On October 26, 2024, I was thrilled to attend the book launch of A Jeweller’s Legacy: A Boy’s Journey from War to Peace, Henry (Hank) Schaffer’s memoir. It was an honour and delight for me to edit this moving memoir of a child Holocaust survivor. Thank you to Renate Krakauer who introduced this courteous and intelligent man to me.

Here’s a brief description of the book: Henry’s journey was one from war to peace. Born a week before the Nazis invaded his hometown of Warsaw, Poland in 1939, Henry survived the war and Holocaust through luck, perseverance and love of his mother, Vera Schaffer. The family with the help of jeweller Simon Schaffer thrived in Belgium after the war and eventually in Montreal, where Henry became a jeweller himself as well as a beloved husband, father, and grandfather.