Coaches' Corner with Coach Andrew  

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  Date / Time: 8/31/2009 8:53 PM UTC

  Thursday, September 3rd, with author Naava Piatka
  

  Update:  Two weeks to the day after this show aired live, Naava passed away.  A great loss, but entirely expected.  Naava displayed great strength and courage in her final battle, and pulling herself together for one final interview, literally on her deathbed, was no small feat.  I urge all visitors to this page to read her beautiful book, "No Goodbyes."
  
  This Thursday, my guest will be Naava Piatka.  I met Naava in early 2008 at Life Directions (a Peak Potentials course), where we were both volunteer coaches.  Get your Kleenex ready -- this promises to be an emotional show.
  
  NO GOODYBES - by Naava Piatka
  A Father-Daughter Memoir of Love, War and Resurrection
  
  BEYOND PAIN TOWARDS CELEBRATION
  
  Naava Piatka is literally dying to tell her story. Afflicted with terminal cancer, confined to her bed, she has spent the last few months pushing past her mounting pain and fatigue to get the important Holocaust testimony of her father published and out to market. Already known internationally for her tour-de force performances of her one-woman show, "Better Don't Talk!" about her mother, Chayela Rosenthal, Star of the Vilna Ghetto, Naava completes her mission of honoring both of her Holocaust survivor parents' pasts with the publication of NO GOODBYES.
  
  NO GOODBYES recounts the fascinating true stories of Naava's charismatic father, Xavier Piat, in a stirring testament to the endurance of love, the art of survival, the influence of family and the lasting impact of war. Linking past and present, this epic story takes the reader through the narrative details of Mr. Piat’s vivid recollections, including his youth in his home town of Vilna, Lithuania, his coming of age visit to his divorced mother in Paris, his return to war-torn, Nazi- invaded Poland, his forced first marriage, the hiding of future Israeli president, Menachem Begin, in their family basement, his controversial role in the Vilna Ghetto administration, his wartime hard labor camp trials and triumphs, his surprising rescue by a Nazi, his emotional encounters with his father in Stutthof concentration camp, his agonizing snowbound Death March, his eventual liberation and encounters with Chayela Rosenthal, and the series of fortuitous chance meetings that led to these young refugee lovers’ escape from communist Eastern Europe, and eventual immigration to Cape Town, South Africa where their first child, Naava, was born.
  
  With poetic insight, and universal themes, NO GOODBYES reveals how, through the sharing of stories, a father and his daughter come to terms with the legacy of his horrific past, finding understanding, healing, and forgiveness in their renewed connection.
  
  “You’re in for a treat!” Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent
  
  For more story behind the story, visit www.nogoodbyes.info or contact 201-945-4524
  NO GOODBYES is available at www.iuniverse.com and www.amazon.com
  
  Direct link: http://tinyurl.com/buynogoodbyes
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