Home > Books > Among the Reeds - The true story of how a family survived the Holocaust

A young Jewish mother. A Nazi occupation bent on genocide. A heart-breaking decision that will tear a young family apart

Fascinating story of a Jewish family's survival during World War II in Eastern Europe, told by pediatrician who researched her own family tree.

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About the Book

Did I inherit the “memories” of the wartime trauma in my genes?

Belgium, 1939. Melly Bottner is just eighteen with a three-week old newborn son when the Nazi occupation of Belgium begins. She and her young husband Genek live in fear as it becomes obvious that all Jews will soon be taken. Watching friends and neighbors disappear as the Germans carry out their shocking purge, the young family confronts an awful truth: if they are to survive, they must rip their own family into pieces.

In this biography from Melly’s point of view, author and granddaughter Tammy Bottner delivers a true and moving family memoir. This meticulously written and researched account brings to life the horrific decisions Bottner’s grandparents had to make simply to survive. Through their monumental choices, Tammy Bottner’s grandparents ensured the survival of their family and made their post-war reunion possible.

Among the Reeds – The true story of how a family survived the Holocaust is a deeply personal family memoir that is part-biography, part psychological observation of the extraordinary wartime lives of a persecuted people. If you like true stories of courage, heart-stopping near misses, and tear-jerking choices, then you’ll love Tammy Bottner’s compelling account.

Can past experiences affect the DNA?

Does the happiness and sorrow of our ancestors determine our present well being? In other words, can trauma be genetically transmitted and remain alive with future generations? These are the main questions physician Tammy Bottner tries to answer in her book Among the Reeds, a reconstruction of the story of her Jewish family during the Holocaust.

With this book, Bottner attempts to heal the anguish of her transgenerational trauma and to understand why facts that do not have any apparent relation to her ancestors awake in herself the trauma lived by her grandparents and provoke an unconscious fear of danger and uncertainty.

Details

Author: Tammy Bottner
Series: Holocaust Survivor True Stories, Book 1
Genre: Holocaust
Tags: Award-winning Publication, Foreign Rights Available, Holocaust memoir
Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
Publication Year: 2017
Format: paperback
Length: 278
ASIN: B071G6Y11V
ISBN: 9789492371287
Rating:

List Price: $16,95
eBook Price: $4,99

Endorsements

1) Why I chose this book : Compelling subject matter 2) Any course language present : Very little 3) Type of book : Labor of love highlighting one extended family's effort to survive the Holocaust and the aftermath 4) Formatting/Editing : Well-written 5) Best/Worst aspect of book : Genuine photos added immensely to story, loved the mentions of Cardinal Jozef-Ernest van Roey, Jean de Selys Longchamps and the SS Exodus which allow for further study 6) Favorite Passage : Toss up between "The memories exacted a price" or "And again I got pregnant. And again I had an abortion. And again the blackness descended upon me..." 7) Bottom-line : A very worthy read

– Don Kidwell - Top 500 Reviewer

This is one of the best accounts I have ever read about the plight of the Jewish people during WW11. Lots of background and history leading up to the atrocities. Very good book.

– Ginny Mae

This true story of Holocaust survivors was both heart-wrenching and compelling to read. Through a miraculous combination of determination, strong will, and luck, Tammy Bottner and many of her relatives whose stories are told in Among the Reeds are either alive today or lived long after the end of World War II. I appreciate Bottner's commitment to telling her family's story with unrelenting honesty, even when the facts were likely difficult and or potentially embarrassing to share. This is an excellent, educational novel about a hard-fought struggle for life and freedom during one of history’s darkest times. Highly recommended.

– David N.

This book was given to me by a friend and I will send copies to others. Tammy Bottner, what a mitzvah—this book is a priceless gem, an unprecedented oral history. So beautifully written, I forgot over and over that Tammy was actually voicing Melly’s memoirs (until the deathbed line!); so totally did she embody this complex, heroic, deeply human person. All of the family members brought so vividly to life. So many heartbreaking moments (the doctor who becomes an abortionist saying “I used to bring life into the world, now all the Jewish women want me to end the lives inside them”). So very many parallels to my mother’s life. My grandfather emigrating to Antwerp but returning to Poland to find “a good Polish wife,” (though he actually did bring my grandmother to Belgium where my mother was born in 1936).. Fleeing to France. Antwerp: Diamonds and furs. And Melly’s last thoughts: “It seemed my destiny was to keep moving for the rest of my life. Friends, community, stability, never concepts that I was able to incorporate into my being.” My mother used to call herself a Jewish gypsy. She made homes for us, but could never truly settle. Like Bobby, a restless soul. This book broke my heart and healed it, all at once, somehow.

– Audrey LM

I enjoyed the story of this family's survival and found the strength, courage, and determination of the young parents truly moving. Though I must admit to finding much of Melly's behavior baffling and, at times, almost irritating, I couldn't help but admire her in a lot of ways. What her and her husband must have gone through during their separation from their children is unimaginable. Yet they cared only that their children would be safe, that they would survive. I was also impressed with the fact that no attempt at hiding the shortcomings of these parents was made. The author never tried to cover up the fact that, though they loved their children beyond words, they were not perfect. I also must commend the author on the way she explained the fascinating theory of a sort of genetic transference. Normally, I don't even attempt to read through scientific explanations of any sort as they are just too long winded and dull. Her explanation, however, was both concise and interesting. A very intriguing concept!

– Tantie77

For so many of us, the Holocaust remains shrouded from view outside of the insights offered by Wiesel, Frankl, Levi, Anne Frank, Spiegelman and others. The reason of course is that for those who did survive, the details of survival were too painful to recount. Bottner was faced with the same personal challenge - she heard shards of stories of survival while growing up, but the broader story was unrevealed. Inspired to address the trauma passed on to her, she worked carefully to research and recreate the narrative of her family's survival. With an economy of words and reminder of many of the key events behind the Nazis' rise, Bottner successfully captures the plight of her family. She represents what she cobbled together through the voices of her relatives and gently fills in the historical lacunae in between. The result is an achievement which can be viewed as a living testament to the perseverance of her own family. By taking the time to document her family's story, she does the good deed of creating cohesive memory where there was none. In a world sorely in need of reminders that there are opportunities for good deeds everywhere - and that those deeds can have extraordinary impact - Bottner provides a roadmap of how these actions literally alter the course of history.

– Josh Ruxin

I loved this story, I feel as though I know them all. Although the years of the Holocaust were beyond my comprehension, I feel these stories must be kept alive so no one that perished, during that awful time, will ever be forgotten.

– Jan Warnke

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About the Author

Tammy Bottner

I am a physician, writer, and mom. I am also the child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors. I have been fascinated for years about the legacy I carry. It is a heavy one. In my new book I explore the science of epigenetics, the idea that traumatic life events change one's genes, and that these altered genes may be passed along to subsequent generations (such as myself).

In the book I recount the way my grandparents managed to save both themselves and their young children in the darkest days of European history. The book is an homage to my dad, a child survivor who was a 'hidden child', sequestered in a Belgian convent for 2 1/2 years when he was only a toddler.