Focus on Women Magazine

N

eva

Gould

By Joslyn Wolfe

A

t ten

years

young,

Neva Gould’s life took the

turn of a miraculous odys-

sey, allowing her to bridge

the harrowing narrative of

her past and skillfully link

it to the present through a

recently published histori-

c al novel,

Run for Me Too.

A

narrative, the overall story is

based on Gould’s experiences

as a Holocaust survivor. “I

wanted a way to give tribute

and remember the other Jew-

ish families who perished,”

Gould says. “What better

way to do this other than

writing this novel.”

“It began in 1941, the first

time we managed to escape

from the Nazis,” Gould says,

who recalls living with her

mother, father and brother in

the Croatian part of Yugo-

slavia. Having physicians

as parents helped Gould’s

father acquire travel doc u-

ments to leave Zag rav and to

enter Bosnia, Hergozovenia,

where there was a shortage

of doctors, a move that would

certainly spare Neva and

her family’s lives. “With the

exception of ourselves, the

other Jews from our town

were deported to the death

camps.”

But instead of Gould and

her family entering Bosnia,

the family remained along

the border town of Lubljano,

formerly a province of Yu-

goslavia, now an indepen-

dent country. Following

four months, Gould’s father

sec ured fa lse identity papers

allowing the family to enter

Slovenia. After another four

months, the Gould family

found themselves on the run

again after learning that the

Nazis were advancing to the

area and escaped to Como, a

Norther n Italian town along

the Swiss border. “Since my

parents were physicians,

they had strong ties to the

community and many people

owed them favors,” says

Gould, the mother of two

girls and one boy and the

grandmother of two. “Those

favors were a good thing

because it helped us, however

narrowly to escape the fate of

the Nazis.”



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Gould recounts that the

family’s stay in Como was far

from ‘freedom.’ “ We were in

free confinement there,” she

says. “We could only move

in a radius of ten kilometers

and were subjected to da ily

roll call by the police.”

Remaining in Como un-

til 1943, during the time

the Allies were deployed to

Southern Italy, the Gould’s

were on the run again when

they were informed that the

Germans were advancing

into Northern Italy. So, in

Aug ust of that yea r, Neva’s

family gradually worked

their way South, walking

part of the way where the

rail tracks were destroyed

and taking the train when-

ever possible. But for the

family, getting to Southern

Italy was a sojourn of cir-

cumloc ution, says Gould.

“The Germans rerouted the

trains from Rome,” Gould

says. “So we walked towards

the mountains to a town

called Benata, near Beneven-

to and remained there until

the front lines of the Allied

troops liberated us.”

For a while, Gould’s free-

dom meant further confine-

ment. Following their libera-

tion, they were sent to live

for one month in a nearby

town and were given applica-

tions to apply as refugees to

enter the United States. Due

to a special Act of Cong ress

in 1944, a cer tain number

of refugees could apply for

entrance into America. When

the Gould’s application was

accepted, they boarded a U.

S. convoy ship and shortly

after their arrival they

were resettled to Fort On-

tario in Oswego, New York

where they remained until

1946. “Although were were

free to go to school and to

shop, there was barbed wire

around the camp—because

were were refugees, and not

yet citizens” Gould says.

For the Goulds, citizenship

was two years and one border

away. So in 1946, the family

entered Canada where they

applied to become United

States citizens and the ap-

plication was accepted.

As a progeny of doctors,

Gould had an innate interest

in saving lives. Consequently,

she attended Hunter College

in New York, graduating in

1952 and later from SU NY

New York Medical School

where she studied pathology,

graduating in 1956. Gould’s

medical degree allowed her

to practice medicine in New

York, five years in Washing-

ton and 35 years at Michael

Reef Hospital in Chicago

where she continued her

work in Pathology with a

special interest in infant

mortality.

Ref lecting upon her life,

Gould’s reddish hair and

radiant transluscent skin be-

lies her age of 78. “My entire

town where we lived in Croa-

tia was completely liquidated.

Because of my parents’ con-

nections, we escaped the fate

of other Jewish families,”

she says in a tone of humble

remembrance.

Just shy of retiring one

year ago, Gould has another

pursuit—promoting the

historical novel,

Run for Me

Too,

offered online through

Bar nes and Noble. “With the

exception of some characters,

the novel is the story of my

life,” Gould says. “I wanted

to include people and events I

knew about, not write it like

a memoir.”

Neva Gould resides in

Chicago, IL.

Joslyn Wolfe is the publisher of Focus

on Women Magazine.

Focus on Women Magazine’s

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es who have won our first annual 2009

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