Latest addition to this book store.
The Submergers
The Submergers tells the life story of Albert Heppner, Max’s father, told as he imagined his father would write it. His father’s voice still resounded in his head as he wrote, using writings Albert left behind. Max knows his father ardently wanted to tell the outside world how he dodged the Nazis, both in Germany and the Netherlands.
Albert was born in Berlin in 1900, and he went into business there after marrying his wife, Irene, in 1927. The young couple escaped to the Netherlands (Holland) after the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933.
Max could tell from personal experience what the family went through after the Nazis conquered the Netherlands and also imposed their anti-Jewish rule there. When the Nazis deported Jews in large numbers in 1942, the family fled into the countryside, ending up hiding with a farm family in the southeast of the country.
Albert began an autobiography before his death, which sadly occurred just months after liberation. Max completed it by sifting through notes Albert wrote in German, Dutch, and English, using the backs of envelopes, tissue paper, diaries, and letters to his relatives. The impact of the story is Albert’s clear language describing how his status degraded from an honored art historian in Berlin to a refugee on the run, finally not able to raise his head for fear of losing it to Jew hunters. His first priority after Liberation was recovering his status and resuming his professional work.
This is the updated, expanded, newly revised third edition of this book.
This is the unrevised version of the book as published in 1995. Limited numbers of copies still are available.
The guide adds context and historical information to aid in understanding the Holocaust through the eyes of father and son.
I Live in a Chickenhouse
I Live in a Chickenhouse tells how Max Amichai Heppner, between the ages 8 to 11, hid from the Nazis in a chickenhouse with his parents and their friends, Heinz and Elli Graumann. Since the personal experiences that the author recalls are those of a preteen, the book connects well with children about that age. The book is illustrated with drawings the author made as a child, helped by two talented amateur artists: his father and his friend Heinz. He uses both his art and theirs to help explain what life was like for them during the Holocaust.
Unexpected Encounters
Unexpected Encounters is a collection of stories told as fables. You have probably come across sayings representing “the wisdom of the ages.” If you regard them as old saws, you can laugh them off. By contrast, each of my Unexpected Encounters comes fresh from my life, and they will touch yours. Unexpected Encounters are wakeup calls, leading you to a more engaged life. Some wakeup calls come from a senator, a rabbi, or a doorman. Other come from angels, ghosts, spirits or other imaginary creatures. All of them helped me deal with anger, frustrations, disappointments, challenges, karmic influences, losses —even with funny encounters in my life.
Unexpected Encounters sometimes contradict old canards like “Big boys don’t cry.” When the Angel Atzuviel enters a story, she makes the point that “Steeling yourself against sadness doesn’t work, but the tears you shed can dissolve your pain.” And when you read how I reacted when unexpectedly Atzuviel visited me, her point sinks in at a personal level.
Unexpected Encounters are wakeup calls, leading you to a more engaged life. Some wakeup calls come from a senator, a rabbi, or a doorman. Other come from angels, ghosts, spirits or other imaginary creatures. All of them helped me deal with anger, frustrations, disappointments, challenges, karmic influences, losses —even with funny encounters in my life.
People have asked, “Are the events in these stories true?” They are true in that they represent what truly concerns me. Some are “more true” because they include actual events and locations. You may even recognize some of them. When I exaggerate or shade life events, I do so to tell the truth—the deep truth of what each encounter told me and how it can inspire you.
A Vision of Love for Christians & Jews
Joy L. Smith, a certified chaplain and mental health counselor, accompanied Max Amichai Heppner on his lengthy journey from a reclusive Holocaust survivor to enthusiastic promoter of love. In her Foreword to A Vision of Love, she describes her reaction early in their relationship.
She writes: “Something striking happened. I was no longer with a stranger . . . I was with a Jew and I knew in an instant that we were praying to the same God.
Ms. Smith ends by saying, “There’s no good reason why Jews and Christians cannot love and treasure one another. Christians believe that ‘God is love.’ Jews believe the same! If you need convincing on this score, please read this book. It will expand your heart. Ask yourself, ‘Why should I limit love to just my own family, my own religious congregation or denomination? Why would we not want peace, justice, and equality to rule our hearts and guide our ways?’”
The Omer and The Kabbalah
(Forty-Nine Blessings Leading to the Giving of the Torah)
The Omer [rhymes with Homer] is a stretch of time between Passover and the Feast of Weeks. Since Torah instructs us to count each of the 49 days involved, Kabbalists made the count into a spiritual practice.
Meditators say, in general, that it takes about 40 days to complete a spiritual journey. By extending the spiritual practice to 49 days, we can go even deeper using the Sefirot (Chakras) in the human body. We do so by examining each of seven Sefirot in seven ways that bring a specific spiritual insight or blessing to each day.
Most blessings are illuminating and joyful while some are more heavy and thoughtful. At the center of the practice is the heart, for example, and the count shows you seven ways of fully opening your heart to deeper insights.
One of my key life objectives is encouraging love, peace, and harmony between people and groups. That’s the point of the “Aha—We’re all one” slide series. Here, friends present life experiences showing that in times of challenge, we all have access to inspiration from a “higher power. I call this inspiration an “Aha” Moment, and I emphasize that it doesn’t depend on one’s religion, background, status, or whatever. On that level we can see that we’re all one, we’re all alike.
Have a look: The video is FREE!
REDISCOVERING MY CHILDHOOD, Memories of a Child Survivor, is a documentary video, in which the author, Max Amichai Heppner, the child survivor in the video, revisits locales and people involved in his rescue from the Holocaust. The process helps uncover the reasons behind the events that Max remembered but were unclear to him because he lacked an adult perspective. The video sets a natural tone, letting witnesses talk without scripting. It then uses crisp editing to bring out the essence of their stories.
Many aspects of Max’s survival parallel the experiences of Anne Frank, who for many years lived near Max. Like the film based on her diary, this documentary depicts the everyday life of Jewish people in hiding—in is case on a remote farm—and contrasts it with the fear that hung over all Jews during the Nazi persecution.
Have a look: The video is FREE!
OP ZOEK NAAR MIJN KINDERJAREN This is the Dutch language version of "Rediscovering My Childhood," also available on Youtube. I, Max Amichai Heppner, revisit locales and people involved in my rescue from the Holocaust. Like Anne Frank, I contrast everyday life in hiding in small quarters with the potential of being deported and murdered by the Nazis.