Havurah Shalom

Please join us as Phil Walters leads a discussion of The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. This is a riveting and tragic non-fiction work written by an accomplished author. The book draws upon the unpublished diary of Antonina Zabinski and her accounting of her life during World War II with her husband Jan Zabinski the director of the Warsaw Zoo. Prior to the Nazi invasion in September 1, 1939 Antonina and Jan ran a successful zoo and animal sanctuary, living on the property with their young son. After the invasion most all of the animals and structures were destroyed. The couple became active in the Polish underground resistance and risked their own lives to shelter in the zoo more than 300 Jewish individuals, ultimately saving them from deportation from the Warsaw ghetto to the camps. For their incredible dedication and bravery, they were recognized and honored on September 21, 1965 as “Righteous Among The Nations” at Yad Vashem in Israel. This is a well researched and beautifully written book. Please RSVP below.