“You hear nothing!”

Like many young children of Holocaust survivors, Arthur hears too much.

Sally Finkelstein Horwitz has a lot to say. About heroism and horror. Luck and loss. Resilience and remorse. Antisemitism and spineless American Jews. Hiding in closets or a bath tub, Arthur inhales the second-hand smoke of unfiltered tales she shares with friends and other survivors. 

To cope with scenes of trauma, humiliation and death, she often fantasizes about an emotional reunion with her father and little brother, Meier. It is not to be. Reality intervenes.

“This is a photo of my little brother. This is who you are named for!” she insists.

But this clipped, iconic Holocaust image discovered in her wallet sleeve isn’t, and there’s no playing along. Insolence is punished with a decree – live two lives, yours and the one Meier never had. Resentment and frustration grow while navigating the real- world challenges of building a life, family and media industry career.

 Will there be an opportunity to reconcile with Meier? To embrace his memory? To introduce him to a third generation of Horwitz Holocaust survivors?

Dual Identities: Living in Meier’s Shadow expands the entire Holocaust memoir genre. It’s the catalyst that unshackles and elevates the voices of children of survivors … to tell their own important stories, to grapple with intergenerational trauma. With vivid, compelling, fast-paced and honest writing, Dual Identities: Living in Meier’s Shadow holds universal appeal for its themes of coping, healing, reconciliation and remembrance.