FROM YELLOW STAR TO POP STAR by Dorit Oliver-Wolff @doritoliver @RedDoorBooks @PublishingPush

From Yellow Star to Pop Star: How one young girl survived the Holocaust and became a singing sensation by Dorit Oliver-Wolff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From Yellow Star to Pop Star is a memoir of a remarkable women who survived the Holocaust, mal-nutrition, cruelty, greed, injustice and went on to have a singing career, bring up a family and be part of a team raising awareness of the holocaust.

Dorit Oliver-Wolff began her life as Theodora Handler born into a Jewish family in Novi Sad, in 1936. In 1941 she was living in Belgrade when the war rained its relentless bombs down on the city. They escaped to the hills and were aided by the partisans. Next they headed for Hungary, but soon found this a dangerous place as the authorities administered ethnic cleansing. Constantly running to keep one step ahead of the Germans and arrest Dorit and her mother were living in the catacombs of Budapest when the Russians drove the Germans out. They were still not safe, they found themselves under Serbian rule at the end of the war and behind the Iron Curtain.

The next stage of their lives saw them emigrating to Israel in 1948. It was here that she changed her name to Dorit, but the story doesn’t end. Constantly moving home, Dorit and her mother were in Turkey when the authorities wanted to deport her as she had no passport. Swift action got her to her German grandparents and later her mother joined her, forming a singing and dance troop. They travelled widely on artist’s visas, so that Dorit could finish her education and earn money in the process. Dorit had many extraordinary experiences with her singing career which took her around much of Europe and Asia. She became a famous singer in great demand, but her story is one of an amazing women, knocked down many times but constantly picking herself up and fighting back.

This is a very inspiring story, the war years were truly horrific and their tale should be told to generations to come, many lives were lost, many never lived to tell their tale, Dorit was one of the lucky ones and her story will stay with me for a long time.

This review is based on a free copy of the book given to me by the author via Red Door Publishing & Publishing Push

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