Memory Culture

They Forgot to Tell Me I Was Jewish is the story of acclaimed jazz pianist Les Horan, born in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. They Forgot to Tell Me I Was Jewish begins with a montage of Les' early memories: When his family is hiding in an underground bunker, he thinks they're camping in the woods. When Hungarian soldiers, under the impression that he's a girl, take him on a picnic, he has no idea of the danger he's in. It would appeal to listeners who want to learn about the effects of the Holocaust, postwar anti-Semitism bound in a uniquely personal memoir.

Uri Shulevitz, one of FSG BYR’s most acclaimed picture-book creators, details the eight-year odyssey of how he and his Jewish family escaped the terrors of the Nazis by fleeing Warsaw for the Soviet Union in Chance. It was during those years, with threats at every turn, that the young Uri experienced his awakening as an artist, an experience that played a key role during this difficult time. By turns dreamlike and nightmarish, this account of determination, courage, family loyalty, and the luck of coincidence is a true publishing event.

In their own words, immigrants recall their arrival in the United States. Includes brief biographies and facts about the Ellis Island Oral History Project.