The Fire and the Light

Chaim Hersh Kahan is from Elie Wiesel’s home town of Sighet, Transylvania. His happy pre-war childhood and yeshiva studies were followed by confinement in the ghetto, and transport to Auschwitz. He and his father survived selection by Mengele, followed by slave labor in Wolfsberg and Ebensee. Sustained by his father’s spiritual strength, Kahan survived and was liberated. The exceptional aspect of these memoirs is the author’s description of his emotions. Former refugee in Budapest, Paris and Oslo, the author is now a prominent member of the Jewish and business communities in Norway. The book is both a memorial for his family and a “thank you letter” to Norway and to decent human beings. Foreword by Elie Wiesel.