We were delighted that our book was selected to be featured at the Ann Arbor Jewish Book Festival. When we learned that of all the featured juried books, the Department of Judaic Studies at Eastern Michigan University chose ours to be the one they sponsored, we felt even more honored. Our delight continued November 15, the evening of our scheduled presentation. The cold and rainy weather did not hamper a great turnout. A crowd of close to forty individuals came to Third Mind Books, filling its floor space to capacity. The presentation by Julie Ellis, Nancy Szabo and Phil Barr resulted in so many questions that the event went well past closing time. The owner of Third Mind Books was so moved by the authors stories that he felt compelled to come up to the podium and express how meaningful he found this presentation. He described the impact that the Holocaust had for him growing up despite not being a second-generation descendent. We were very grateful to see that several audience members had previously been to our speaking events. They shared that they wanted to hear more stories from our book and buy additional copies as gifts. Thank you to all our supporters.

Photo Credit Elli Gurfinkel

Rita Benn, a co-editor and contributing author, offers a snapshot of our book in a promotional interview for the Metro Detroit Jewish Book Fair. You can listen to the 10-minute interview here. She and Julie Ellis, also a co-editor and contributing author, discussed their book at the Metro Detroit JCC "Schmooze" open house in West Bloomfield on Sunday, November 13.

Several of our authors - Rita Benn, Avishay Hayut, Natalie Iglewicz, and Ruth Wade, attended the 32nd annual conference of the WFJSHD for the first time in St. Louis. We were delighted to share information about our book, learn about new resources, have deep conversations, and discover so many serendipitous connections - from those related to the University of Michigan, our birth cities, and histories of our parents' wartime experiences.  In addition to our panel presentation, Ruth and Rita also offered a workshop on the legacy of writing about the 2G experience. With multiple sessions to choose from, they found that over 1/4 of the conference attended their program. With guided writing prompts, and facilitated opportunities to reflect and share, many participants indicated that they had overcome writing blocks that they had been experiencing for years. Our authors were so very grateful to Charley Silow for inviting us to be a part of this wonderful experience.

On November 4, 30 seventh and eighth graders from a private school in Atlanta sat glued to their seats listening to their teacher, Andrea Sarvady, interview Nancy Szabo, one of the authors in our book. The students who were of mixed religious backgrounds had been studying about the Holocaust, preparing for their future performance of a play, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly’. Students' hands shot up like popcorn after the interview. Nancy was struck by the depth and sensitivity of the questions. “Looking back, when did you first see any signs of trauma in your father? Do you think our parents should let us know about painful events in their lives?” Nancy described to the class how she wished she had asked her father more questions about his experiences in Hungary when he was alive. She encouraged the students to explore the life stories of their parents and grandparents. This school event validated what the authors have heard Irene Butter, a Holocaust survivor, author and friend, say to us about the importance of sharing our perspective of the impact of the Holocaust trauma with the younger generation - that students as early as middle school age are not only ready and eager to learn  but can benefit from our intergenerational lens.

We were delighted that the University of Michigan Osher Life-long Learning Institute (UM OLLI) selected "The Ones Who Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust" as the selection for their Fall Community Read. On November 4, a panel of four contributing authors to this anthology - Sassa Akervall, Rita Benn, Joy Wolfe Ensor and Simone Yehuda, discussed some of the experiences depicted in their book to a sold-out audience. The panel was moderated by Marjorie Oliver who gave the following remarks: "I had no holocaust survivors in my family, I am a true WASP, so  I found this collection  to be deeply personal, deeply profound, ofttimes incredibly well-written and very moving. At this time in the world in which we live, we need to be reminded that 'all people are our kin' and of the power of hatred and necessity of confronting it."  A recording of this panel presentation has been made available to view through the UM OLLI catalog.