Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into Ukrainian Holocaust History

1. Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into
Ukrainian Holocaust History
By: Nikos Hecht

2. Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into Ukrainian
Holocaust History
Nikos Hecht is a longtime presence in the Colorado entrepreneurial community who previously
guided Aspen Partners, an impactful global hedge fund. With a grandfather who was a tennis
champion and successfully evaded the Nazis, Nikos Hecht has an abiding interest in Holocaust
history.

3. Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into Ukrainian
Holocaust History
One of the seminal fictional works on the Holocaust of the early 2000s was Jonathan Safran Foer’s
Everything Is Illuminated, which focuses on a young American protagonist with the author’s same
name. Traveling to Ukraine, Foer carries with him the photo of a woman who, according to family
legend, saved their grandfather from the Nazis. The novel comically combines vignettes of
contemporary Ukrainian life with an extensively reconstructed family history.

4. Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into Ukrainian
Holocaust History
Interestingly, the 17-year-old work of fiction has led to the recent announcement by HarperCollins
of the publication of a post-Holocaust memoir by the author’s mother Esther Safran Foer.
Described as a “heartwrenching" work, the memoir recounts the life of Esther and her husband,
who were the only ones in their respective families to survive World War II. After arriving in the US
in 1949, she subsequently discovered that her father had another wife and daughter who died in
the Holocaust.

5. Foer Memoir and Novel Delve into Ukrainian
Holocaust History
Mirroring the plot of her son’s work of fiction, Esther travels to the Ukraine with only a hand-drawn
map and old photograph to guide her. There, she learns about her half-sister’s family, who placed
their lives at risk while harboring her father during the war.