I have been asked if there is a connection between my novel ESCAPING THE WHALE, published in April 2020, and the Kindle short story, "Frau Professor," published September 2020.
The novel features a 28-year old Jewish woman in New York who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Aware of the suffering her family experienced, she has absorbed much of it and suffers from inherited trauma, which makes it difficult for her to lead a "normal," enjoyable life.
The short story, meanwhile, focuses on a Christian student who is a freshman at a Midwestern college. Her background has been very sheltered and small-town. Her English professor is obviously a concentration camp survivor because of the number tattooed on her arm. This student has never had any personal contact with anyone who had experienced the Holocaust, and becomes mesmerized by the tattoo and then obsessed with the professor's history.
Although I offer different protagonists with different points of view, both works examine the after-effects of the Holocaust and explore how the next generation, Jewish and non-Jewish, deals with it. I believe it is important to acknowledge the range of reactions in the next generation, and to encourage knowledge and understanding.
I welcome your thoughts on this subject!