Saul Schiff: A Jewish American Soldier

Saul Schiff

03/25/1923 - 06/17/2012

This week I'm honoring the life of veteran Saul Schiff, husband of Esther, one of the Quad Cities three Esthers. He passed away on Father's Day, Sunday, June 17 after an extended illness. My family met Saul shortly after the writing project started nine years ago. We were impressed by his talents (singing especially), his humor and his compassion. This man loved his wife Esther and was proud of his children and grandchildren.

We soon learned he was a soldier during WWII and was proud of his part in helping to win the war. Our friendship grew after many years and one day he told me what it was like as a Jewish American soldier who saw the Jewish survivors after they were released from the camps. Also, he was an eyewitness at Dachau.

After interviewing many American soldiers for my book projects, I had both my head and heart wrapped around the horror they saw. But this was the first time talking to a Jewish soldier so my heart and mind was expanding to understand what this man saw and what he must have felt as a liberator.

I introduced Saul to young Joe McGovern who wrote a story about his life for A BOOK by ME. Then

a young man by the name of Anthony Speer completed the artwork for Saul's book. Today the book project sits in queue waiting for funding to edit and publish the work. Actually, there are 70+ stories in this line up because so many young authors have completed the work but I've not gotten grants to take the project to the next level. The time and expense it takes to complete the process makes it impossible to do alone any longer.

Saul's death was a reminder that these dear ones won't live forever. I have veterans in Moline, Aledo, Davenport, Maquoketa and more waiting for their books to be published. I have Jewish survivors from Iowa, Illinois, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee and more waiting for their books to be published. Not to mention Jewish survivors who still live in Europe waiting and other places as well (including Israel).

My sister in law has found a grant opportunity which would not only give us the ability to hire staff for a year and have a real office space, but would give us a year with a marketing agency which would set this book collection on the right path to be used for education.

You can read about it below and if you have a Facebook account, I need your vote! I need 250 votes total and at this point, I still need 110 of those votes. I must have them by the end of June along with a business plan (which I am working on). Please vote today!