Howard experiences the same sympathetic passions in his study of history, where innocent out-numbered individuals manage to overcome overwhelmingly superior odds and achieve victory.

Howard has spent many years consulting with historians and witnesses to verify the facts in Aaron's Journey. Herskowitz’s passion for relaying his father’s struggles illustrates his devotion to his family and his love for communicating a significant period in history.

“So Dad, how many Nazis did you kill?” That’s the haunting question Howard Herskowitz asked his father, Aaron, over and over. His father’s storytelling about his hair-raising escapes and heroics during World War II fascinated the young boy. But Aaron would never answer that one question. Another puzzlement to young Howard was why his father would never want to return to Eastern Europe together to relive his exciting adventures. Howard was so facinated with these tales that he dreamed about them, but he didn’t completely grasp the nature of his father’s journey, the horrors he witnessed and the brutality of World War II.

As he grew up, Howard found himself plagued by this simple question that has fascinated many historians and observers about the plight of the Jews during the Nazi occupation: Why didn’t they fight back? After all, the canons of Jewish religion are full of tales of heroic uprisings.

Didn’t David slay Goliath? What about Judah Macabee’s epic revolt? Didn’t any of those stories mean anything?

The Modest Hero

As his father’s tale unfolded, Howard began to understand the untold truth kept virtually secret for decades until now, about how community rabbis and their ancient beliefs against organized resistance and emigration to Palestine played an unwitting role in the murder of so many Jews. Aaron’s stories became even more important as his own truth came out: He’d delivered a measure of justice to his captors, and for those millions of Jews throughout Europe. It was in the small town of Gerjen that Howard’s question is finally answered.