Daughters of Absence

This is a collection of twelve essays written by daughters of Holocaust survivors. The women -- artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, a photographer, a musician, and an actress -- have found a strong voice through their work, and their work has been both a life force and a lifesaver. The editor, too, is the daughter of Holocaust survivors; her parents survived Auschwitz. The contributors include Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust; Aviva Kempner, the filmmaker who produced The Partisans of Vilna and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg; and Rosie Weisel, the Israeli graphic artist who is the editor's sister-in-law. The introduction is by Eva Fogelman, author of Conscience & Courage: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. A number of poignant black-and-white photographs of family members appear in this book of personal accounts of growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust. "Mindy Weisel and the other daughters of Holocaust survivors have provided us with extraordinary insights. The solemn beauty of their sagas and the triumph over the past is a gift to their parents, who survived and rebuilt their lives, and to those millions who did not." -- Susan Tumarkin Goodman of the Jewish Museum New York "Each in her own genre, these 'daughters of absence' trace -- with great skill, great courage, and great candor -- their journey from a ghost-ridden past to a fulfilling present." -- Peter Novick, author of The Holocaust in America, professor of history at The University of Chicago