A World Erased

Noah Lederman

doi:10.5771/9781442267442

A World Erased

A Grandson's Search for His Family's Holocaust Secrets

Published 2017

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doi.org/10.5771/9781442267442
ISBN print: 978-1-4422-6743-5
ISBN online: 978-1-4422-6744-2
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham

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Abstract

This poignant memoir by Noah Lederman, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, transports readers from his grandparents’ kitchen table in Brooklyn to World War II Poland. In the 1950s, Noah’s grandparents raised their children on Holocaust stories. But because tales of rebellion and death camps gave his father and aunt constant nightmares, in Noah’s adolescence Grandma would only recount the PG version. Noah, however, craved the uncensored truth and always felt one right question away from their pasts. But when Poppy died at the end of the millennium, it seemed the Holocaust stories died with him. In the years that followed, without the love of her life by her side, Grandma could do little more than mourn.

After college, Noah, a travel writer, roamed the world for fifteen months with just one rule: avoid Poland. A few missteps in Europe, however, landed him in his grandparents’ country. When he returned home, he cautiously told Grandma about his time in Warsaw, fearing that the past would bring up memories too painful for her to relive. But, instead, remembering the Holocaust unexpectedly rejuvenated her, ending five years of mourning her husband. Together, they explored the memories—of Auschwitz and a half-dozen other camps, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the displaced persons camps—that his grandmother had buried for decades. And the woman he had playfully mocked as a child became his hero.

I was left with the stories—the ones that had been hidden, the ones that offered catharsis, the ones that gave me a second hero, the ones that resurrected a family, the ones that survived even death. Their shared journey profoundly illuminates the transformative power of never forgetting.

Schlagworte

Jewish Studies Holocaust Studies

Chapter Expand | CollapsePage
Preface
- CONTENTS
1–12 Ch01. THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH NIGHTMARES 1–12
13–20 Ch02. SUPER POPPY AND THE MESHUGGE GRANDMA 13–20
21–26 Ch03. THE HOSPITAL 21–26
27–34 Ch04. KEYS TO THE HOLOCAUST VAULT 27–34
35–52 Ch05. ADRIFT 35–52
53–60 Ch06. DEATH IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 53–60
61–62 Ch07. THE E-MAIL 61–62
63–78 Ch08. OTWOCK 63–78
79–82 Ch09. FROM NIGHT TO DAWN 79–82
83–92 Ch10. PEERING INTO THE VAULT 83–92
93–96 Ch11. THE TAPES 93–96
97–102 Ch12. PANAMA 97–102
103–112 ESCAPE FROM WARSAW 103–112
Photospread
113–120 Ch14. REVISION 113–120
121–126 Ch15. A BOX OF PHOTOS 121–126
127–130 Ch16. THE FOUR QUESTIONS 127–130
131–136 Ch17. ISRAEL 131–136
137–140 Ch18. RESEARCH AT YAD VASHEM 137–140
141–144 Ch19. NEARLY UNRAVELED 141–144
145–148 Ch20. THE BOY AT THE GATES OF WARSAW 145–148
149–150 Ch21. LIGHTNING LAD 149–150
151–154 Ch22. ESCAPE FROM TREBLINKA 151–154
155–158 Ch23. THE LIQUIDATION 155–158
159–164 Ch24. GRANDMA’S DETERMINATION 159–164
165–170 Ch25. GET WELL SOON 165–170
171–178 Ch26. THE BRONZE ARM 171–178
179–180 Ch27. BERGEN-BELSEN 179–180
181–184 Ch28. BETTER AND YOU BETTER 181–184
185–188 Ch29. UMSCHLAGPLATZ 185–188
189–194 Ch30. THE MYSTERY CAMP 189–194
195–202 Ch31. A RETURN TO THE CAMPS 195–202
203–208 Ch32. MAJDANEK 203–208
209–212 Ch33. BIRKENAU 209–212
213–214 Ch34. AUSCHWITZ 213–214
215–216 Ch35. THE BUNA 215–216
217–218 Ch36. LIBERATION 217–218
219–220 Ch37. IN SEARCH OF NEW BEGINNINGS 219–220
221–222 EPILOGUE 221–222
223–224 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 223–224
225–226 SOURCES 225–226
227–230 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 227–230

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