Pillar of Salt bookcover

Pillar of Salt

A Daughter's Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust
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Description

As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Anna Eisen's memoir, "Pillar of Salt" breaks the down the barrier of silence that was intended as a protective shield for her parents and their children. From early childhood, Anna, as a second-hand witness to the Holocaust, felt overwhelmed by the unspoken but ever-present trauma of her parents' past. Her father, born as Lucjan Salzman, survivor of ten different concentration camps, is enveloped in impenetrable grief and his history encased in secrecy. But Anna is determined to look backwards, breaking through the silence to confront the unspoken terrors of the past. The entire Salton family embarks on a journey through Poland unlocking a history sealed in silence and buried by time. The Salton family's journey takes them to the towns where Anna's parents lived as children under Nazi occupation. The family returns to the ghetto where a 15-year-old Lucien Salton experienced his first selection and bid farewell to his parents before they were herded into a boxcar and sent to the deaths at Belzec concentration camp. They continue their travels through picturesque Polish countryside, still pock mocked by the remnants of former concentration camps and a spattering of Holocaust memorials. By the end of her odyssey, Anna acquires a new understanding of her legacy as a child of Holocaust survivors and how trauma is revisited upon subsequent generations. By revisiting those the places of trauma with her father as her guide, Anna Eisen's tour of terrors provide her with a new understanding of how her identity has been shaped under the shadow of the Holocaust. Anna confides that by looking back like Lot's wife, and by taking in the whole story, "I could carry the pain of the Holocaust and find there is more to me than a pillar of salt."--Dena Mandel, Senior Developmental editor "Publisher"

Product Details

PublisherMandel Vilar Press
Publish DateMay 10, 2022
Pages192
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9781942134824
Dimensions8.9 X 5.9 X 0.9 inches | 0.7 pounds

About the Author

Anna Salton Eisen grew up in a home where her parents' Holocaust experiences were a well-kept secret. She later moved to Texas where she became active in the Jewish community as a founding member of the first synagogue in her area. Serving as a docent for the Dallas Holocaust Museum and an interviewer for the Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Salton Eisen continued to search for information about her family's survival and destruction in the Holocaust. In 2001, she co-authored with her father "The 23rd Psalm: A Holocaust Memoir." Salton Eisen is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary about her father's life. She now conducts extensive research into the genealogy of her family and has discovered many original documents which record her father's concentration camp experience. Salton Eisen and her family reside in Westlake, Texas.
Aaron Eisen was born and raised in Texas, where he struggled to understand his identity as both a Jew and a descendant of Holocaust survivors. He assisted in the research for a documentary film about his grandfather and helped his mother piece together her personal understanding of the Holocaust. He is now working on a third generation Holocaust memoir.

Reviews

"With its clear, unadorned recounting of a family's pain, and of the echoes of the Shoah that continue down through generations, Pillar of Salt stands alone as a first¬hand account."
-- Jewish Book Council

"Anna Salton Eisen inspires me. Antisemitism and Holocaust denial are real. Quality Holocaust education is necessary. By sharing her family stories and personal journey with honesty and clarity, she illuminates our past and helps us recognize the truth and challenge of the Holocaust."
--Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, who was held hostage at his synagogue during an antisemitic attack in January 2022

"Anna Salton Eisen's important exploration of her Holocaust heritage is about building community, building connection, through history, through your family, through your story."
--Deb Liu, CEO Ancestry.com

"Pillar of Salt is a profoundly moving story, soon to be the subject of a feature-length documentary film, In My Father's Words. . . She claims her hidden family history, and in doing so, grapples with questions in the hearts of all of us."
--Jacob Wise, Cinematographer and Documentary Filmmaker

"A true and beautiful story of a daughter's quest to understand her parents' haunted past, and to discover . . . the indissoluble nature of love and family. A powerful and poignant read."
--Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist

"A vividly colored, elegant study of family dynamics as two generations eventually came to terms with a tragic Holocaust past."
--Richard Breitman, author of The Berlin Mission: The American Who Resisted Nazi Germany from Within

"Navigating her way through the ruins of memory, Anna bears eloquent witness to the scope of the Holocaust that continues to cast its shadow over generations . . . . Anna found the courage to pen these powerful words [and] we must find the courage to read them and be transformed into witnesses."
--David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas

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