This message of perseverance finds a special home at Beach Lloyd Publishers, an independent press dedicated to bridging a time-honored Franco-American relationship through literature. By publishing World War II and Holocaust memoirs in French and English, this publisher has filled a small but significant niche with quality titles including Girl in the Belgian Resistance by Fernande K. Davis, Tu t’appelles Renée by Stacy Cretzmeyer, and I will Never be Fourteen Years Old by Francois Lecompte.
“Our books and DVDs are top quality, always professional and bearing a message of hope,” Beach Lloyd’s manager, Joanne Silver, told JNS. Like all publishers in today’s rapidly changing industry, however, Beach Lloyd’s educational goals are threatened by financial realities that could impair access to quality Holocaust resources.
“We cannot continue the expense of large exhibits and travel,” Silver says. “It’s not the materials. It’s the [small] size of the niche and the fact that public schools are financially strapped and cannot buy the materials.”
The legacy of the Holocaust includes themes of anger, frustration, forgiveness, courage, and achievement, evoking strong lessons that must provide a moral compass to future generations. But “genocides continue, deniers are still heard, and the Holocaust slips into history,” said Silver, underscoring the need to continue educating youths and adults about intolerance.
How prepared are survivors’ descendants, particularly the young, to embrace Holocaust history? Silver’s comments echo the essential discomfort that many people feel discussing the past. “I think that a young author could be hesitant to probe beyond a factual account, so as to avoid an emotional reaction,” she noted.
As Holocaust survivors pass, the genre of literature that will preserve their memories is poised to undergo a significant transformation. Solver anticipates a new dialogue emerging in which survivors’ stories are combined with second-generation accounts, and additional commentaries by noted Holocaust historians are woven into the texts.
“The most important thing is to capture the unique voice and personality of the survivor” for posterity, Jennings said. Silver stresses the importance of disseminating accurate information about the Holocaust that transcends all nationalities, races, religions, and the passing of generations. At Beach Lloyd Publishers, she says, it is understood that “the work of remembrance is a human issue, not just a Jewish issue.”
(JNS)
