The Ones Who Remember:
Second-Generation Voices
​of the Holocaust

Rita Benn, Julie Goldstein Ellis, Joy Wolfe Ensor, Ruth Finkel Wade (Editors) 
Foreword by Irene Hasenberg Butter

ISBN : 9781947951501
ASIN : B09MDLJV19
Publisher : City Point Press 
Publication date : April 12, 2022
Language : English
Print length : 352 pages

How do you talk about and make sense of your life when you grew up with parents who survived the most unimaginable horrors of family separation, systematic murder and unending encounters of inhumanity? Sixteen authors reveal the challenges and gifts of living with the aftermath of their parents’ inconceivable experiences during the Holocaust.

The Ones Who Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust provides a window into the lived experience of sixteen different families grappling with the legacy of genocide. Each author reveals the many ways their parents’ Holocaust traumas and survival seeped into their souls and then affected their subsequent family lives—whether they knew the bulk of their parents’ stories or nothing at all.

Several of the contributors’ children share interpretations of the continuing effects of this legacy with their own poems and creative prose. Despite the diversity of each family's history and journey of discovery, the intimacy of the collective narratives reveals a common arc from suffering to resilience, across the three generations. This book offers a vision of a shared humanity against the background of inherited trauma that is relatable to anyone who grew up in the shadow of their parents’ pain.

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READERS’ GUIDE

Advance Praise

   This is a unique and powerful book that provides a window into a process for bearing witness to intergenerational trauma … a must read for all who recognize the complexity of trauma and the opportunity for post-traumatic growth, resilience, and hope.” More »​​
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– Michelle B. Riba, MD, Professor, University of Michigan, Past President, American Psychiatric Association

   These authors grew up inhaling the atmosphere of heartbreak and inconceivable loss. What makes the book is the devotion that impelled its creation, and the vividness of the events, described in simple, unadorned prose. I urge you to read this book.” More »​​

– Peter Coyote, actor, director, author, Zen Buddhist priest

   What was unimaginable did, in fact, happen. We know because those who survived told us. Truth needs light. Truth needs telling. Truth bears repeating. Read these accounts. And never forget.”
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– Harry Smith, NBC News

   Deeply moving and sharply observed. The far-reaching effects of Holocaust trauma not just on the survivors themselves, but also the second generation are explored with searing honesty. These stories should never be forgotten.”

– Deborah Cadbury, BBC producer, historian, author

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