The Forbidden Daughter

The unforgettable true story of one Jewish orphan’s survival against impossible odds, and her lifelong quest for family, safety, and a sense of belonging.

Elida Friedman was never supposed to have been born. In the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania, Nazi law forbade Jewish women from giving birth. Yet despite the danger they faced, Dr. Jonah Friedman and his wife Tzila chose to bring a daughter into the world—a little girl they named Elida, meaning non-birth in Hebrew.

To ensure her survival, the couple must smuggle their precious baby out of the ghetto into the arms of strangers. So begins a life of constant upheaval, with Elida changing families, countries, continents, and even names, countless times. Surviving the war and the Holocaust that stole her parents, the young woman never gives up hope of finding a sense of family, and the chance to belong.

A moving, powerful chronicle of overcoming impossible odds, The Forbidden Daughter is the true story of one unforgettable girl and her will to survive.