"One Step Ahead of Hitler"

Fred Gross, author of One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child's Journey through France, discusses his book at 7 p.m. tomorrow [11 May] in Carmel Clay Public Library, 55 4th Avenue SE, Carmel. It is sponsored by the Carmel Clay Public Library Foundation.

Gross knew much about the history of the Holocaust, but he knew very little of his or his family's story. It was not until the late 1980s, when he began to ask questions, that his mother opened up about their flight from the German invasion of Belgium. Later, his two older brothers would add to their mother's memories. Most of the Grosses' flight takes place in France during its defeat and collaboration with the Nazis, when 75,000 Jews were rounded up for deportation to death camps.

Gross was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1936. A graduate of New York University, he was a reporter for the Journal-Courier, a daily newspaper in New Haven, Conn., and has been a public relations specialist in education for nearly thirty years. For the past 17 years Gross has been actively involved in the Jewish community in Louisville, Ky. He has taught a Holocaust curriculum to Sunday school students, and continues to share his story with middle and high school students and adult audiences.

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