Book #64: “Dancing From Darkness” by Eleanor Issacson.

Dancing From Darkness

Eleanor Issacson
& Jeannette Windle

 Released: September 3rd, 2000

My 7th book for 2025 was Eleanor Issacson’s' “Dancing From Darkness”.

My friends Becky and Eric picked up this book for me, as they felt I would enjoy reading it.  I truly did.

Dancing from Darkness tells us the story of Eleanor, and her journey from war-torn child in Eastern Germany to successful speaker, dancer, and businesswoman in the United States.

Eleanor is guided by her faith, and the book cites several examples where faith played a direct role in the directions, she chose to take her life.  She has unwavering faith, and she looks in a positive direction for every negative thing that has come against her.  This book reminded me a lot of Tony Dungy's "A Quiet Strength" in how she structures religion around her life.  While she maintains her faith, she has studied other religions and branched out into different ventures to give her life a fullness and depth of knowledge.

It's testament enough to see her survive the warzone Germany became in the 1940's.  Beyond that, to survive a very distant relationship with her parents, 2 battles with cancer, the loss of her husband, and people against her faith, and come out on top each and every time is inspirational and impressive.

One of the most astounding things I read is the treatment of Jewish citizens during the Nazi regime.  In today's world, the word "Nazi" is thrown around far too commonly.  I feel that if people truly understood the nature of what the party does to innocent people, it would be best reserved for matters of true evil.  It feels like today people use it to describe people they do not like.  The Nazis used infants for target practice, kick pregnant women in the stomach, send thousands of innocent people to horrendous deaths.  These are just some examples learned from the book, but the overall idea is that it is far worse than what some people use to describe such people.

She struggled to maintain relationships with her parents, which is a personal struggle I have as well.  While my parents didn't abandon me, and it's a separate struggle, the feeling is there.  Her mother struggled with ungratefulness, and her father was a selfish man who only cared about himself.

She is an eternal optimist, and sees the bright side in nearly all matters.  Her faith and positivity has gotten her through the toughest moments in her life.

I was happy to read this book, and took a good bit away from it, both from a historical context, and her personal journey.  She is a fascinating woman.

Here is what I learned:

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• The book is dedicated to Eleanor Issacson’s late husband Robert B. Isaacson.
• Her mother gave her away.
• By 1944, World War II had been going on for five years.  Eleanor Issacson was 10-years-old.
• Plauen is an industrial city in central Germany near the borders of Bavaria, and Czechoslovakia.
• A Jul tree represents the winter solstice and rebirth of the sun.
• It also represents the Germanic God Odin.
• Her Aunt Lisbeth and Uncle Walter were her guardians.
• When bombing sirens went off, they hid in caverns within a tree covered, hallowed out hill.
• The two caverns were named Mauerkeller, and Hummerkeller.
• She felt an urgency to not hit in Mauerkeller, and go to Hummerkeller instead.
• After the all-clear siren was given, she and her aunt discovered that the Mauerkeller cavern was directly hit and hundreds had been crushed or smothered to death.
• Her aunt was atheist, but told her God protected them that night.
• She believed in a higher power since then.
• “I vowed from the very depth of my lonely, love-starved, ten-year-old heart, I know you are real. And I know that you had a purpose in sparing my life. If you let me live through this war and grow up to be a woman, I am going to seek for this purpose. And I am going to find you as a friend.”
• Eleanor was born in America.
• Both sides of her parents families had originated from Plauen.
• Plauen is most famous for mechanizing the production of fine lace.
• Her grandfather was a baker who was captured by Russian forces and placed in a labor camp.  Once they tasted his baking, they allowed him to serve out his sentence by baking goods for them.
• Once released, he moved to America and started a bakery in Newark, NJ.
• Her mother attempted to miscarry her by moving the fridge.
• Her mother never wanted children, and her father only wanted a son.
• Walter & Lisabeth ran a beauty salon.
• Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933.
• “Lebensraum” stands for “living space” and was a strategy based on Hitler’s belief that the German race was superior and he had the right to displace lesser races.
• “Kristallnact” or “Crystal Night” was a coordinated attack carried out on November 9th-10th, 1938.  It involved rioting citizens and SS troops against Jewish businesses, home, synagogues all across Germany for the death of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath.
• 7,000 Jewish businesses and 1,000 synagogues were destroyed in one night.  Countless Jews were murdered or rounded up in a single night.
• “When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” - Psalm 27:10, KJV.
• Uncle Walter was drafted into Hitler’s war machine and never seen again.
• The salon closed due to lack of business.
• Schools were indoctrinated in Nazi philosophy.
• Teachers were required to be members of the Nazi party in order to instruct.
• Nazi schools discouraged mixing with other races besides Aryan.
• In German tradition, on the first day of school, kids receive a “zuckertuete”, which is a meter-tall cone filled with candy.  Eleanor didn’t receive one until she got home.
• “In a war, there is no such thing as childhood.”
• “Hitlerjugend” was required by age 10.  It was a militaristic version of the Boy & Girl Scouts.
• Hitler was responsible for the death of nearly 50 million people.
• Hitler invaded Russia on June 22nd, 1941.
• The last memory she has of her uncle was of an angry bitter solider who knew he was heading to his death.
• Her doorbell rang in October 1942, and a Nazi officer emotionlessly announced that her uncle was dead.
• One postive thing about the Nazi regime is that they did not discriminate education from boys and girls.
• ‘Right then I vowed to myself that when I grew up, I was going to live a lifestyle different from my relatives. A lifestyle of culture, art, education, and the finest things of life. And eventually that is exactly what I did. Of course, aiming for wealth is an empty goal in itself, as God has also taught me.  If God blesses us, it is that we may use that blessing to help others and change the world for the better. But striving to better oneself, to learn, to broaden one's horizons, expand one's mind, and to enjoy all that God has placed in this world for his creation to enjoy is not wrong.’
• The war came to Plauen on September 9th, 1944.
• Eleanor’s birthday is November 7th.
• German citizens were falsely told by Nazi authorities that sniffing vinegar would ward off mustard gas and other chemical weapons.
• After moving in with Tante Friedel, she urgently told the family to leave immediately.  Everyone packed up and hauled out to the next town over.  They then saw planes overhead, and when they returned, Plauen was destroyed.
• The last major bombing of Plauen was April 10th, 1945.
• Her cousin Christa was born the day before.
• Christa was the only survivor of the Plauen bombing.  Her parents and 6 other siblings all perished.
• May 8th, 1945, the Germans surrendered to the Allied forces.
• Ostvorstaadt is a landmark hill in Plauen.
• She accidentally consumed her grandmother’s ashes when a food care package from America was not labeled.
• Nazi soldiers would toss infant babies into the air for target practice.
• Nazi soldiers would kick pregnant women in the stomach.
• Nazi doctors would perform experimental surgery on prisoners without anesthesia.
• A man tried to sexually abuse her by offering her a trip to collect firewood.  
• Her teacher, Frau Benner, became her role model.
• Lisabeth married a policeman named Hans Leksa.
• She and her aunt moved with Hans and his daughter to Bad Elster.
• She would have to walk 4 hours a day to and from school.
• The difference between loneliness and solitude is this: loneliness is something we run from.  Solitude is something we seek for refreshment when we are hurting.
• Under old German law, your dual citizenship expires at age 14.
• She took a job ironing waiting for the ship to take her to America.
• She sailed to America on the S.S. Marine Flasher.
• “Every time I'd feel a twinge of pain and loneliness, I would retreat immediately in my mind to my secret place.  There, I would find something positive to think about instead of the fact that I was even more alone than I'd ever been until now. You know, that is actually a wonderful way to live. To this day, I always try to stay positive, no matter how sad, lonely, and unpredictable things might be. I have faith that even if it doesn't look possible now, things will turn out alright in the end.”
• “My dearest reader, if you take nothing else away from this book (and I hope you will take away many things!), may I encourage you to take away this advice. When things get tough, look for the silver lining. Nature itself teaches us that principle. No matter how dark and stormy the sky, we know that up above the clouds, the sun is always shining. Keep that in mind, and you will get through the tough times. Sooner or later, the sun will come out, and things will get better.”
• Eleanor arrived in New York Harbor at 5pm on Wednesday, May 26th, 1948.
• Israel declared its independence on May 14th, 1948.
• Her full name was Eleanor Elsie Drechsler.
• She realized upon meeting that she was far more mature and grown up than her mother.
• Her mother would laugh and go on about how she tried to miscarry her, how her father hated that she was a girl, and about her sex life.
• Her mom never learned about her experiences because she never truly cared.
• Eleanor had to pretend around her mother until the day she died.
• “I could not change my mother, and she made abundantly clear she had no intention of changing herself.  But I could choose to love her or not love her. To live in peace or conflict. In the end, I chose to let it go and leave Mom in God’s hands.”
• She started her own dictionary in order to learn the English language.
• Her mom would scream and yell when her father would pick her up.  To ease tension, she asked her father to come back at another time.  He completely abandon her at that point.
• She once sent him a birthday card and a pen and pencil set.  He sent her letter back saying “I don’t need your pen and pencil set!”
• Feeling disillusioned, she attempted to push God away during her high school years by making herself too busy.
• Marian was an older woman who helped her seal her faith.
• Eleanor became born again at 8:45a on February 25th, 1954.
• She wore a hearing aid due to being diagnosed with otosclerosis.
• She taught vacation Bible school with Marion in rural Alberta, Canada.
• “The Jesus I saw in Scripture was not a churchy person. He was always willing to spend time with sinners and non-believers.  He taught far less about how to dress or act religiously than about caring for the lost and touching others with God’s love.”
• After 10 years, she had surgery to fix her hearing issues.
• “No matter how shy you are, if you know how to stand properly in public with good posture and eye contact, no one will know you are nervous.”
• When she separated religion from her life, fate took over with negative consequences.
• She was well travelled, going safari hunting in Africa, visiting 13 European countries post war, and several trips across Canada.
• She dated Bob Issacson in the early 1970’s.  He was scientific in nature and non-religious.
• She gave him a Bible for his library in 1973.  He returned it in 1974, with a note saying he accepted faith.
• Bob nicknamed her “Sweets”.
• When she told her father where she and her husband would live, he grew jealous as it was a more affluent area.
• Her father skipped her wedding.
• Bob wrote her father a letter denouncing his actions.  She never spoke to her father again.
• She considers her wedding day to be the greatest highlight of her life.
• In 1980, she earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in English and business management.
• She sang with New Jersey’s famed Masterworks Chorus.
• Bob had no compunction about confronting her parents on issues they caused outside her presence.
• She became very close to her mother-in-law calling her “Mom Issacson”.
• She was diagnosed with cancer in 1979.
• She had a form of lymphoma.
• Once it went into remission, she adopted a vegetarian lifestyle.
• Her cancer returned in 1993.
• Bob suffered 2 brain hemorrhages.
• Bob went into a coma for 4 months and was in vegetables state.
• Eleanor learned that he was never going to recover fully, and came to terms with a “Do Not Resuscitate” order.
• Bob passed away at 5:30p on Thursday, September 16, 1993.
• “Be the best you can be from the inside out.”
• She took up dancing in the early 2000’s.
• “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die ... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-4.
• She won first place in her first dance competition.
• Dancing was a sign from God.  She learned quickly and excelled in her new hobby.
• She moved to Willow Valley, PA in October 2002.
• One day, her mother was being disrespectful to her, so she pulled over, stopped the engine, locked the doors, and told her mother exactly how she felt.
• After the conversation, her mother finally began treating her respectfully.

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Overall, the book was a good read.  The pages seemed to flow quickly, and she provides a great historical depiction of what it truly felt like to face these obstacles in life, and come out triumphantly in the end.

Recommended.

On to Book #55: "Beach Read" by Emily Henry.