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WINNER OF THE 2025 CANADIAN JEWISH LITERARY AWARD FOR MEMOIR
NOMINEE FOR THE HERITAGE TORONTO 2025 BOOK AWARD
A stolen sign, ‘No Jews Live Here,’ kept John Lorinc’s Hungarian Jewish family alive during the Holocaust.
From pre-war Budapest to post-war Toronto, journalist John Lorinc unspools four generations of his Hungarian Jewish family's journey through the Holocaust, the 1956 Revolution, and finally exodus from a country that can't rid itself of its antisemitic demons.
This braided saga centers on the writer's eccentric and defiant grandmother, a consummate survivor who, with her love of flashy jewellery and her vicious tongue, was best appreciated from afar. Lorinc also traces the stories of both his grandfathers and his father, all of whom fell victim, in different ways, to the Nazis’ genocidal campaign to rid Europe of Jews.
This is a deeply reported but profoundly human telling of a vile part of history, told through Lorinc’s distinctively astute and compassionate consideration of how cities and cultures work. Set against the complicated and poorly understood background of Hungary's Jewish community, No Jews Live Here is about family stories, and how the narratives of our lives are shaped by our times and historical forces over which we have no control.
"John Lorinc weaves Hungarian history with the equally fascinating history of his own family to tell a deeply researched story with universal resonance: how events, enormous and seemingly tiny (a genocidal war, foggy skies), conspire to create outcomes with life-and-death implications through generations." – Marsha Lederman, author of Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed
A Canadian Loan Stars Pick
"Lorinc captures the complex personalities of his surviving family members, especially his grandmother, Ilona. Their stories are told with care, and precision, and the result is enthralling." – Kristina Rothstein, Geist
"No Jews Live Here is a poignant exploration of survival and identity that will resonate deeply with readers interested in Holocaust history. Through a vivid portrayal of resilience and generational trauma, Lorinc brings new life to familiar themes." – Matthew Lombardi, Literary Review of Canada
"Readers will find themselves savouring every word, looking within their own family history as part of the saga of human survival." – Julie Kirsh, The Jewish Post & News
"Drawing on his understanding of cities and culture, Lorinc traces how his ancestors were swept up in forces beyond their control and fought to survive the swift-moving stream of history." – Anthony Milton, Toronto Life
John Lorinc is a journalist and editor. He reports on urban affairs, politics, business, technology, and local history for a range of media, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Corporate Knights and Spacing, where he is senior editor. John is the author of five books, including No Jews Live Here: A Memoir (Coach House Books, 2024), and has co-edited eight anthologies for Coach House, including The Ward (2015), Any Other Way (2017), and Messy Cities (2025). John is the recipient of the 2019/2020 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy and was the winner of the Writers' Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy, for Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias (2022). He lives in Toronto.