| The
Triumph of Wounded Souls: |
|
Seven
Holocaust Survivors' Lives |
| by
Bernice Lerner |
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|
Available
from the University of Notre Dame Press
http://www.nd.edu/~undpress/
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| The Triumph
of Wounded Souls vividly recounts the stories of seven Holocaust survivors
who overcame many obstacles to earn advanced degrees and become college
and university professors. As Jews trapped in Nazi-occupied Europe from
1939 to 1945, these remarkable individuals witnessed and endured terror
and torture. After the war they pursued academic subjects that increased
their understanding of the world and gave them a sense of purpose. Their
inspirational accounts demonstrate that despite the worst of circumstances
it is possible to heal with time. |
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Each
narrative chapter describes the social background and circumstances that
helped to shape the survivor's destiny. Lerner's interrogative approach
unearths some surprising insights into each survivor's distinct personality,
beliefs, and aspirations. Isaac Bush and George Zimmerman both survived
the horrors of Auschwitz to become physicists. Ruth Anna Putnam, a philosopher,
endured the war with her non-Jewish grandparents. Samuel Stern, a biologist,
spent his early childhood in Ravensbruck and Bergen-Belsen. |
| |
| Zvi
Griliches survived a Dachau subsidiary camp to become a prominent economist.
Maurice Vanderpol became a psychiatrist after spending years during the
war hiding in Amsterdam. Micheline Federman was sheltered by French farmers
and later became a pathologist. |
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While each
survivor's postwar journey is complex and unique, these seven scholars
reveal that the contemplative life can serve as a salve for wounded souls.
They are extraordinary examples of how those who act justly and purposefully
can help to bring reconciliation and meaning to an unjust world. In sharing
their personal stories, they illuminate the realm of human possibility.
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Copyright
2004
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|
| Center
for the Advancement of Ethics and Character |
|
