Author Richard Hollander was devastated when his parents were killed in an automobile accident in 1986. While rummaging through their attic, he discovered letters from a family he never knew -- his father s mother, three sisters, and their husbands and children. The letters, neatly stacked in a briefcase, were written from Krakow, Poland, between 1939 and 1942. They depict day-to-day life under the most extraordinary pain and stress. At the same time, Richard s father, Joseph Hollander, was fighting the United States government to avoid deportation and death. Richard was astounded to learn...

This collection of essays arises from a conference held at the University of Cape Town under the auspices of the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research. Leading international Holocaust scholars met to reflect on the ways their personal experiences influenced their professional trajectories over many decades of immersion in studies of the Holocaust. Participants examined changes and developments in the field within the context of their own personal odysseys, including shifting cultural milieus and robust academic conflicts. Meeting in South Africa provided a special...