I've read lots of Holocaust memoirs, and even more memoirs of children of Holocaust survivors, but this one is a standout. Rosenberg grew up in a small town in Sweden, and he empathetically contrasts his experience with that of his father's. Goran's youth was a secure, placid, even optimistic existence coming of age in 1950s Sweden, a country similar to the US in that it ended the war with its infrastructure and industrial capacity intact. There was work, new housing, and cradle-to-grave social support. But for Goran's father, having left Auschwitz and ended up somewhat by chance in Sweden, where he finds work as a pipe fitter having learned the trade as a slave laborer in Bussingwerke, the enchanted Swedish idyll palls, and he is never able to find his way.
Artfully constructed and thoughtful without being maudlin. I recommend it highly.
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