Where Memory Leads

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A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian returns to memoir in a tale of intellectual growth across three continents, published alongside his classic Holocaust literature. After forty years since his first poignant memoir, Friedlander bridges his childhood ordeals with his esteemed reputation in Holocaust studies. He abandons his youthful conversion to Catholicism, rediscovers his Jewish roots as a teenager, and builds a new life in Israeli politics. His initial loyalty to Israel evolves into a lifelong fascination with Jewish life and history. Friedlander grapples with the pervasive effects of European anti-Semitism while seeking a balanced approach to the surrounding Zionism. His adulthood sees him navigating between Israel, Europe, and the United States, equipped with his linguistic talent and expansive intellect. His growing prestige places him in the company of other intellectual giants. In his early years in Israel, he mingles with the architects of the nascent state and brilliant figures like Gershom Scholem and Carlo Ginzburg. This memoir prompts Friedlander to reflect on the harrowing events that led him to dedicate sixteen years to writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, exploring the Nazi regime and its impact on the Jewish community from 1939 to 1945.