The true story of eleven year old Lonek, who battled history. Lonek's circuitous journey to freedom began when he was hidden inside a pile of hay, and smuggled from Poland into Russian-occupied Lvov. In Lvov, Lonek was caught by the Russians and deported to Siberia. But this devastating turn of events, like many others in his suspenseful saga, turned out to be a "blessing" in disguise. How so? Only because Lonek had been deported to Siberia did he narrowly miss the invasion of Lvov by the Germans, who massacred all of the city's Jews.

After enduring several years in a Siberian labor camp, Lonek joined the "Teheran Children." The Teheran Children were Jewish orphans who were, through ingenious means, rescued from Russia during the middle of World War II largely through the determined efforts of a small group of Hadassah women. Typical of the Teheran Children, Lonek covered tens of thousands of miles of war-torn terrain during his flight to freedom by foot, horse driven carts, rickety cattle trains and leaky ships that traversed heavily mined seas.  

In her presentation, Dr. Whiteman explains how the fates of the Polish Jews in Russia often hinged upon unseen political power plays. For example, during frequent international negotiations over the borders of Eastern European countries during World War II, a single line drawn down a map by a bureaucrat could hermetically seal thousands of hapless Jews within hostile countries, and occasionally open escape routes for others.

Dr. Whiteman also explains how an escapee's small act of courage, inventiveness or resourcefulness often made the difference in unforeseeable ways between life and death.