GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.-- Poland native Joseph Stevens survived the Holocaust by outsmarting the Nazis: the young Jew posed as a Catholic by day and took part in underground raids by night. Now a retired Michigan business owner, he recounts his wartime experiences and its lessons for today in his new book.
Stevens' parents and siblings died in concentration camps and the young man never expected to live through World War II. He did so by courage, luck, and deception so convincing that German soldiers befriended him and a local priest recruited him to teach catechism. At the same time, he was active in the underground resistance movement.
Now 83, Stevens has recounted his wartime experiences and the years following in a memoir entitled "Good Morning." The 240-page book is available in bookstores and at Amazon.com (at the end of May) for $20 hardcover and $10 paperback.
Forty years passed after the end of World War II before Stevens began telling his story in informal college settings, including Holocaust classes at Grand Valley State University in West Michigan. His compelling lectures prompted GVSU to establish in 1990 the Joe Stevens Freedom Endowment, which sponsors speakers on human rights.
The book grew out of Stevens' desire to put the account in writing for his two sons. With the help of the GVSU English Department, it has become Grand Valley's first university-published book. The preface was written by GVSU Political Science Professor William Baum, who first encouraged Stevens to speak about his experiences in Baum's Holocaust classes.
All proceeds from sales of "Good Morning" go toward GVSU's Joe Stevens Freedom Endowment.
In the book, Stevens explains that the title reflects his amazement every morning during World War II that he would live to see another day. "There was a time in my life when, upon awakening in the morning, I considered it a blessing to greet someone with 'Good morning,'" he wrote. "Waking in the morning, I was always amazed that I was still alive. The surprise gave me the courage, strength, and will power to fight without fear for the Allied cause one more day."
Stevens' acting abilities saved him many times. The photograph on the jacket of "Good Morning" shows him as a young man, laughing with friends. His friends thought him a Catholic and joined him in nighttime raids on German troops; the photographer, a German officer, was friendly enough to return to give him a copy of the photo.
At all times, Stevens wrote, he steeled himself for the worst. "I was always prepared to end it for myself if I realized I was about to be captured, in any condition. I knew that I would not be able to withstand the Germans' torture. Once they extracted information from me they would realize that I was of no more use to them and I would be shot anyway. For that reason I always wore shirts with two pockets, one on each side. If a shirt did not have them, I asked one of the farm girls to sew them on for me. I used the two pockets to hold cyanide capsules: one in each. If the situation ever called for it, I could quickly reach a pocket on either side."
Stevens never had to use the cyanide capsules, but his life was filled with the danger, horror, and secrecy of the Holocaust. After the war, he returned to Poland to find that his family had perished.
In 1949, Stevens moved with his wife to Detroit where Stevens, a printer by education and family trade, began working for the National Lithographic Company. He moved to Grand Rapids and started National Correct Color Service in 1956. Now retired, he has residences in Grand Rapids and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Copies of "Good Morning" can be sent by FedEx to media personnel and book reviewers. Photographs from the book (taking up 8 pages) can also be made available for download. Joseph Stevens is available for interview on a limited basis. Contact Nancy Willey, GVSU communications specialist, at (616) 895-2221 or [email protected].
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"Good Morning: A Life Story of Courage and Survival in the Face of Nazi Aggression," by Joseph Stevens (240 pages; $20 hardcover, $10 paperback)Published by Grand Valley State University
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