On October 23rd, TCNJ welcomed Trenton State College Alumna Donna Chmara to talk about her book Surviving Genocide: Personal Recollections. As described by Simon and Schuster, “Donna Chmara has turned her childhood experience of war into a lifetime quest for peace and respect for all human beings. As a refugee, she found the public education system to be pivotal in helping her make the transition from war-torn Europe to her new country of America.” The Book Talk and Signing were sponsored by the TCNJ Office of Alumni Engagement, Office of Academic Affairs, Office of the Dean of HSS, the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, the History Department, and the WILL program.
Chmara’s book brings to life the story of her family and twenty other survivors who witnessed the dual invasions of their country (Naliboki, in what was then Eastern Poland) during World War II by Navi Germany, and the Soviet Union. Despite hunger, forced labor, and exposure to the elements meant to eradicate the Polish nation, these survivors demonstrated an astonishing endurance of body and soul which brought redemption to their pain and loss. Relying on historical sources, interviews with survivors, and personal experience, Chmara focuses on the danger of identifying solely with a group or ideology rather than with the fact of our shared humanity. Her book expands one’s knowledge of World War II, of the attempted genocide against Slavic Christians of Eastern Europe, and serves as a record of a particular time and place in history as the number of World War II survivors continues to dwindle.
Donna Chmara held her Book Talk and Signing at the TCNJ Library Auditorium, where she shared photos to visually explain her experiences with World War II. TCNJ would like to thank Chmara, who graduated from college in 1966, for coming to share her and others’ stories and for providing an impactful reminder of recent history.