B�LAS LETTERS

&ldquo,Bé,la&rsquo,s Letters&rdquo, is an historical fiction novel based on the ,life of Bé,la Ingber. , Bé,la was born before the onset of WWI in Munká,cs, a small city nestled in the Carpathian Mountains that belonged to the democratic nation of Czechoslovakia until being occupied by fascist Hungary and then by German forces during WW II. , Bé,la and his family were part of an extraordinary Jewish community, known for both its religious fervor and its Zionist movement, that had thrived for centuries until being eradicated less than a year before the end of the war.  , The book spans the years from 1928, when Bé,la is a teenager, until his death in 2003. , Through both Bé,la&rsquo,s own voice and various poignant letters sent to him over the years by family members, it tells of Bé,la&rsquo,s extraordinary experiences during years of harsh imprisonment in the Hungarian labor camp system. , The struggles of Bé,la&rsquo,s nuclear and extended family to comprehend and prepare for the Holocaust are portrayed, as are the fates of various members of a ,family torn apart by the war and Holocaust and the implausible circumstances that the survivors endure before reuniting. , One of Bé,la&rsquo,s brothers visited the World&rsquo,s Fair in New York in 1940 and was convinced to enlist in the U.S. Army Intelligence Unit. , He later participated in the liberation of Paris and acted as an interviewer of Nazi guards at the Buchenwald concentration camp. , Another brother escaped to Palestine in 1939 by jumping ship and swimming a mile to shore, and later fought in the British Army. , Other siblings survived Auschwitz, Dachau, and Bergen-Belsen.  , Bé,la also tells of his first love, a woman who urges him unsuccessfully to emigrate to Palestine with her, and of meeting and falling in love with his wife, Marik