How Young Holocaust Survivors Rebuilt Their Lives: France, the United States, and Israel

"Françoise Ouzan has given the now elderly survivors one last opportunity to tell their stories and to ensure that they will be preserved for their children and the children of their children."--Jewish Political Studies Review

"[Ouzan's]writing shines light to the world through the individual stories of people who came through darkness and showed us the way. It will certainly remain a book of courage, strength and inspiration."--The Jerusalem Report

"In sum, the conceptual contribution of this book is important: it is a synthesis that was missing about the paradox of a 'distinct generation' wounded by their trials and yet, that came out reinforced from the destruction of the Jews. "--Cahiers Bernard Lazare

"Based on the memoirs, testimonies (some of which she collected herself), declarations, and writings of Holocaust survivors, Francoise S. Ouzan explores the activities, careers, family relations, and social contacts as a mirror to their personalities and values in the context of the countries they chose to make their home after the war."--Dalia Ofer, author of Escaping the Holocaust

"Far from painting all survivors with a broad brush, Francoise S. Ouzan's careful ear and nuanced writing demonstrates that survivors have coped with their wartime trauma, loss of family, beginning lives anew, and more in various ways that cannot be easily categorized or simply generalized. Few works have done what this one does."--Avinoam Patt, author of Finding Home and Homeland

"The comparative approach of How Young Holocaust Survivors Rebuilt Their Lives is original and crucial to our understanding of how diverse political environments crystallized the differences and the similarities between the survivors who each experienced the persecution and war differently, whether in hiding, in camps, or fighting in the forests."--Dalia Ofer, editor (with Shmuel Almog, David Bankier, and Daniel Blatman) of The Holocaust: The Unique and the Universal

"This multi-disciplinary, comparative, intimate, and ultimately uplifting book recounts how Jewish survivors from the Holocaust rebuilt their lives in Israel, the United States, and France. Drawing upon individual case studies and decades of scholarly research, Françoise S. Ouzan shows that wartime experiences as well as the character of their new host countries made a difference for survivors, and that many of them, in diverse ways, transformed their suffering and emotional wounds into personal and social achievements. A valuable contribution to Holocaust Studies and the study of trauma."--Jonathan D. Sarna, author (with Benjamin Shapell) of Lincoln and the Jews: A History

"Far from painting all survivors with a broad brush, Françoise S. Ouzan's careful ear and nuanced writing demonstrates that survivors have coped with their wartime trauma, loss of family, beginning lives anew, and more in various ways that cannot be easily categorized or simply generalized. Few works have done what this one does."--Avinoam J. Patt, author of Finding Home and Homeland: Jewish Youth and Zionism in the Aftermath of the Holocaust

"Recommended."--Choice

"How Young Holocaust Survivors Rebuilt Their Lives is an important contribution to the historical record because it focuses not only on individual heart-wrenching narratives in the different countries, but it also documents the contributions of child survivors to each of their societies."--The Hidden Child

"This ability to renew and rebuild out of utter destruction is, ultimately, a story of hope."--Jewish Book Council

"Accessible to a broad audience who will likely find the individual life narratives interesting...Many of the stories she portrays are fascinating with their twists and turns, and Ouzan succeeds in answering the enigma she sets out to solve, revealing how survivors, who seemed doomed to suffer, found dignity and ways to contribute to their chosen communities."--Elizabeth S. Scheiber - Rider University, HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES