Pillar of Salt: A Daughter's Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust - Paperback

by Anna Salton Eisen (Author), Aaron Eisen (Author)

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"

Back Jacket

Part memoir, part travelogue, Pillar of Salt tells the story of the daughter of Holocaust survivors--one growing more pressing with the aging of the remaining Holocaust survivors. In a rare moment of exasperation, Anna confronts her father and asks him to tell her about his experiences in concentration camps across Poland, Germany, and France. This book differs from other second-generation memoirs because the author was able, at her father's side, to learn about his past and return with him on a trip to Poland, including saying the Jewish prayer of Kaddish at the place where his parents were killed in a gas chamber. Pillar of Salt shares a new kind of personal testimony, one that sheds light on the human side of the Holocaust.

Author Biography

Anna Salton Eisen was a founding member and the first president of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. She has conducted extensive research into the Holocaust and spoken on that topic to school and community groups. She served as a docent for the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies (now the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum) and conducted Holocaust survivor interviews for the USC Shoah Foundation. Anna is an Ambassador to #everynamecounts, a digital initiative of the Arolsen Archives, the world's most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of Nazi persecution. A licensed social worker, Salton Eisen formerly practiced as a therapist, specializing in mental health and trauma. She lives in Westlake, Texas.

Aaron Eisen is a third-generation Jewish writer. In addition to coauthoring Pillar of Salt, he has played an important role in developing the documentary film In My Father's Words. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Aaron is working on a memoir about how the legacy of the Holocaust shaped his life and how the lessons of the Holocaust can help humanity address an alarming breakdown in empathy and connection.