These days many of us are glued to the news as conflicts near and far are reported with up to the minute details. Can you imagine then how it must have felt to residents of Dubno in Soviet occupied Poland in June 1941 to hear rumors that Germany was about to invade? Jewish families in particular had few if any choices to assure their survival. In one family a young man decided to ride his bicycle to a near-by town to learn what he could. For Wolf Kogul that was the beginning of years struggling to survive war, tragic loss and future guilt.

Each story of that time adds concrete knowledge of those terrible years, bringing the truth of specificity that history books can only generalize about. How each story is told therefore becomes a test for the author. For many survivors, it means reliving the trauma, remembering details they worked hard to forget. For the children of survivors other obstacles arise. How to tell the story with the authenticity it requires and yet make it accessible.

Morey Kogul passed that test in Running Breathless (2018). He has made his father’s story authentic backed by documentation and yet accessible by the unique approach of converting his father’s taped recollections into a historical novel. Here is my interview with Kogul about the book.

PGP: Your decision to write your father’s story as a first person “novel” represents a novel approach to telling a Holocaust/WW II story. How did you come to that decision?

MK: I wanted the reader to feel as though my father was relaying his experience personally to him/her.  Re-telling my father’s memoir in first person removes the barrier of a third party voice and keeps the connection between my father and the reader close.  This also creates the added effect of allowing the reader to visualize my father’s experience as he relives it—making the reader feel as though s/he is alongside him through his journey. 

PGP: Your “novel” approach makes the story accessible to readers who might not pick up a typical narrative account. How has Running Breathless been received by readers?

MK: Extremely well.  The feedback is overwhelmingly positive.  Readers enjoy the fast pace and intensity of the story as well as the personal connection they feel with my father.  

PGP: How long did it take you to write Running Breathless and what was the most difficult part of the project?

MK: I wrote the memoir from August – December 2016, but collected my father’s story nearly 26 years ago.  Over the years, I experimented with writing various sections of the book, but ultimately committed to writing the book in August 2016. 

Emotionally, the most difficult part of the project was listening to my father unburden guilt and pain that he suppressed for decades.  As for the literary challenge, I grappled with telling the story first or third person, and ultimately took the riskier option to give the reader a more authentic experience.

PGP: You make a point of telling readers you did extensive research to back up the notes you got from your father. What was the motivation behind this research effort?

MK: The research serves several uses.  First, corroborating my father’s account with the historical record further validates his testimony; I am proud that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reviewed my father’s story and included the book as part of their reference library.  Second, selectively footnoted research adds literary gravity to the story; a reference to the devastation that followed my father’s escape from a particular town demonstrates how perilously close he came to perishing in the war.  Finally, the references prompt further research and education.  Readers have informed me that they were unaware of some of the facts and explored the Eastern Front further.

PGP: One reason your father’s story is so unique is that it takes place on the less covered eastern front of the war. What obstacles did you encounter researching the events related to that side of the conflict?

MK: Thankfully, Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have extensive collections that made this research manageable.  While not nearly as voluminous as Western Front or Pacific Theater accounts, I felt I was able to identify enough evidence to support my father’s story.

PGP: One of the strengths of your book is your clean writing style. Has the success of Running Breathless inspired you to further writing projects?

MK: I appreciate the compliment.  I truly enjoyed the process of writing this book: identifying someone with a compelling true life story; interview and research the subject; and then write a memoir in first person.  I would gladly write another book that “gives voice to the voiceless.”