From Sorrow to Joy: From Hitler's Darkness to the Sunlight on Mount Carmel

The remarkable and deeply moving story of a Jewish doctor, 1933-1949

When Yakov Adler fled his hometown of Nuremberg in 1933, he left behind a Germany that was rapidly closing its doors to Jews. In Amsterdam he found safety, a new purpose, and eventually love. After completing his medical studies at the University of Amsterdam, he became a physician at the Jewish Hospital on the Nieuwe Keizersgracht, where he met the head nurse, Beckel de Leeuw, who would become his wife.

The quiet romance of prewar Amsterdam ended abruptly in May 1940, when the first war casualties arrived at the hospital. What followed was a journey marked by danger, resilience, and devotion, including the extraordinary birth of their first child while in hiding.

Adler, a keen observer, wove world events into his personal story with striking clarity. His memoir conveys the emotional rhythm of the time. Hope rose with every piece of good news from the front, only to collapse again when German advances threatened Europe's future. Through it all, the Adler family's story keeps the reader in its grip.

Yakov Adler wrote these memoirs in modern Hebrew and titled them 'From Sorrow to Joy.' The title comes from the Book of Esther, which he and his wife read together on one of their first nights in hiding, as Purim began. The story resonated powerfully with them in 1943. Hitler's plans were no different from Haman's, and they wondered whether deliverance might come once again.

From Sorrow to Joy is both an intimate family chronicle and a vivid historical account. It offers a physician's clear eye, a survivor's voice, and a timeless reminder of courage in the face of persecution.