This collection of non-fiction stories originated as creative vehicles that, at times, served as valuable and therapeutic writing exercises helping me make sense out of a world I was taught to regard as threatening and evil. Each focuses upon a snippet of my life, one shaped by unforgettable, distressing and life-altering lessons. Taken at face value, these may have had simpler interpretations but my childhood experiences were anything but simple or straight- forward.

Owing to whom my parents were and what they’d endured as Jews in Europe during Hitler’s rise to power, my growing-up years were far from common-place. Besides living in an immigrant Montreal neighborhood, our family was not unique. Many of the events about which I’ve written occurred in a community populated entirely by families whose adults bore Holocaust scars identical to those of my parents.

Until I began editing my essays, I had failed entirely to recognize their unifying theme. How had this obvious characteristic eluded me for so many years? I’d written, extensively, about how events that forever altered the quality of my parents’ lives also had altered their children’s lives — specifically, me and my brother.

In concluding, my stories hold lessons for us all regardless of our religious affiliations, ethnicity and geographic locations. Beyond them, what continues to amaze is the constantly evolving body of research about the enduring affects of trans-generational trauma and, most recently, findings in the new —at times controversial, field of epigenetic research.

Two significant questions lend a timeless relevance to my memoir: How is it that numerous decades after one of the most brutal events in modern history, my stories continue to communicate the important lessons humanity would do well to embrace?

Why are the values and lessons about which I’ve written both timeless and without geographic boundary? My memoir is comprised through the use of short stories. Their sequence reflects my evolving awareness of the events that altered my parents’ lives as well as my own. I’ve included relevant quotations, photographs and graphics where available, plus valuable references and bibliographical notes.

Note: Many of the essays included herein have been published as “stand-alone pieces” in journals, anthologies and in online publications.