Both a psychoanalyst and a historian, Hughes presents six literary testimonies about the Holocaust, including autobiographical writing and diaries. She selected authors who are prominent either in the original or in translation, and with their works readily available to an English-speaking audience. Her overarching theme in the book is to bear witness, to preserve the memory of the Nazi onslaught. She cites the urgency to heed survivor voices when the White House can release a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (2017) without even mentioning the Jews. She has been mindful of survivors, of their determination to provide a literary trail to ensure that those persecuted will not become nameless and faceless numbers. With the exemption of one writer who converted to Protestantism as a young adult, all others are, or were, secular Jews. The chronology and geography of the Nazi’s expansion, and the pursuit of their genocidal project governs the order of chapters. Annotation ©2018 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
