The Holocaust
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 MoreURSULA 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 MoreMY 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 MoreAJC Campaign Includes My Cousin
My father’s cousin Max Karp — murdered in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp — is included in the American Jewish Congress’s ongoing #NotAProp campaign. (This blog post text continues below the image.) *** The AJC initiated their #NotAProp campaign after Congresswoman Majorie Taylor-Greene likened government COVID-19 mask mandates to the Nazis’ yellow star patches imposed on…
Read MoreA Tribute at 16 Wallstrasse
Recently, I had the delightful surprise of receiving an email from Günter Voss, Director of the Senioren Computer Club in Berlin-Mitte. Mr. Voss has won recognition for his work in bringing older Berliners up-to-speed with digital literacy. His club meets on Berlin’s Fischerinsel (Fisher Island) in view of 16 Wallstrasse, the building Nazis stole from…
Read MoreAN UPLIFTING BOOK
I deeply cherish Glenn Kurtz’s THREE MINUTES IN POLAND. Praising this important book, Noble laureate Elie Wiesel said: “It is intensely moving and brilliantly researched, and it reads like a thriller.” In 2009, Glenn found a film his paternal grandparents made of their 1938 trip through Europe. One three-minute section especially arrested his attention, as…
Read MoreA JUDITH LEIBER HANUKKAH BOOK
I’m delighted to present this interview with writer Deborah Blumenthal, who together with artist Masha D’Yans created PARROTS, PUGS, AND PIXIE DUST: A Book About Fashion Designer Judith Leiber. While this book would be splendid for the young (and the young at heart) all year long, it’s especially appropriate as a Hanukkah gift, as Judith…
Read MoreDAVID MARWELL’S OUTSTANDING BOOK ON MENGELE
This post is about David G. Marwell’s brilliant book MENGELE: UNMASKING THE “ANGEL OF DEATH”, which you may view on Amazon here. *** Hailed by the New York Times as “a leading American investigator of Nazi war crimes,” Dr. David G. Marwell trained as an historian and then put his training to superb use outside the…
Read MoreTHE HOLOCAUST: A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING
For this post, I am honored to have as my interviewee the distinguished psychiatrist Dr. Ira Brenner, editor of the recently published “Handbook of Psychoanalytic Holocaust Studies: International Perspectives.” Each of the contributions to this book is written in an accessible style, and I consider the volume indispensable to all readers who want to deepen…
Read MoreWORRIED ABOUT ANTISEMITISM?
(Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt in the film DENIAL) (Credit: Bleecker Street Media) ********** (NOTE: I previously interviewed Deborah Lipstadt about her latest book. You may read that interview here.) ********** Q: What is the goal of this new interview? A: To let people worried about antisemitism know we all have an indispensable, one-of-a-kind resource…
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