Diamonds - rare, pure and brilliant – are considered to be the hardest known substance. After suffering the horrors of the Holocaust, perhaps it is a beautiful paradox that Samuel Soldinger spent an illustrious career in the diamond industry. Maybe without knowing it, with his kind humility and all he endured, he embodied those same qualities: rarity, purity, brilliance and strength.

This book is a compilation of stories mostly in Sam Soldinger’s own words, from numerous print and audio interviews, speeches to organizations, along with the notes he kept. There was no one better to tell Sam’s experience, than Sam himself, and we are fortunate to have his authentic narrative. This chronicles his time as a young boy growing up in the Jewish Quarter of Krakow, to being a prisoner in seven concentration camps during the German occupation in Poland and Austria during World War II, then onto a life as a diamond cutter for Harry Winston working with Native Americans in Arizona. He was a devoted family man, a doting father, a ping-pong champion and lover of the lights of Las Vegas. Throughout, Sam lived his life with positivity and purpose.