Prominent author and reviewer Lev Raphael came to Eastern Michigan University to discuss the life experiences that developed his unique perspective of what it’s like to be a 56 year old, openly gay, Jewish son of Holocaust survivors.
Raphael kicked off the Jewish Studies Lecture Series on Monday in the Student Center.
Raphael’s presentation, “On a Narrow Bridge: The Post Holocaust Journey of a Gay Jewish Author,” began with a reading from his newest book, “My Germany.”
“My Germany,” tells Raphael’s story of his return to the land where his parents, both of whom survived imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, and fled following World War II.
Raphael’s travels in Germany, family history and experiences are intertwined in the book.
Many of Raphael’s other works have been mystery and creative fiction, which sets this one apart.
When asked what he hopes audiences can learn from the book, Raphael said, “I hope that people are able to get a sense of the personal connection to the experience.
It is important to preserve the memory and our history as well as educate people, especially as so many of the survivors pass away.”
After his parents immigrated to the United States and rebuilt their lives neither of them wanted to ever return to Germany, but Raphael looked at it as somewhat of a personal quest.
“I went to Germany to explore some of my personal demons,” he said. “There were many times in life where I was angry about my family history, but that anger can be a positive force if used in the right direction.”
Raphael answered numerous questions from the audience pertaining to his growing up as a second-generation Holocaust survivor. He also described what it was like to live in a household where his parents had been through such traumatic experiences.
He explained that his parents would rarely discuss details of their past because so many of their relatives and friends lost their lives. Both of his parents worked in slave labor camps and had been freed by American forces. Raphael spoke about how he was appalled that even after such horror and abuse, his parents collected reparations from the German government.
Unlike his brother, who was always very close with their parents, Raphael wanted to break out more and have his own identity apart from being a son of Holocaust survivors.
“My way of coping with family problems was to write, and my family did not always like what I wrote about,” Raphael said.
Despite not being close with his family for some time and wanting to separate himself from their history, over time his family began to accept his work and even take pride in it. Today, Raphael is very close with his father and continues to learn new facts about his family’s past.
“There was a time where I never would have expected to be writing about Jewish history or the Holocaust, but now it is one of my greatest passions,” he said.
Aside from being the author of 19 books—varying from the genres of fiction and memoir to non-fiction— Raphael has keynoted three international Holocaust conferences, worked as an NPR radio host and was a longtime review columnist for the Detroit Free Press.
Raphael is a weekly columnist online for the Huffington Post. Beginning in late October, he will be promoting “My Germany” during a two-week book tour in Germany.
Some major German cities included in the tour are Frankfurt, Halle, Berlin and Celle.
