Overview

""In quiet, lovely prose, Julie Brill has delivered a powerful reminder of why our stories-personal, familial, historical-are so crucial. A moving excavation of a family story."" -Menachem Kaiser, author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure Discover a powerful, untold chapter of Holocaust history and a daughter's enduring quest to know the story that began a generation before her birth. From childhood, Julie Brill struggled to understand how her father survived as a young Jewish boy in Belgrade, where Nazis murdered 90 percent of the Jewish population without gas chambers or cattle cars. Through exacting research, a bit of luck, and three emotional trips to Serbia, she pieces together her family's lost past, unearths secrets, and returns to her father a small part of what the Nazis stole: his own family history.

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9789493418059

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Reviews

...stands out among Holocaust memoirs. It focuses on Belgrade, a Sephardic community whose horrific experience during the Shoah is often overlooked. [...] It provides an object lesson in how to carry out research, what it takes to recover lost family secrets. Finally, it shines a bright light on the children of survivors, providing an intimate view of the deep trauma inherited and internalized by them, and translated in this case into an extraordinary book. -Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University In quiet, lovely prose, Brill has delivered a powerful reminder of why our stories-personal, familial, historical-are so crucial. A moving excavation of a family story. -Menachem Kaiser, author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure Julie Brill brings us along as she searches for her family's fate in Serbia during the Holocaust. The result is a compassionate, meticulously researched and powerful testament to the need to uncover our histories and tell our stories. -Tova Mirvis, author of We Would Never Julie Brill does a fascinating deep dive into her family's past, unraveling the secrets of the Holocaust in Serbia. A poignant, heartfelt, haunting story of loss and legacy. -Susan Shapiro, NYT bestselling author/coauthor of Unhooked, Bosnia List & The Forgiveness Tour A remarkable account of one woman's quest for her family's past. In moving, concise prose, Julie Brill recounts years of meticulous research filled with twists and turns, taking her to her father's homeland of Serbia, discovering long-forgotten relatives, uncovering stories and secrets about the family's complex origins, and confronting the improbabilities of death and survival in the Holocaust. A powerful, highly readable book taking the reader into the depths of the largely unknown, fascinating and tragic tale of Jewish-Serbian history. -Omer Bartov, Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University and author of The Butterfly and the Axe ...a heartfelt journey that beautifully intertwines personal anecdotes with the poignant history of a lesser-known chapter of the Holocaust. Julie dives right in with caring and thoughtful storytelling, reclaiming her family's memories and showing us how important it is to share our own stories to uphold the promise to ""never forget."" Her vulnerability and creativity make the past come alive, bridging generations and drawing readers into a world that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. Julie's memoir is not just a book-it's an empathetic bridge to history that speaks directly to the heart. -Dave Reckess, Executive Director, 3GNY-Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Part Holocaust family memoir and part exploration into the absence of Holocaust memorialization in Serbia, this is a captivating and emotional book. Julie Brill embarks on a multigenerational quest to find out what happened to her grandfather, murdered in the Holocaust. She finds previously unknown family members, documents about her grandparents' prewar life, but also grapples with the general indifference and lack of knowledge about the Holocaust in Serbia today. It is a powerful and important book. -Jelena Subotic, author of Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism An eye-opening portrayal of the little-known history of Nazi Germany's near-eradication of Serbia's Jewish community, and a daughter's quest to reclaim her family's heritage. -Karen Kirsten, author of Irena's Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival

Author Information

Julie Brill has been collecting family stories since she was a little girl. She is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, doula, and the author of the anthology Round the Circle: Doulas Share their Experiences. Her essays have appeared in various publications, including Haaretz, the Forward, Balkan Insight, Kveller, Cognoscenti, and Hey Alma. She shares her family's experiences in the Shoah with middle and high school students through Living Links. The mother of two grown daughters, Julie lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

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