The release of Inmate 1818 and Other Stories, a collection of twelve short stories inspired by the Holocaust and its aftermath, marks a new milestone for a celebrated writer with unusual skill and vision. The stories of Bernard Otterman, a Holocaust survivor born in Lodz, Poland, are set in the ghettos and camps of World War II and in the difficult days following Hitler's war against the Jews. The Shoah defines the lives of all characters in the stories-survivors as well as their children. In the title story, "Inmate 1818," a young boy is smuggled into a labor camp and befriended by an...