Return to the Place I Never Left
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- ISBN 9780814351628
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 14 Jan 2025
- Publisher: Wayne State University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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In this harrowing firsthand account of the Holocaust, survivor Tobias Schiff displays the depths of human suffering, the capacity for hope and renewal, and the impact of starvation on the human mind. Schiff was a teenager when Nazis deported his family to Auschwitz from Antwerp, Belgium, and he spent the next thirty-three agonizing months in numerous concentration camps. This deeply personal memoir-in-verse explores personal faith, identity, memory, and trauma across a lifetime interrupted by suffering. Through his eyes, readers witness the atrocities and struggles that defined his daily existence, feel his tenacity while beaten and starved, and learn what enabled him and others to cling to life while surrounded by death. Schiff's verse challenges dehumanizing narratives and provides an intimate view of the realities of life in Nazi death camps and the long-lasting impact of trauma. As racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia resurge and continue to pollute the modern era, his pain—imparted through concise, rhythmic verse—serves as a reminder of our collective humanity and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
Dani James is a native New Yorker, born to a Jewish mother and a Jamaican father, who grew up in Belgium before making her way back home. She holds a BA in English from Baruch College and an MFA in creative writing from the Writer's Foundry at St. Joseph's University.
