Cami Ann Green is an award-winning author of human interest stories. Green has authored observations of life in America for several Scandinavian publications, both in Finland and the US, including face-to-face interviews with legendary novelist James Michener, and iconic feminist Betty Friedan.
Usually, the World Happiness Report and wartime Jews of Scandinavia don’t appear in the same sentence but 2021 is an unusual year. For the first time in its history, the Report measured the relationship between happiness and Covid-19, putting Scandinavia in the top eight countries where happiness was determined by people’s confidence in their governments and trust in each other, two factors that played a major role in Jewish survival in this part of the world.
In this special contribution to the genre(s) of World War II history and 21st century memoir, ‘The Yellow Star That Wasn’t; Scandinavia, Miami, And Me’ (Wartime Jews in Scandinavia; From Helsinki to a Miami Beach Obsession), Cami Ann Green introduces a geographic area that’s not a common part of Jewish history during World War II: the often-forgotten Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
The newly released historical memoir brings out little known historical facts, such as Finnish-Jewish soldiers worshipping in a portable synagogue at the Russian front while fighting alongside German Nazis, and that Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway on the same day in 1940 with Finland and Sweden being left alone. Without over-whelming readers with mind-numbing information, often typical of the previous literature about the years 1940-1945, Green includes more commonly known events (such as the heroism of Raoul Wallenberg, and Swedish Count Bernadotte rescuing camp inmates with his White Busses) to show readers how history and culture continue to affect the way we still view human relations, specifically in the area of tolerance and the fight against antisemitism.
Traditionally, teachers have relied on textbooks on the general history of WWII to fulfill their states’s mandate on Holocaust studies, but one professor doesn’t think the subject should be taught just as history, because then it becomes easy for students to say, “It happened then, it happened there, it has no relevance here.”
Education that engages students is the antidote to antisemitism, and to that end, connecting the topic with everyday people is essential. ‘The Yellow Star That Wasn’t; Scandinavia, Miami, And Me’ comes with biographical snapshots and anecdotes highlighting real characters and events that inspire anyone interested in stories to broaden their understanding of antisemitism and the Holocaust years in Scandinavia.
The book takes readers from the author as a Swedish, Protestant girl in the homogenous society of Helsinki (Finland) where Jews and Catholics were intriguingly exotic, through a marriage to a Catholic-American and then falling in love with a Jewish man in Miami Beach who gives her a sense of belonging in his Jewish community where she’s repeatedly asked about the fate of wartime Jews in the four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), all with their own unique experiences.
Among Green’s unique qualifications for ‘The Yellow Star That Wasn’t; Scandinavia, Miami, And Me’ are her proficiency in the Scandinavian languages, and her ability to make the personal into the universal – particularly as it relates to history – by her focus on the human experience. Much of the material, told with a wry sense of humor, has evolved from the interest expressed by listeners at her ongoing speaking engagements.
Among the praise for ‘The Yellow Star That Wasn’t; Scandinavia, Miami, And Me’:
One reviewer said, "(the book) successfully weaves the writer's personal story into a narrative of acceptance/intolerance/resilience of the Jews in Scandinavia before, during and after the events of World War II. Ultimately it's an inspirational story on several levels."
Another noted, "The history of the Scandinavian Jewish experience of the Holocaust was full of information that was new to me. The comments the writer's lectures stimulated reveals the great connection to victims and survivors that lives in the generation that grew up right after WWII. This connection inevitably will fade in the following generations - to their peril."
Another stated, "I learned history not found in any of my history books in high school."
Cami Ann Green is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at info@seagreenpress.com. 'The Yellow Star That Wasn't: Scandinavia, Miami and Me' is available from Amazon and other quality booksellers. More information is available at the website at http://www.seagreenpress.com.
About Cami Ann Green:
A European and U.S.-educated lawyer, Cami Green has a PhD in Educational Leadership, and certificates from the University of Geneva (International Organizations) and the Hague Academy of International Law (Diplomatic Law). In spite of a sizeable body of academic writings (most recently, Modern Consuls, Palgrave Macmillan, July 2020), her love for human interest stories has remained a constant through her life. She’s been a peer reviewer (university press) of a book on Jewish identity that combines humor with scholarly research, while also being the winner of a humor contest herself.
Throughout her career, Green was committed to international education and was active in many organizations that shared the goal of preparing coming generations for the new global community. Among them: AALS (Association of American Law Schools) Section on Graduate Programs for Foreign Lawyers (founding president; newsletter editor); Florida Commission on International Education (University of Miami School of Law Representative); Florida State Commission on International Education; and NAFSA: Association of International Educators (national Parliamentarian). She was also a member of the Consular College, Washington, D.C. and a member and secretary of the Consular Corps of Miami.
Contact:
Cami Ann Green
info@seagreenpress.com
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