Paul Schwarzbart, a Holocaust survivor who chronicled part of his life story (1933 to 1948) in the 2004 memoir “Breaking the Silence — Reminiscences of a Hidden Child,” updates readers on the next phase of his life.
The San Rafael resident has released a new memoir, “L’Chayim! A Holocaust Survivor’s American Journey,” which covers 1948 to the present.
A retired high school teacher whose career spanned 45 years, Schwarzbart was determined to teach others about the Holocaust. He has spoken well over 500 times — addressing groups small and large, from school classrooms to the state Assembly in Sacramento — about his experiences as a hidden child.
“Writing this ode to America has indeed forced the past to rush in like a flood, occupying my thoughts literally day and night and even interrupting my sleep at times,” he informs readers. “The clarity of most memories astounds me and sometimes shakes me to the core.”
And yet he is not bitter. “Gratitude is my key word,” he writes. “I am profoundly grateful for the rich life and opportunities this United States of America afforded me since the day I first set foot on its welcoming shores some sixty-six years ago.”
“L’Chayim! A Holocaust Survivor’s American Journey” by Paul A. Schwarzbart (AuthorHouse, 407 pages)
Retired high school teacher and university lecturer Edwin Cohen of Walnut Creek has written two full-length plays, six nonfiction books and a poetry collection. And now, at 84, he has published his first novel, “By Any Other Name.” A storyteller at heart, Cohen writes about “one of the most famous and romantic characters in all literature,” thought to have died centuries ago.
But not true! The man, born in 1564, lived on (under various aliases), traveling and writing famous plays and poetry.
What’s Cohen’s next writing project? Only time will tell.
“By Any Other Name” by Edwin Cohen (ABooks, 178 pages)
Continuing the professorial thread, retired teacher Irving Rothstein teases readers with the title of his new book: “It Couldn’t Have Been the Pay.” (The subhead? “A Life of Teaching and Learning in Public Schools.”)
From his start in 1963 at age 29 until his 2002 retirement, Rothstein worked primarily in San Francisco schools — Balboa, Woodrow Wilson, Lowell and others, such as the alternative school Opportunity II. “I taught kids in high school and child care, kids from every background and every family history you can think of,” he writes.
With humor and warmth, Rothstein shares his story vignette-style in chapters such as “Brotha Kool,” “Not-So-Free Vacation,” “Pork Buns and a Lot of Napkins,” and many others.
The Vacaville resident hopes his memoir will inspire and inform others, especially teachers and those who work with youth.
“It Couldn’t Have Been the Pay” by Irving Rothstein (Rocin Publishing, 239 pages)