Wjera Ringel, both from Poland.
“They were born to two very different worlds,” Ringel said. Her mother was raised a Protestant and lived in a well-off environment while her father was of Jewish heritage and on the opposite side of the spectrum as far as economics.
“If it hadn’t been for the horrible journeys they were forced to make during the time of the Holocaust, I doubt their paths would have crossed,” Ringel said. By the end of World War II, her parent’s lives were connected.
Ringel remembers her mother and father speaking in Polish when she was a young girl, not wanting her to overhear their conversations.
“I knew their were family secrets, but I wasn’t sure exactly what they were,” Ringel said. Over time though, she was able to understand some of their discussions and learned of her parents horrible suffering and experiences under Hitler’s regime.
“Part of me was very angry they had kept so much from me,” Ringel said.
But after becoming involved with a support group in Denver, Children of Holocaust Survivors, Ringel said it changed her life. Her parents’ history began to sink in and she said she matured and knew that she needed to share their story.
Ringel developed her own Web site and started her quest to self-publish a book about her parents’ lives.
“I was quite certain that self-publishing would be the way for me to go,” Ringel said.
Now in its second edition, ‘What They Could Not Forget: Holocaust Memoirs of Leo and Wjera Ringel’ is a reality. She attributes the completion of the project to Jenni Hadden, who helped with the book.
Two local high schools and libraries have made purchases for their bookshelves and she has visited a Denver bookclub to discuss the story. Also, a Perry Park bookclub is on her calendar for the new year, along with a book signing in March in Washington D.C. and a possible Phillip S. Miller library program in the spring as part of their Holocaust Awareness program.
“I would like this book to help others see that even in the worst of times, there is hope; that eventually goodness can prevail,” Ringel said.
Unfortunately, Ringel’s parents died before the book was finalized, yet they did know of her passion to tell their story.
“They knew I wanted my dad to write a book or have a ghost writer, but my mom died not that far into the question asking phase,” Ringel said. Her father agreed to meet with a ghost writer but wouldn’t agree to another session because he felt too poorly.
“I’ve shed many tears wishing they could have seen my accomplishments,” Ringel said. “It’s really the only thing that I think they would be overwhelmingly proud of me for.”
Ringle has two grown sons and two grandchildren and works for KWGN-TV Channel 2 in Denver as a television engineer.
Ringel can be reached on her Web site, www.publishingforthegenerations.com and her book is available at Borders, Tattered Cover Bookstores, Amazon, the Holocaust Museum Book Shop and on her Web site.
Ringel, a Larkspur resident of 13 years, was raised in a suburb of Chicago as an only child by her parents, Leo and Wjera Ringel, both from Poland.
“They were born to two very different worlds,” Ringel said. Her mother was raised a Protestant and lived in a well-off environment while her father was of Jewish heritage and on the opposite side of the spectrum as far as economics.
“If it hadn’t been for the horrible journeys they were forced to make during the time of the Holocaust, I doubt their paths would have crossed,” Ringel said. By the end of World War II, her parent’s lives were connected.
Ringel remembers her mother and father speaking in Polish when she was a young girl, not wanting her to overhear their conversations.
“I knew their were family secrets, but I wasn’t sure exactly what they were,” Ringel said. Over time though, she was able to understand some of their discussions and learned of her parents horrible suffering and experiences under Hitler’s regime.
“Part of me was very angry they had kept so much from me,” Ringel said.
But after becoming involved with a support group in Denver, Children of Holocaust Survivors, Ringel said it changed her life. Her parents’ history began to sink in and she said she matured and knew that she needed to share their story.
Ringel developed her own Web site and started her quest to self-publish a book about her parents’ lives.
“I was quite certain that self-publishing would be the way for me to go,” Ringel said.
Now in its second edition, ‘What They Could Not Forget: Holocaust Memoirs of Leo and Wjera Ringel’ is a reality. She attributes the completion of the project to Jenni Hadden, who helped with the book.
Two local high schools and libraries have made purchases for their bookshelves and she has visited a Denver bookclub to discuss the story. Also, a Perry Park bookclub is on her calendar for the new year, along with a book signing in March in Washington D.C. and a possible Phillip S. Miller library program in the spring as part of their Holocaust Awareness program.
“I would like this book to help others see that even in the worst of times, there is hope; that eventually goodness can prevail,” Ringel said.
Unfortunately, Ringel’s parents died before the book was finalized, yet they did know of her passion to tell their story.
“They knew I wanted my dad to write a book or have a ghost writer, but my mom died not that far into the question asking phase,” Ringel said. Her father agreed to meet with a ghost writer but wouldn’t agree to another session because he felt too poorly.
“I’ve shed many tears wishing they could have seen my accomplishments,” Ringel said. “It’s really the only thing that I think they would be overwhelmingly proud of me for.”
Ringle has two grown sons and two grandchildren and works for KWGN-TV Channel 2 in Denver as a television engineer.
Ringel can be reached on her Web site, www.publishingforthegenerations.com and her book is available at Borders, Tattered Cover Bookstores, Amazon, the Holocaust Museum Book Shop and on her Web site.
Submit a Comment
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
Not yet a registered member?
Click here to become one. |
