The Soldier, the Avatar, and the Holocaust: WWII Germany, Jan.-May, 1945

Did the Holocaust really happen? Seventeen-year old computer nerd Beth needs to know, so in 2017 she becomes her own avatar and time-travels back to 1945 to accompany her 19 year-old great-grandfather Sandy through the last five months of WWII. Along the way, she joins with two other teen time-travelers to meet three young German girls who share their stories of survival of the various armies that invaded their town. She goes to 1945 Ohio to meet her 18 year-old great-grandmother who waits for her young soldier to come home, then returns to Sandy and his 42nd Rainbow Division for the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp. As a result, Beth discovers both the insidiousness of hate and the power of love. Ronni Sanlo, writer and retired UCLA professor, tells the story of the last five months of WWII through the actual letters her father, Sanford "Sandy" Lebman wrote to her mother, but from the point of view of a 17 year-old girl from 2017. The book is historical in that much of the story is true according to Dr. Sanlo's extensive research. The part about the avatar, of course, is not. But could it have happened