The Strength of the Human Spirit

Imagine, marrying your true love, having your first child, and beginning an exciting new chapter of life when all of sudden, a militant force storms into your community and physically tears you away from your home Everything you once loved, instantly becomes a memory The only thing you have left to survive on is your faith.

As a child, Michael Ruskin never fully understood why his mother, Dora, was overprotective. Dora walked Michael to school every day and faithfully waited for the final bell to ring and for her son to be released from class. She was never far away but always close to her children.

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Michael recalls his parents rarely showed extroverted emotions, however, he and his brother always knew they were loved

When Michael’s father, David, passed away in 1993, he and his brother discovered German court documents and learned the inspiring origin of their parents' survival through their fight for freedom.

“My brother and I went into his [father’s] condo to start cleaning, and I found a folder in his night table that had all these documents written in German and English, ” Michael remembers. “There was testimony in there that my parents gave to doctors and the attorneys because my parents were filing a petition against the German courts in 1964 for reparations Here it was at 11 o'clock at night and I'm sitting there reading these documents, I never saw them before, and they were describing what happened to my parents, and their emotional and physical condition ”

In an instant, everything was revealed to Michael about why his parents were so protective and at times felt emotionally distant He even discovered the traumatic loss of a sister he never had the chance to meet

On March 27, 1944, Dora held onto her firstborn daughter as tightly as she could, however, her physical strength was no match for the Nazi soldiers who surrounded her They ripped Dora’s baby from her tight squeeze. David and Dora’s daughter became 1 of an estimated 1600 children that were exterminated in the Kinderknock (Children’s Action).

“They [the Nazis] feared if the children were to live, that it would encumber the women from doing work for the German military machine, ” Michael explained.

This is just one of the horrific atrocities committed against Michael’s beloved family, and the millions of Holocaust victims. For four and a half years, Dora and David fought to survive the perils of residing in separate concentration camps.

“They had such a strong bond because they suffered together and they suffered apart. ”

Miraculously the couple survived and were somehow able to restart their lives after the Allies freed the camps From what Michael has learned, their survival was because of the strength of their spirit.

“They were able to tap into that internal spirit, which we all have in all of us, in any circumstance or hardship, anyone faces, ” Michael continues. “You can overcome the same thing because of that innate quality that my parents exhibited. It is in all of us, but you have to have faith and that's exactly the point of the book ”

Michael Ruskin’s book, The Vow, tells the captivating story of how his parents’ faith, love, and human spirit allowed them to not only survive one of the darkest chapters in human history but also find each other after being separated by militant force

Utilizing the court documents Michael discovered in his father’s nightside table, Michael has been able to weave together a compelling novel that has grasped the attention of the BBC and various podcasts

The inspired message of love, courage, and faith is readily available to all of those searching to reignite their strength from within michael@TheVowALoveStory.com www.TheVowALoveStory.com