Survivors: Children's Lives After the Holocaust

In Survivors, Rebecca Clifford explores the lives of one hundred Jewish children who survived the Holocaust and the challenges they faced in their adulthood and old age. The book is based on archives and interviews and challenges our assumptions about trauma and loss.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 07 January 2022
Publisher: Yale University Press

Shortlisted for the 2021 Wolfson History Prize and a finalist for the 2021 Cundill History Prize, Survivors: Children Who Survived the Holocaust is a groundbreaking work of historical narrative that tells the story of these children from their own perspectives for the first time. Named a Best History Book of 2020 by the Daily Telegraph, the book has been praised for its "impressive, beautifully written, judicious, and thoughtful" approach to the subject. Mark Roseman, author of The Villa, the Lake, and the Meeting, described it as a "major milestone in the history of the Holocaust and its legacy."

The book explores the pressing question of how these youngest survivors, whose prewar memories were often vague or nonexistent, could make sense of their lives. Rebecca Clifford, the author, follows the lives of one hundred Jewish children as they navigate the ruins of conflict and grow into adulthood and old age. Through extensive research in archives and interviews, Clifford charts the experiences of these child survivors, as well as those who cared for them, such as Anna Freud.

Survivors delves into the long-term aftermath of the Holocaust and challenges our assumptions about trauma. It sheds light on the struggles these children faced in trying to be recognized as "survivors" themselves, often facing stigma and discrimination from their peers and society at large. Clifford's powerful and surprising narrative helps us understand what it was like to live after, and live with, childhoods marked by rupture and loss.

This groundbreaking work of historical narrative is a must-read for anyone interested in the Holocaust, its legacy, and the resilience of the human spirit. It provides a unique and deeply personal perspective on a tragic chapter in history, and will undoubtedly inspire and educate readers for generations to come.

Weight: 326g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300264708