Why a special neighbor took me under her wing

Transcript

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie gave us an apartment above their home to live in. Mrs. Leslie was a survivor from Bergen-Belsen. Her husband was a POW and they met after the war. And it wasn’t until I was an adult woman that I realized why she was so kind to me and to my sister. But to me especially. I was three, my sister was ten. She let me walk around and hold her dress while she worked in the garden and just follow her.

It turns out that Mrs. Leslie had taken care of children in the camp. And she died a sort of ignoble death. She fell one Christmas going down an escalator her arms full of Christmas presents. She lived for a while in a nursing home in a coma. It just seemed like such a terrible death for such a kind person. So what was it like? It was like life.

Carmen Agra Deedy recalls the kindness of a neighbor whom she would later learn was a Holocaust survivor.

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Carmen Agra Deedy

Children’s Author

Carmen Agra Deedy is a New York Times bestselling author and has been writing and traveling around the world telling stories for more than 20 years. Her books, including 14 Cows for America, The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet, The Yellow Star, and Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, have received numerous awards and honors. Carmen has performed in many prestigious venues, but children are her favorite audience. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the United States as a refugee and like most immigrants sees the world from multiple perspectives.

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Why a special neighbor took me under her wing

Transcript

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Carmen Agra Deedy