The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Kwela Books, and Issy’s Coffee & Gifts invite you to join author Joanne Jowell in conversation with third generation Holocaust survivor Courtneigh Cloud Bernstein, in launching I am Ella.

Ella Blumenthal’s story of surviving the Holocaust and building a new life in faraway South Africa is a lesson in resilience, attitude and – perhaps unexpectedly – joy. From the dying embers of the Warsaw Ghetto to the gas chambers of the Nazi concentration camps; from Poland to Paris, Palestine and eventually Cape Town; from stateless refugee to community pillar, Ella’s 100 years of life have been nothing short of herculean. “I am Ella” is the staggering tale of a real-life superheroine.

Joanne Jowell is the author of the bestselling biographies, On the Other Side of Shame: An Extraordinary Account of Adoption and Reunion (Macmillan, 2008) and Zephany: Two mothers, one daughter. An astonishing true story (Tafelberg, 2019). She lives in Cape Town with her husband and three children. I am Ella: A remarkable story of survival, from Auschwitz to Africa is her seventh book.

RSVP to dowi@jhbholocaust.co.za