A Return to Chelm

At the outbreak of World War II almost half of Chelm's 36000 residents were Jewish but only a few hundred survived the war-virtually wiping out a community that had lived for 700 years in southeastern Poland.<p> Eight of Arlene Blaier Burrows' relatives somehow survived. Seventy-two members of her family however were killed in the Holocaust.<p> In <em>A Return to Chelm</em> she goes on a deeply personal journey to learn more about her Blayer and Groman relatives who lived and died. In the process she forges a connection with all the Jews of Chelm.<p> She traces genealogy explores archives in Warsaw and elsewhere and sees the death camps where so many of Poland's Jews were savagely murdered. She uncovers a treasure trove of information about a lost community whose descendants continue to thrive decades after their intended annihilation.<p> While the author's elders told stories about Chelm as she was growing up they never dwelled on its dark past. With the city seemingly lost to history she finds there's a lot worth remembering despite the city's history of persecution repression and poverty.<p>