Here’s the first essay I wrote for Women Writers, Women’s Books, an online literary magazine by and about contemporary women writers from around the world. In this essay I speak about the process of writing Summons to Berlin. I am currently working on a piece about my feelings as a writer post publication, a companion…

Read More

    Here are some reader reviews for Summons to Berlin. The most recent review is from a High School friend. All reviews are wonderful to read, but the ones from people who have known me over the years, or during specific times of my life, really impact me. These words from John filled my…

Read More

Jewish Book Council’s Review

The Jewish Book Council reviewed Summons to Berlin. The full review can be read here: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/summons-to-berlin-nazi-theft-and-a-daughters-quest-for-justice

Read More

Book Launch at the Leo Baeck Institute

At the book launch for Summons to Berlin, Joanne speaks about the book’s contemporary relevance with LBI Executive Director Emeritus William H. Weitzer. The full talk can be viewed here: https://www.lbi.org/events/summons-to-berlin-nazi-theft-and-a-daughters-quest-for-justice/

Read More

PW Review of my Memoir

(My book’s cover, back and front) *** I am most pleased to note that the venerable PUBLISHERS WEEKLY  has published a favorable review of my memoir SUMMONS TO BERLIN.  PW relates some details of my Berlin restitution quest, then calls the book “a unique and memorable account of untangling inherited trauma.” I did endeavor to…

Read More

PATRICIA HIGHSMITH AND PSYCHOPATHS

  In 1943, when she was 22 years old, Patricia Highsmith — self-aware — asked her diary, “Am I a psychopath? In a Psychology Today article at this link, I examine why Highsmith was so expert at creating vivid, disturbing, and believable characters. I’m interested to learn what you have to say, so please let…

Read More

URSULA DUBA’S “GERMANY”

Ursula Duba was born in Cologne, Germany in 1938. Nonetheless, she did not learn of the Holocaust until after she turned 19. Several years thereafter, she moved to a Brooklyn neighborhood, then home to many Holocaust survivors. Keenly intelligent and profoundly empathetic, Ursula decided to turn her moral outrage over the Nazi era and its…

Read More

MY TRIP TO MITTE (BERLIN)

  Last October, I had the honor of being invited to participate in the 2022 Berlin Mitte Festival. Experts in History, Urban Planning, and related disciplines gathered — and delivered public presentations — towards giving meaningful shape to further modern development of the very inner-most part of Berlin, the district known as Mitte.  I spoke…

Read More

My view of Jeffrey Dahmer

  A recent series on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is among Netflix’ most-watched programs ever. Actor Evan Peters, who plays Dahmer to chilling effect, won a Golden Globes award for his performance. We physicians by nature often eagerly study the sickest of people, because there is so much to be learned from their cases. In…

Read More