Black and white photograph of two women facing each other closely. The woman on the left wears a dark hat with a ribbon, and the woman on the right has dark hair pulled back and wears a patterned blazer with a white shirt and a necklace. They appear to be about to kiss.

Intimate conversations with Sala in her final decades ask us to examine the inner resources of a woman who survived the Nazis, yet who chose never to let that experience define her.

In 1940, Sala was a vivacious Jewish teenager whose life was upended by Germany’s invasion of Poland. Enslaved for five years in seven labor camps, Sala saved hundreds of letters from family and friends. After the war, as a young bride in New York City, she rebuilt her life, taught herself English and raised three children.

A sixteen-year-old girl went into the Holocaust alone. Stripped of her identity by the Nazi system, she nevertheless fostered a sense of self. Sala emerged with her capacity to love, intact. Connection with others was her lifelong salvation.

Black and white photograph of a woman with dark hair styled in an updo, wearing a dark jacket and a patterned blouse, looking directly at the camera. The background appears to be a room with some furniture and objects.