The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs

Author: Chana Stiefel

Illustrator: Susan Gal

There once was a girl named Yaffa. She loved her family, her home, and her beautiful Polish town that brimmed with light and laughter. She also loved helping her Grandma Alte in her photography studio. There, shopkeepers, brides, babies, and bar mitzvah boys posed while Grandma Alte captured their most joyous moments on film. And before the Jewish New Year, they sent their precious photographs to relatives overseas with wishes for good health and happiness.

But one dark day, Nazi soldiers invaded the town. Nearly 3,500 Jewish souls ― including family, friends, and neighbors of Yaffa ― were erased.

This is the true story of how Yaffa made it her life’s mission to recover thousands of her town’s photographs from around the world. Using these photos, she built her amazing Tower of Faces, a permanent exhibit in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Grades (1-3)

Children’s Picture Book

Hardback

40 pages