Description:
Born in the shadow of the Holocaust, 12 writers show how creativity, love, and hope can emerge from a traumatic legacy. Their strength shines through in these moving stories - woven with heartbreak, triumph, and unexpected flashes of humor.
Brief description: Deborah grew up in Berkeley, California. Throughout her life, she has demonstrated a natural proclivity for facilitating and working with individuals and groups in diverse settings. After university, she worked as a real estate agent, obtained her broker's license, and co-founded a real estate company with eight other women. Deborah served as president and managing broker, while obtaining her master's degree in clinical psychology, and becoming vitally engaged as a family, child, and play therapist. She emigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1993.Fifteen years ago, Deborah perceived a need for activities designed to provide emotional and creative support for children of Holocaust survivors like herself. She continues to co-facilitate Vancouver's Second-Generation Group and assisted in touring the Gesher exhibit of artwork produced by the combined creative efforts of Holocaust survivors, child survivors, and the second-generation. Motivated to honour those who saved lives through acts of civil courage, Deborah co-founded the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society (WSCCS) in Vancouver.Deborah is a mixed-media artist, with works appearing in private and public collections. Currently, she has turned her creative focus towards writing - facilitating a Second-Generation writing group, and working on a memoir. Organizing this anthology has been profoundly meaningful for her.Stepchildren and their families are a blessing in Deborah's life. She and her husband, Henry Ross-Grayman, are active participants in Jewish meditation and members of Or Shalom. Along with their two dogs, they split their time between Vancouver and Salt Spring Island.
Review Quotes:
"In this time of heightened crisis, as ever fewer survivors of the Holocaust remain among us, the stories of the children of survivors take on immense importance. This book introduces us to heart-rending narratives of trauma, courage, and resilience. Each chapter is written by a child of survivors who share the history of their parents alongside their own experiences. They are at once deeply personal and readable, psychological and poetic in scope, and rich in detail. This book forms a unique and valuable contribution toward recognizing the legacy of the Holocaust, appreciating the depth of human resilience in the face of the unimaginable, and understanding the complexity of historical trauma." - Roger Frie, PhD, University Professor of Psychoanalysis and Education, University of Vienna, Austria
"Voices of Resilience is a beautiful and important book. Honouring their parents' lived experiences of survival, the authors-members of the Vancouver Second-Generation (2G) Group- reflect on the impact of intergenerational trauma during their childhood and adolescence, highlighting that these ripple effects lessen in adulthood but never fully dissipate. The individual contributions, written with remarkable candor and emotional honesty, elucidate deeply personal experiences, memories, and insights. Yet the focus on the personal is always rooted in a broader commitment to communal responsibility, a call to acts of repair, embodied in tikkun olam. As a collaborative writing group project, Voices of Resilience offers valuable guidance on supporting second-generation memory work within a community of mutual care, compassion, and solidarity." - Charlotte Schallié, PhD, Professor of Germanic Studies, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (SLLC), University of Victoria
"Voices of Resilience: An Anthology of Stories Written by Children of Holocaust Survivors gathers powerful stories from the second generation (2G) of Holocaust survivors. Though they did not endure the Holocaust themselves, these authors carry the weight of its legacy - through silence, sorrow, and the unspoken traumas that shaped their families. Set against a clear historical and geographical context, these personal accounts illuminate the far-reaching impact of the Shoah across generations. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this anthology honors survival while reminding us of the enduring strength of memory, resilience, and love." - Cheryl Svensson, PhD, Director, Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies
"The book is a powerful record of the impact of intergenerational trauma and resilience." - Uma Kumar, Lecturer, University of British Columbia, German Studies