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If I survive – Press Release

New email: bmiller-books@bigpond.com, no fax

 

PRESS RELEASE 17.1.19

Cairns author Barbara Miller has written If I survive: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 100-year-old Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story. Lena, living in Sydney, turns 100 on 31 January and the book will be in her hands in time for her birthday.

Published on Amazon on 7 January, the book has been rated the no 1 new release in Jewish History, the no 1 new release in Jewish Holocaust History, the no 1 new release in Historical German Biographies and the no 1 new release in Social History.

Miller says, “Lena is so gracious despite all the trauma she went through. The thought ‘If I Survive’haunted Lena. Her loved ones were cruelly forced from her arms in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and perished in Treblinka Death Camp. This is a true story of Holocaust survival. Lena kept thinking, ‘It’s my turn next’.”

Miller says, “Hitler’s main target was the Jews who he wanted to wipe off the face of Europe. However, there were other targets of Hitler and Nazism – Poles and other Slavic people, Roma (Gypsies), Catholic priests and Christian pastors, homosexuals, political prisoners and the disabled. In all, there were 11 million victims of Hitler’s racist diabolical ideology including 6 million Jews, 1.5 million of the Jews being children.

Lena’s voice reminds us now, and will inform future generations, what it was like to be a Jew during the Holocaust. Voices were silenced by gunshots, bayonet stabbings, the gas chambers or burning ghettos but Lena’s voice will live on to tell her story. She is one of the last living witnesses of the Holocaust.”

This is one of eight reviews by key Jewish leaders who have endorsed the book – “This is a truly beautiful collaboration between the author and her subject, who have together produced an invaluable documentation of a unique, moving, life story set against the backdrop of one of the darkest moments in human history.  To read ‘if I Survive’ is to meet a remarkable person and to be touched by her intense humanity in an inhuman world.” Jeremy Jones AM, former President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Director, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

The book will be launched at the Sydney Jewish Museum on 10 February, NSW Parliament on 11 February and the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne on 14 February. The book is available from Amazon or the author’s website – www.barbara-miller-books.com.

Barbara Miller

 

 

END

To download the PDF version please click the link below:
Press release re If I Survive 17.1.19

 

 

New Book No 1 Release Amazon

Barbara Miller’s New Book “If I Survive” is scaling the heights on Amazon bookstore!

Barbara Miller pictured here with her new book in draft A4 copy from the printer.

Barbara with If I Survive book 17.1.19 Cairns Esplanade

The Kindle version as reached “#1 New Release in Jewish History” & “#1 in Jewish Holocaust History” and more you can see in the gallery below.

New Book If I Survive


FINALLY HERE AND ALSO FREE – Free download for a limited time of this no 1 new release in Jewish History, Jewish Holocaust History and Historical German Biographies. No 3 in Social History – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MQ4DKJH. Love you to review it on Amazon please as it helps people find it.

Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story of Survival from the Holocaust as told by Barbara Miller from Interviews and from Lena’s Diary.Barbara was a finalist herself in the 2018 Queensland Literary Awards for the Work of State Significance.

“If I Survive.” This thought haunted Lena. Her loved ones were cruelly forced from her arms in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and perished in Treblinka Death Camp. This is a true story of Holocaust survival. Lena kept thinking, “It’s my turn next.” How did she survive?

This is Barbara’s second book on the Holocaust with the first being the biography of William Cooper in 2012. He was an Aboriginal Australian who, as well as being an activist for his people, led a protest against Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust or Shoah in 1938.

This gripping biography of Lena Goldstein is the first in a series called Faces of Eve.

L-R Lena Goldstein & Barbara Miller with author interviewing her at an old people’s home in Sydney. Lena turns 100 on 31 Jan 19.

Upcoming events

2019 Book launches –
10 Feb 2.30pm Sydney Jewish Museum
11 Feb 1pm Hon Rev Fred Nile, MLA, NSW Parliament House, Booking required to Judy Russell<judy.russell@iinet.net.au>
14 Feb 7pm Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne

 

Pictured here is Lena receiving the Order of Australia medal from then Governor of NSW

 

 

New Book If I survive coming

 

Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story of Survival from the Holocaust as told by Barbara Miller from Interviews and from Lena’s Diary.

Barbara was a finalist herself in the 2018 Queensland Literary Awards for the Work of State Significance.
“If I Survive.” This thought haunted Lena. Her loved ones were cruelly forced from her arms in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and perished in Treblinka Death Camp. This is a true story of Holocaust survival. Lena kept thinking, “It’s my turn next.” How did she survive?

L-R Eva Engel, Lena Goldstein & Barbara Miller at Lena’s Sydney home. Lena turns 100 on 31 Jan 19.

Upcoming events

2019 Book launches –
10 Feb 2.30pm Sydney Jewish Museum
11 Feb 1pm Hon Rev Fred Nile, MLA, NSW Parliament House, Booking required to Judy Russell <judy.russell@iinet.net.au>
14 Feb 7pm Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne

Lena’s stained diary

If I survive Book Launch – Melbourne

14 Feb 7pm 2019

Nazi Germany and the Jews. 100 year old Lena Goldstein’s miracle story

“If I Survive.” This thought haunted Lena. Her loved ones were cruelly forced from her armsin the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and perished in Treblinka Death Camp. This is a true storyof Holocaust survival. Lena kept thinking, “It’s my turn next.” How did she survive?

Author Barbara Miller tells Lena’s compelling story from interviews, her diary and historicalresearch to put it in context.

Book to be launched by John Searle, Barrister.

Where: Jewish Holocaust Centre, 13-15 Selwyn Street, Elsternwick
When: 7pm, Thursday 14 February 2019
Enquiries: Barbara Miller 0466 076 020

Download PDF Flier:
Jewish Holocaust Centre Melbourne book launch If I Survive flyer 14.2.19

Updated: Mon 4th Feb 2019

If I survive 2019 Book Launch Sydney

10 Feb 2.30pm 2019

Where: SYDNEY JEWISH MUSEUM, 148 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst
When: Sunday 10th February at 2.30pm

BOOK NOW, FREE:

 

Book Launch: If I Survive


If I Survive: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 100-Year-Old Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story by author Barbara Miller tells the story of Holocaust survivor Helena (Lena) Goldstein. Lena has been a volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum since its inception 26 years ago. Aged 100, Lena continues to tell her story of survival to groups of students at the Museum.
This is Barbara’s second book on the topic of the Holocaust. Her first, published in 2012, explored the life of William Cooper, an Indigenous Australian after whom an Academic Chair of Resistance to the Holocaust was named in 2010. Barbara is a psychologist and sociologist, and was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards for the Qld Premiers Award for a Work of State Significance in 2018 for her book, White Woman Black Heart, Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir.

Download PDF Flier:
Book Launch Sydney Jewish Museum 10.2.19

Updated 4th Feb 2019

White Woman Black Heart article and review by Open Discussion on Progressive Christianity

The Open Discussion on Progressive Christianity has recently posted an article on the latest White Woman Black Heart book:

This enthralling personal memoir, with its incredibly detailed recollections, extends from the turbulent times of the sixties and seventies to the present which she shares with husband Norman in pastoral ministry. White Woman, Black Heart is also an inspiring testimony to the empowering convergence between her authentic…

Continue reading the article here: 
https://ucforum.unitingchurch.org.au/?p=2196

Black Star Radio Interview with Barbara Miller


Full Length Interview:

  • 1-7.30 is the Cooper book
  • 11.17-17.52 is the European Quest book
  • 22.54-27.39 Dying Days book
  • 32.10-40.46 Mapoon book

Book Sections:

Cooper book  

European Quest book

Dying Days book

Mapoon book

 

Visit the Black star website:

https://qram.com.au/blackstar/

Book Launch Melbourne White Woman Black Heart July 24th 2018

24th July 2018

BOOK LAUNCH ABORIGINES ADVANCEMENT LEAGUE

  • 2 Watt St Thornbury Melbourne 9.30am Tuesday 24 July 2018
  • Entertainment! Refreshments! Lucky door prize! (Bring your business cards)
  • Meet author Barbara Miller who also wrote William Cooper’s biography
  • White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir

This is a highly engaging and inspiring memoir. At its centre is the story of Mapoon which has all the elements of a great drama with the violent expulsion of the community in 1963 and their triumphant return eleven years later. As the author explains she came almost by chance to be at the very centre of the drama which in turn dramatically changed her life. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in political and social change over the last 50 years.

Professor Henry Reynolds, FAHA FASSA University of Tasmania, eminent historian and award-winning author of numerous books.

Barbara Miller has written this book, a continuum to the trilogy of the Mapoon books and towards the modern history of the western Cape York region. It is a testimony to the endurance and resilience of the people of the district and the determination of the people to return to the land of their forefathers.

Ricky Guivarra, former Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Councillor

Jean Jimmy and the plight of the Mapoon people was known to Ps Doug Nicholls and others from the AAL who supported her efforts and on the night of the Mapoon people’s return 19.9.74, they were visited by John Roberts to give the AAL the good news at their meeting that night.

Please RSVP by 23 July for catering. 

 

Download Event PDF: 
BOOK LAUNCH Melbourne White Woman Black Heart 24.7.18


Painting for Sale: WHITE WOMAN BLACK HEART

White Woman Black Heart - By Norman Miller. Please head to the contact page if you would like to purchase this special painting.

WHITE WOMAN BLACK HEART

Acrylic on Canvas 2m x2m
By Munganbana Norman Miller

Please head to the contact page if you would like to purchase this special painting by Norman.

His long flowing white beard and hair and bushy eyebrows framed a face with big soulful brown eyes as Aboriginal elder Burnum Burnum looked at her and said, “You may be white but you have a black heart, as you understand my people and feel our heart.’ With these words ringing in her ears, the blue-eyed young blond woman got involved with helping the Aboriginal people of Mapoon north of Weipa move back to their land in 1974. They had been moved off at gunpoint by Queensland government police in 1963 to make way for mining which never occurred. It was a matter of mass kidnapping and arson as their hand-built homes and village were burned down so they wouldn’t return.

The two key Aboriginal people involved in the move back are depicted here with Barbara Miller, the young white woman. The elder on the left is Jean Jimmy who made some money shooting crocodiles to go to the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) meetings in Canberra to tell her story which she also wrote down.

The man in the middle is Jerry Hudson, who with his wife Ina, led the move back. He was head stockman at nearby Aurukun and enlisted Barbara to help them move back. They faced much intimidation from the government’s white manager at Weipa South Aboriginal community (now Napranum). Jerry was taken to court for stealing a brumby and Barbara was taken to court for trespassing on Weipa South as the Queensland Aborigines Act was still in operation where permits were required to live on or visit a reserve.

As she brought in support from the outside world and helped the people return, the young white woman found her home as well – as part of an Aboriginal family through marriage. Artist Munganbana, who painted this large canvas, is her husband.

TSIMA 4MW Radio Thursday Island Interview

Archive link from April 27th:

Tune into http://indigitube.com.au/ to hear my radio interview with Sylvia Tabua, or listen in to her brekky session…

Posted by Barbara Miller Books on Friday, 27 April 2018

Barbara Miller ABC Radio Interview

Barbara’s interview live with ABC Far North Radio’s Adam Stephen this afternoon in Cairns. The interview was about her memoir White Woman Black Heart.

Posted by Barbara Miller Books on Wednesday, 28 March 2018

 

Barbara’s interview live with ABC Far North Radio’s Adam Stephen this afternoon in Cairns. The interview was about her memoir White Woman Black Heart.

Book Signing at Avid Reader Bookshop

18th June 2018

 

White Woman Black Heart Promo Flier
White Woman Black Heart Promo Flier

Monday 18 June 2018
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

In store at Avid Reader Bookshop
Register until 18 June 2018 6:00 PM

This event commences at 6.30pm. Printed tickets are not issued and your booking will be on a door list under your surname.

 

Barbara Miller – White Woman Black Heart

 

Bob Weatherall introduces Barbara Miller’s memoir White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon.

Barbara often found herself saying, “the stork dropped me at the wrong house’ only to find she was repeating her mother’s words. In this riveting memoir exploring race relations and social change, Aboriginal elder Burnum Burnum, told her, “you may be white but you have a black heart, as you understand my people and feel our heart.’ He suggested to International Development Action that she take on the Mapoon project and played matchmaker by introducing her to Aboriginal teacher and Australian civil rights movement leader Mick Miller.

The Mapoon Aborigines were forcibly moved off their land by the Queensland government in NE Australia in 1963 to make way for mining. With an effective team behind her, Barbara helped them move back in 1974 to much government opposition which saw her under house arrest with Marjorie Wymarra. It also saw Jerry Hudson and Barbara taken to court.

In helping the Mapoon people return to their homeland, she found her home as part of an Aboriginal family, firstly Mick’s and later Norman’s as she remarried many years later, now being with her soulmate Norman about 30 years. It is a must read for those interested in ethnic studies and political science as an isolated outback community whose houses, school, health clinic, store and church were burnt to the ground rose from the ashes and rebuilt despite all the odds. It is a testimony to the Mapoon people’s strength.

Barbara’s husband Norman will be performing a song he wrote called ‘Reconciliation’.

From her background in a poor working class white family in urban Australia, Barbara, with Aboriginal husband Norman, who is also a pastor, travel the world. They have a calling to heal groups from the wounds of history through the Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace they co-founded in 1998. This work has taken them to Israel, Jordan, Turkey, England, Zimbabwe, Canada, USA, PNG, Vanuatu and many other places.

Barbara has worked at the coalface of Aboriginal affairs in Australia from her involvement in the Aboriginal Tent Embassy demonstrations in Canberra in 1972 to helping the Mapoon people move back to their land in 1974, to co-founding the North Queensland Land Council with former husband Mick Miller in 1977 to being CEO of the Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council (ACC) in the 1990’s and much more. The ACC was the only statutory advisory body to the Queensland government on Aboriginal affairs at the time and represented local government Aboriginal councils who had a land base.

Visit book event Link:
http://avidreader.com.au/events/barbara-miller-white-woman-black-heart#.Ww5k_SHy9Kk.facebook