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My German friend, Gert Krell, and I are launching a new blog called "Shadows of the Holocaust: An American and a German discuss the legacies of the Nazi era." The blog will be an ongoing conversation between an American and a German that explores how the Holocaust has defined the lives of a generation removed. Here's a brief bio of my German correspondent: Dr. Gert Krell is a retired professor ...

Irving Berlin wrote the best-selling record of all time – the yuletide ballad, “White Christmas.” Irving Berlin? Christmas? That’s right, Irving Berlin, a self-taught Jewish immigrant who chose to name himself after an English actor and a German city. His original name was Israel Baline. In 54 melancholy words, Berlin captured the World War II yearning for happier times, hearth and home, the mythic New England past. Amazingly, the sales ...

Holidays are an odd roll call for families. Yet, ours comes up sadly short. The Holocaust continues to take its toll -- through death and dysfunction -- seventy years after the event. In Motherland, I wrote: "At each holiday dinner table, she (my mother) must have looked around for the relatives who should have been there, accounting for the missing. Any occasion was a reminder to her of who was ...

How can writers capture an unfathomable historical event? How can they give readers a grasp of the dimensions of genocide? How can they portray the legacy of the Holocaust? "The death of one man is a tragedy," Joseph Stalin once said. "The death of a million is a statistic." Statistical historians try to quantify the truth through numbers; writers attempt to assign meaning and context to those numbers. Writers know ...

This week, Chicago was blanketed in snow. That put an end to my daily bike rides. I fear my blogging is at risk. Most writing ideas strike me while I'm riding. That's not surprising, given the research that exercise enhances creative thought. For me, biking is a way to stoke my brain. I'm often asked, why not use a stationary bike? Not the same. The combination of exercise and nature ...

My mother's childhood home in Stockstadt, Germany In Germany, the same house remains in families for generations, handed down from parents to children. My mother's childhood home, built in 1721, belonged to the family for over 200 years. Restrictive policies on teardowns and renovations assure that houses do not change in appearance. Often, former Jewish homes serve as German memorials to those who once lived in them. "I could never ...

If a book is like a baby, the Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) is its ultrasound. ARCs are uncorrected proofs or galleys released by the publisher before the book goes to press for a complete printing. These proofs are printed in softcover and they still may have some unexpected typos. Used for promotional purposes, ARCs are distributed to book buyers at large chains and reviewers at magazines and newspapers three to ...

Edvard Munch, "The Scream" Many Holocaust survivors and escapees suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition characterized by intense fear, helplessness, or horror. PTSD is rooted in exposure earlier in life to extremely stressful life-threatening experiences. For healthy people, memories are recalled as stories that change over time and do not evoke intense emotions and sensations. But those who suffer with PTSD relive the experience in the present ...

Blaise Pascal, anonymous portrait, 17th century Blogging brings to mind philosopher Pascal's apology for writing a long letter. "If I'd had more time," he said, "I would have written a shorter one." Blogging requires discipline; it is an exercise in the art of short letter writing. 'nuf sed.

The tea set: What remains of my mother's childhood home On my first trip to Germany in 1991, I wondered whether there would be any physical evidence of my mother’s past. I wrote in Motherland, “What can remain of a family destroyed fifty-two years ago?” But the past has strange ways of inserting itself into the present. When we visited my mother’s dear childhood friend Mina in Germany's Oldenwald Mountains, ...