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A child of Holocaust survivors grapples with his parents’ untold stories and their profound effect on the course of his extraordinary life.
Growing up in Toronto, Sam Chaiton and his brothers knew their parents had been prisoners in Bergen-Belsen. But what their parents wouldn’t share about their history — including the fact they had also been in Auschwitz — ended up shaping their children’s lives.
We Used to Dream of Freedom explores what a family is or could be; the psychology of survivors and the impact of survivor silence on their family; and the responsibility of second generations from traumatized communities to share knowledge from their own histories to help alleviate the suffering of others. Irreverent, moving, and tragic, often all at once, at its heart it is a story of a man who disappeared on his family, his quest to understand why he had to leave, and the long-overdue discovery about his parents that brought him back.
A vividly written, dramatic personal memoir of activism, artistry, alienation, and ultimately, affirmation, depicting a life lived in the murky after-shadows of the Holocaust.
We Used to Dream of Freedom is a fascinating and compelling account of a life lived outside convention yet guided by the most important human values: freedom, family, compassion, memory, and self-knowledge. Frank, touching, thoughtful, and surprising, Chaiton’s memoir is a testament to the healing and understanding, and ultimately, love that is possible when a family shares the difficult stories, and speaks the unspeakable.
No two Holocaust survivors’ stories are alike. Each is unique unto itself. As Sam Chaiton’s revealing, artfully written, and timely memoir makes clear, this is equally true for survivors’ children raised in the shadow of the Holocaust. Chaiton’s second-generation story, singularly his own, is a conversation starter that deserves to be read.