| At the end of World War II, many thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors immigrated to the United States from Europe in search of a new beginning. Most settled in major metropolitan areas, usually in predominantly Jewish communities, where proximity to co-religionists offered a measure of cultural and social support. However, some survivors settled in rural areas throughout the country, including in Kentucky, where they encountered an entirely different set of circumstances. Although much scholarship has been devoted to Holocaust survivors living in an urban context, little has been written about them in the contexts of their experiences in rural America.
Approximately forty Holocaust survivors currently live in Kentucky. Using excerpts from oral history interviews and documentary portrait photography, authors Arwen Donahue and photographer Rebecca Gayle Howell tell the fascinating stories of nine of these survivors, creating a unique work of traditional history and contemporary art. The book focuses on the survivors' lives after their liberation from Nazi concentration camps, illuminating their reasons for settling in Kentucky, their initial reactions to American culture, and their reflections on integrating into rural American life.
Arwen Donahue has served as Program Coordinator in the Department of Oral History at the United States Holocaust Museum and managed its Post-Holocaust Interview Project.
Rebecca Gayle Howell is a writer and documentary photographer. Currently, she is on the creative writing faculty at Morehead State University.
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