PIKESVILLE, Md. — There are two books inside a Pikesville home.
One is the painful journey written in a journal from the heart of a grandmother who survived the Holocaust.
And the other is a book from her granddaughter, Alana Snyder, who is now the storyteller.
Seeing empty book shelves aimed at educating our young about the Holocaust, Snyder went to find the right words to explain the unexplainable.
"I started looking for word books or books for preschoolers, about the Holocaust and I couldn't find any," Snyder said.
So, this working mom wrote one herself. She kept it quiet.
"Then all of a sudden the book arrived," Heller Kreshtool, daughter of Holocaust survivor, said.
It is simply called "Grandma is a Survivor."
"Staying true to who you are, even if the world is turning their back on you," Snyder added.
"In this day and age, with Holocaust denial being so prevalent, and people not knowing, not understanding, not being taught about the Holocaust. I'm really proud of Alana," Kreshtool said.
Back in the 90s, Snyder's mom went back to her family's beginning in Poland and came back stateside pleading for them to write down what they went through.
"My dad died in his early 60s, so his story died with him," Kreshtool said.
And then what showed up in the palms of peace, from a heart and soul that survived the torture of war.
"Any story about the Holocaust, if you're human, is heartbreaking. And the heartbreak of knowing the story is your mother makes it even more," Kreshtool explained.
They read this book every night.
This book came out just four days before the war in Israel.
Snyder says the support from Jews and non-Jews has made her feel that her written words may just make the world a better place.
