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Painful Joy, published in April 2022 and available on Amazon, represents five years of intensive research in the U.S., Poland, Sweden, Israel and Germany, by author Max Friedman, as he seeks to unearth and understand the real life stories of his parents, Sam and Frieda, two poor Polish Jews. In the process he discovers their roots, recreates their lives and times and uncovers both their remarkable journeys and painful secrets. Part memoir, part genealogical mystery and part history, the book is an absorbing, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking saga as readers accompany the author on his extraordinary exploration of the complicated relationship between two Holocaust survivors who meet in Sweden after their liberation from Bergen-Belsen, and experience the “painful joy” of a love too often touched by death. It explores questions of survival, the ability to reimagine memories in order to deal with the truth, and what it was like growing up in a world that was never to be “normal.”
As one reviewer commented: “As the last Holocaust survivors die off, Friedman’s exquisite book helps ensure that one of humankind’s most savage chapters will continue to reverberate – not through the brutal images of life in the camps, but by revealing, with great compassion and nuance , how a couple’s experiences play out in the lives of their children, and grandchildren…,At a moment when history, once again, seems to be repeating itself, Painful Joy could not be more timely or poignant.”
Max’s Social Media: Facebook, LinkedIn
Painful Joy Max Friedman
Schindler’s List (1993) Director, Steven Spielberg, Book, Thomas Keneally, Screenplay, Steven Zaillian, Starring Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Josef Mengele, German Schutzsataffel (SS) officer and physician during WW II.
Amon Göth, Austrian SS Functionary, Commandant of the Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp in German occupied Poland.
Kraków Ghetto, one of five major metropolitan Nazi ghettos created by Germany in the German occupation of Poland.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp A complex of 40 concentration camps in Nazi German occupied Poland.
Bergen-Belsen, was originally established as a prisoner of war camp in Lower Saxony in Northern Germany near the town of Bergen. Later it became a concentration camp.
Sweden A Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe.
Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. Author of, The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, Definitive Addition
Yad Vashem, World Holocaust Remembrance Center
Not Black Enough (2017) Director, Tracey Anarella
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. TV series, (2012 – ) on PBS
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PodMatch
This episode is brought to you by PodMatch, the dating service for podcasters. They introduced me to Max Friedman, and I’m so glad they did. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation and remember that if you have a podcast or something to share with the world, check out PodMatch at my affiliate link at PodMatch and tell them Lucinda sent you.
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