Q&A with Doron Keren

 

Ignacy Chiger

 

 

Doron Keren is the grandson of Holocaust survivor Ignacy Chiger (1906-1975), who wrote the memoir Beneath the Lightless Sky: Surviving the Holocaust in the Sewers of Lvov. The book, originally written in Polish, is now available in English.  

 

Q: What led to the publication in English of your grandfather’s memoir?

 

A: Once I read his memoir, I felt a calling...a sense of duty, to share his story with the world.

 

To reach a wide audience I began my journey with the idea of creating a TV series on a streaming service platform. The first person I contacted, simply for advice, was Charles Kipps, a noted screenwriter and producer. After reading just 10 pages, he was hooked. He wanted to be a part of it.

 

I knew I was onto something. The best path was to publish Ignacy's memoir in English that would someday be optioned for the series. 

 

My publisher, Liesbeth Heenk - Amsterdam Publishers, took less than a week to greenlight the book deal. 

 

The validation from everyone who has read Beneath the Lightless Sky is proof that I'm on the right path. I feel it in my bones.

 

Q: How much did you know of your grandfather’s story as you were growing up?

 

A: I grew up hearing bits and pieces of the survival story from my mother. The timelines were blurry. It's hard to believe, but the first time I put it all together, in chronological, order was when I read her book, The Girl in the Green Sweater. 

 

My grandfather's memoir (then loose paper typewritten Polish manuscript) was a vital resource for her. Dan Paisner, her ghostwriter, told me Kristine would exhaustingly sift through scattered pages of his memoir to jar her memory.

 

My mom would always say how smart her father was...a genius, she called him. I didn't fully grasp that until I read her book. But once I read his memoir, I was literally blown away... for the second time.

 

Q: As you mentioned, your mother also wrote a memoir--how was her story similar to and different from your grandfather's?

 

A: My mother's memoir, told from a child's perspective, covers some of the historical context during the Soviet and German occupation of Lvov, Poland. Beneath the Lightless Sky adds nuance and complexity of life and death under two brutal regimes.

 

I didn't realize that there was so much more to the story - Ignacy's personal connection to both Soviet and German psychopaths, and how he managed to outmaneuver them all. It's a story of a hero of the Holocaust, not just a victim. My grandfather became my superhero! 

 

Q: What impact has your grandfather’s story had on you, and what do you hope readers take away from it, especially given the current increase in antisemitism?

 

A: History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes - Mark Twain.

 

Unfortunately, I see the cancer of antisemitism metastasizing once again. Beneath the Lightless Sky doesn't just remind us of how brutal humanity can morph into something heinous, given the right circumstances. It is also a tribute to the fortitude and resilience of brave Jews...hope in the face of hopelessness. 

 

What makes this story so unique is that it's also a story of a Catholic hero - a savior who sought redemption and who fell in love with a Jewish family along the way. This remarkable human being who came from society's lowest station rose to the height of an angel, as my grandmother always called him. 

 

Today, more so than any other time in my lifetime, we as Jews need upstanders like Socha - people who rise above the constant noise of antisemitism on social media to  be ambassadors for humanity. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm focused on getting this memoir in front of as many people as possible. This part of Jewish history is too important to be missed. Each generation must be reminded of how easily Jew hatred can regenerate and resurface into the mainstream. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: One topic I hope readers take away from Beneath the Lightless Sky is that the story is not only about how Jews died, but also about how Jews lived.

 

Ignacy's memoir restores the vivid human world of pre-war Lvov: a Jewish community of 150,000 that was educated, industrious, culturally rich, and entwined (not always well) within Polish and Ukrainian societies.

 

That world was destroyed by the Soviets, who promised liberation, and by the Germans whose sole purpose was annihilation. Yet within its destruction, individuals—Jewish and non-Jewish—found ways to assert their humanity. Ignacy asks within his pages, "are they humans or are they jackals?"

--Interview with Deborah Kalb