All About Me
I graduated from Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD (now named McDaniel College) in June 1962 with a BA in psychology. I graduated with a MSW degree from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in 1964.
Most of my career has been in the Jewish Communal Service. I was the administrator of Northwest Drug Alert, a methadone maintenance program at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore as well as the community's reference point to steer drug abusers to Jewish resources in the community to help them achieve abstinence, provide counseling, and help with finding employment.
After that, I was hired as the Assistant to the Director of Jewish Family Services in Baltimore.
My last position was with Har Sinai Congregation, a Jewish Reform Synagogue in Baltimore. I served there for 23 years as its Executive Director before my retirement in October 2005.
In retirement, I pursued my interests in hiking with The Maryland Hiking Club, exploring nature and volunteering at The Irvine Nature Center where I took school children on nature hikes and helped at the Center's nature store.
I've always had an interest in writing that goes back as far as when I was a child. I never pursued it seriously until I retired. I first began writing children's books and became a member of the Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Association after I retired. I wrote several books titled as follows: “Vera and the Blue Bear go to the Zoo”, “Never Bite an Elephant (And Other Bits of Wisdom)”, “The Day the School Bus Drivers Went on Strike”, “If You Count”, and “The Day the School Devices Went on Strike”.
None of these books has been published, but maybe if my CONCERTO books make me well-known, who knows what could happen?
My journey writing the CONCERTO companion books began the day I saw a note on the local library bulletin board saying they were forming a writer's group to be led voluntarily by a local author. I joined, and along with 9 other participants was taught the essentials of writing, writing from the protagonist's POV, and not straying from that, the arc of building up tension until the climax, writing and rewriting, devleoping characters with unique personalities, showing their flaws and peculiarities, uniqueness and all.
I devoted 4 years plus of my life writing, researching, rewriting, and submitting my manuscript (these two books were originally one book titled “The Auschwitz Concerto” before I divided them in two and self-published. For awhile I used the title “The Box” before it was published.
My teacher and fellow “students” gave me a great deal of encouragement in their critiquing these novels as I hope I may have contributed to their successes.
My 'Author's Notes' speak to what I hope to achieve in making these books available to the public. Before writing them I had little knowledge about the Holocaust other than nine million lives were lost and that it was a horrific stage in history. In writing these novels, I learned a great deal about history and human suffering and to become more sensitive to what is going on in our country today that we all should be aware of and address. What affects one or a group of people has the capacity to quickly affect us all.
My HP Books
COMING SOON
2025
"THE BOX"
A Story of the Holocaust
Books 1 & 2
First published as
"Concerto: Simon" &
"Concerto: Adrian"
First
When Nazi Germany troops enter Krakow, Poland on September 2, 1939, fourteen-year-old Simon Baron learns two truths that have been hidden from him. One, the people who have raised him are not his biological parents. Two, his birth mother was Jewish. In the eyes of the Germans, despite the fact he has been raised Catholic, this makes Simon Jewish.
Simon's dreams of becoming a concert violinist and composer are dashed when his school is forced to expel him, and he is no longer eligible to represent it at its annual Poland Independence Day Concert. There he had hoped to draw the attention of representatives of a prestigious contest who might have helped him fulfill his dreams.
Simon vows to never forgive his birth father for abandoning him, an act resulting in unspeakable tragedies for his family and in his being forced to live the indignities of the ghetto and the horrors of Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Throughout his ordeals Simon waivers between his intense anger toward his birth father and his dreams of being reunited with him. Through his relationships with Rabbi Rosenschtein and the rabbi's daughter, Rachel, Simon comes to appreciate his Jewish heritage and find purpose in his life. Driven by devotion to family and friends and his passion for music, Simon holds on to hope. But can he survive the atrocities of the Nazi regime?
How do you reconcile a decision you made in the past when the world erupts in war, threatening the life of someone you love and believe you were protecting?
Adrian Mazurek immigrated to the United States from Krakow, Poland, 14 years ago and is now a successful violin soloist and the concertmaster of the Eleventh Union Symphony Orchestra in New York.
But despite his outward success, Adrian is inwardly harboring a shameful secret, one he has not revealed to anyone.
However, that is about to change. Adrian plans to propose marriage to Suzanne, but knows he must tell her the truth about his past before doing so. Riddled with guilt and shame, Adrian can barely look at himself in the mirror. How can he look Suzanne in the eye and tell her that he left his infant son, Simon, in the care of his aunt and uncle in Poland 14 years ago?
If only confessing the truth to Suzanne was the most difficult part.
Adrian soon learns that Germany has invaded Poland and that World War II has begun. Fearing that the Germans will learn that his son is of Jewish heritage, Adrian must do something to ensure Simon's safety. But what? And will Suzanne stand by his side or will she turn away because of his deceit?
