She certainly never spoke of the brass charm. She didn’t speak of the Holocaust for the next 60 years. Polak only saw the monkey man for the first time and learned the story behind it in 2013 - some 70 years after it was given to her mother.Īfter surviving Theresienstadt and being liberated by the Russians in 1945, Spier moved to Montreal, got married and had a family. Photo by Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette I should have given him to the Montreal Holocaust Museum, where he belongs,” says author Monique Polak. “I realized I should never have worn the original monkey man. And a last-minute real-life plot twist has made its publication bittersweet. But her extraordinary act of kindness lives on nearly 80 years later, to be treasured by children and adults alike.įittingly, however, the story behind the story behind the story makes the book all the more powerful. Polak believes, based on past research, that she may have been deported to Auschwitz where she was likely killed. Spier never again saw the unidentified woman who gave it to her. The “monkey man,” as Polak calls him, was a tiny figurine of an “ugly” ape-like creature fashioned from brass. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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