To No Man's Glory - Children of the Holocaust

German Teutonic Knights conquered Latvia in the late thirteenth century. For the next five hundred years, she existed under foreign domination by Poland and Sweden.

In 1795 Peter the Great of Russia subjugated Latvia and much of what became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Only after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 did the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia regain their freedom and joyously declare their first independence in more than six hundred years.

On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union entered into a non-aggression pact with Germany in an effort to avoid mutual war, but it was in secret codicils to the controversial Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that Stalin and Hitler mapped their division of Poland and the world. Stalin selected the Baltics.

One week later, Germany invaded Poland; by agreement, Russia looked the other way. France and Great Britain allied with Poland and declared war on Germany the next day.

Latvia immediately claimed a position of neutrality. She had enjoyed independence since 1920 and was loath to risk losing it in a political gamble.

In June 1940, after accusing Latvia of joining Estonia in a secret, anti-Soviet military alliance, the USSR invaded Lithuania and Latvia.

Soviet occupying forces established headquarters for their new Communist regime in Riga, Latvia.

Immediately, they rounded up almost twenty thousand prominent citizens and sent them to Siberia.

Soviet brutality focused on the Jewish community, and soon our own people joined in the frenzy. Beatings, rapes and murders occurred daily.

Germany double-crossed Soviet Russia on June 22, 1941, when Hitler's army advanced from Poland into Lithuania.

The Baltic people placed desperate and naïve hopes for rescue from Russian oppression on the arrival of German forces, but instead of bringing liberation, the Germans' initial act of aggression was the execution of Jewish children in Lithuanian orphanages and summer camps.

Arturs Lejnieks was a three-year-old Jewish orphan when Hitler's army advanced into Latvia.

"They came for the communists, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a communist;
They came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a socialist;
They came for the union leaders, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a union leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one was left to speak up for me."

Martin Niemoller, 1892-1984

How does a three-year-old boy distinguish between a war of the masses and one that is meant for him? "Why do they want to shoot me? I don't even know them."

As German tanks approach, Arturs Lejnieks and his "Auntie" flee into the woods of Latvia, where they endure four terrifying years of hunger, illness and betrayal. Eighteen months in a secluded children's prison lead them to Nazi death pits. Only a miracle can save them.

Sent to America at eleven, he is faced with the struggle to overcome the emotional backlash of those traumatic years.

Initially a story of desperation, To No Man's Glory is ultimately an inspiring message of hope and faith.

The eBook version of our original book in print - with updates and larger graphics: www.tonomansglory.com

Exciting update! Now available on iBooks for download to iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/to-no-mans-glory/id444730460?mt=11

"So much has been written about surviving the Holocaust, that it takes a remarkable voice and a remarkable story to present fresh insight into growing up during the Holocaust years. However, Vincent (Arturs Lejnieks) Benson's story has been captured by his wife's words in a haunting, vivid memoir. Together, the Bensons have created a tale that blends memory with recorded history into a novel that is a must read.

"Written with self-honesty and revealing the pain of a child who was never able to be a child, TO NO MAN'S GLORY will not only touch the heart, but also enlighten the mind. The novel demonstrates the strength of human spirit and the will to survive in powerful, vivid language yet does not dwell on the horror to the point that the novel becomes painful to read. A difficult balance, indeed, to find and maintain. This reviewer was profoundly touched by TO NO MAN'S GLORY, and heartily recommends it." Cindy Penn, Senior Editor/Web Wizard