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Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust
In this touching account, veteran New York Times reporter Joseph Berger describes how his own family of Polish Jews -- with one son born at the close of World War II and the other in a "displaced persons" camp outside Berlin -- managed against all odds to make a life for themselves in the utterly foreign landscape of post-World War II America. Paying eloquent homage to his parents' extraordinary courage, luck, and hard work while illuminating as never before the experience of 140,000 refugees who came to the United States between 1947 and 1953, Joseph Berger has captured a defining moment in history in a riveting and deeply personal chronicle.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2001
58 people are currently reading
312 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Berger
61 books9 followersJoseph Berger was a reporter, editor and columnist with The New York Times from 1984 to 2015 and continues writing periodically for The Times as well as teaching urban affairs at the City University of New York. In 2011, he won the Peter Kihss Award given for a career’s work by the Silurians Press Club, New York City’s leading association of journalists. He was a religion correspondent from 1985 to 1987, covering the Pope’s trip to 10 American cities in nine days, and national education correspondent from 1987 to 1990, a period when American school curricula were under attack as too European-focused. From 1990 until 1993, he covered New York City’s schools and colleges, when there were bitter controversies over condom distribution and AIDS instruction. He was the recipient of the 1993 Education Writers Association award for exposing abuses in bilingual education. In September 1999, he was appointed deputy education editor where, among other stories, he directed coverage of the firing of one chancellor and the search for another, the dramatic changes in bilingual education and a series on the first-year of a new teacher.
He wrote a biweekly national column for the Times’ education page as well as columns for the regional editions. An immigrant himself, he spent three years as a kind of roving correspondent to New York neighborhoods, writing feature articles about the ethnic and cultural richness of the city that became the core of two books, “The World in a City” and “The Pious Ones.” Most recently, he chronicled the building of a new Tappan Zee Bridge, the first major bridge built in the New York area in half a century, in an occasional Times series.
Prior to joining the Times, Mr. Berger worked as Newsday’s religion writer, where he three times won the Supple Award given by the Religion Newswriters Association, its highest honor. Mr. Berger also worked at The New York Post, covering such assignments as the 1973 Middle East War and Watergate. From 1967 to 1971, he was an English teacher at a Bronx junior high school.
Berger is the author of “Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust,” which was published by Scribner in April 2001 and is a memoir about his family’s experience as refugees in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. The book was chosen as a notable book of the year by The New York Times, which called it ”an extraordinary memoir” and was praised by Elie Wiesel as a “powerful and sweetly melancholic memoir, brilliantly written.” There have been excellent reviews as well in the Boston Globe, Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. Berger’s first book was “The Young Scientists,” a study of the country’s top science high schools and their students, published by Addison Wesley in 1993.
Berger was born in Russia in 1945, spent the postwar years in D.P. camps in Germany and, after immigrating here, grew up in Manhattan and the Bronx. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, City College and the Bronx High School of Science. He lives in Westchester County with his wife, Brenda, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. Their daughter, Annie, a graduate of Northwestern University, is a senior editor for young adult books at Sourcebooks.
He wrote a biweekly national column for the Times’ education page as well as columns for the regional editions. An immigrant himself, he spent three years as a kind of roving correspondent to New York neighborhoods, writing feature articles about the ethnic and cultural richness of the city that became the core of two books, “The World in a City” and “The Pious Ones.” Most recently, he chronicled the building of a new Tappan Zee Bridge, the first major bridge built in the New York area in half a century, in an occasional Times series.
Prior to joining the Times, Mr. Berger worked as Newsday’s religion writer, where he three times won the Supple Award given by the Religion Newswriters Association, its highest honor. Mr. Berger also worked at The New York Post, covering such assignments as the 1973 Middle East War and Watergate. From 1967 to 1971, he was an English teacher at a Bronx junior high school.
Berger is the author of “Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust,” which was published by Scribner in April 2001 and is a memoir about his family’s experience as refugees in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. The book was chosen as a notable book of the year by The New York Times, which called it ”an extraordinary memoir” and was praised by Elie Wiesel as a “powerful and sweetly melancholic memoir, brilliantly written.” There have been excellent reviews as well in the Boston Globe, Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. Berger’s first book was “The Young Scientists,” a study of the country’s top science high schools and their students, published by Addison Wesley in 1993.
Berger was born in Russia in 1945, spent the postwar years in D.P. camps in Germany and, after immigrating here, grew up in Manhattan and the Bronx. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, City College and the Bronx High School of Science. He lives in Westchester County with his wife, Brenda, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. Their daughter, Annie, a graduate of Northwestern University, is a senior editor for young adult books at Sourcebooks.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 12, 2019
I've read dozens of books on the Holocaust but none have been as finely written as this. The author, a professional journalist, is indeed a gifted writer as he describes in a most intimate, personal way, the lives of his Jewish family after immigrating to the United States. He includes his mother's story as she escaped the camps and furnaces most of her family succumbed to. A new slant for me and an eye-opener in understanding the emotions of an immigrant in this great land of freedom and plenty.
September 14, 2013
This is a good book in its own right, but if you grew up in New York City, it offers a great perspective of the neighborhoods and their unique characteristics in the 50's and 60's. Well written and interesting story about how refugees had to completely adapt to their new lives and unfamiliar surroundings after living through the atrocities in war-ravaged Europe.
April 1, 2009
This book rules. Really fascinating - and insightful. Joe Berger is a really great guy - I e-mailed him to rave about this book and he actually responded - immediately. How cool is that?
My reviews are so deep.
My reviews are so deep.
September 25, 2014
I usually don't like to read non-fiction but this book is phenomenal! I felt like I was really there with the way he made his story come to life. I am in awe of the fortitude shown by him and his family, especially his parents with everything they endured.
March 5, 2025
A very moving memoir from the son of Holocaust survivors about the families past and present.
May 26, 2017
I wrote the following Book Club Discussion Questions for this book:
1. At the beginning of the book, Berger shares his most distinctive memories of his parents: his father shining shoes, his mother searching a shop for the best deal on a suit. Why do these memories stand out? What do they tell us about his parents?
2. Throughout Berger’s memoir, he includes selections from his mother’s memoir as well as his own story. How does this add to the narrative? Which did you enjoy more, Berger’s story or his mother’s?
3. Why was young Berger upset about his family taking in boarders in their home?
4. On page 102, Berger writes, “For many of the refugees, the waves of melancholy over their lost ones distracted them from their living families, an added and enduring curse of the Holocaust.” Do you feel this was the case in Berger’s family?
5. Why did young Berger become fascinated with maps? Why did his mother, ever a penny-pincher, agree to buy him an atlas?
6. Why did Berger’s parents enlist him and Josh in naming the new baby? Why did they feel she needed a distinctly American name?
7. Throughout the book, Berger’s views on religion and observation change, from an obsession with Orthodoxy as a child to a much more lax approach as an adult. How did his parents influence his religious choices? What else influenced them?
8. On page 251, Berger writes of the English language, “How lucky we immigrants were. We had the capacity of astonishment before this great language, could not take it for granted the way its native-born speakers might.” How does this fascination with English develop into a career in writing? What else contributes to his career choice?
9. Why didn’t Berger’s parents want him to go away to school or to get his own apartment? How is an “empty nest” different for refugees than for the average parent?
10. What changes transpire to make Berger go from hiding his family’s story to sharing it with the world?
11. Discuss Berger’s mother’s reasons for marrying his father. Was it love? Do you think they would have married under less strained circumstances?
12. Berger’s mother tells him that having children helped her get over the losses she experienced during the Holocaust. How is this evident in the way she interacts with her children?
13. Discuss Berger’s mother’s graduation and the other family successes at the end of the book. What do these symbolize about the family’s journey?
1. At the beginning of the book, Berger shares his most distinctive memories of his parents: his father shining shoes, his mother searching a shop for the best deal on a suit. Why do these memories stand out? What do they tell us about his parents?
2. Throughout Berger’s memoir, he includes selections from his mother’s memoir as well as his own story. How does this add to the narrative? Which did you enjoy more, Berger’s story or his mother’s?
3. Why was young Berger upset about his family taking in boarders in their home?
4. On page 102, Berger writes, “For many of the refugees, the waves of melancholy over their lost ones distracted them from their living families, an added and enduring curse of the Holocaust.” Do you feel this was the case in Berger’s family?
5. Why did young Berger become fascinated with maps? Why did his mother, ever a penny-pincher, agree to buy him an atlas?
6. Why did Berger’s parents enlist him and Josh in naming the new baby? Why did they feel she needed a distinctly American name?
7. Throughout the book, Berger’s views on religion and observation change, from an obsession with Orthodoxy as a child to a much more lax approach as an adult. How did his parents influence his religious choices? What else influenced them?
8. On page 251, Berger writes of the English language, “How lucky we immigrants were. We had the capacity of astonishment before this great language, could not take it for granted the way its native-born speakers might.” How does this fascination with English develop into a career in writing? What else contributes to his career choice?
9. Why didn’t Berger’s parents want him to go away to school or to get his own apartment? How is an “empty nest” different for refugees than for the average parent?
10. What changes transpire to make Berger go from hiding his family’s story to sharing it with the world?
11. Discuss Berger’s mother’s reasons for marrying his father. Was it love? Do you think they would have married under less strained circumstances?
12. Berger’s mother tells him that having children helped her get over the losses she experienced during the Holocaust. How is this evident in the way she interacts with her children?
13. Discuss Berger’s mother’s graduation and the other family successes at the end of the book. What do these symbolize about the family’s journey?
November 28, 2017
This book is both great and bad.
Berger's parents and their stories about surviving the holocaust are amazing and awe-inspiring. They truly are inspirational.
Berger, on the other hand, was a whiny brat who never truly grew up. I was not a fan of his constant complaining and 'woe is me' attitude.
If these two different narratives had been two separate books, it would have been fine. Together, they clash horribly. If you're looking to read a book that will leave you both inspired and frustrated, this is the book for you. It's a pretty easy read anyways.
Berger's parents and their stories about surviving the holocaust are amazing and awe-inspiring. They truly are inspirational.
Berger, on the other hand, was a whiny brat who never truly grew up. I was not a fan of his constant complaining and 'woe is me' attitude.
If these two different narratives had been two separate books, it would have been fine. Together, they clash horribly. If you're looking to read a book that will leave you both inspired and frustrated, this is the book for you. It's a pretty easy read anyways.
August 31, 2007
A jewish family escapes from Poland and resettles in America.
April 11, 2008
This is a wonderful book to read if you would like to learn more about Jewish immigrants in the US after WWII.
May 8, 2013
Excellent. Well written and interesting. Great detail of the era.
April 9, 2014
Joe brings to life the reality for those who grew up after the Holocaust. Born in Russia, Joe is told that he was born in Germany. He tells of the family's tepid forays into American life.
August 1, 2013
A wonderfully marvelous book from a one-in-a-million kind human being.
December 22, 2013
Boa leitura para compreender a vida (de um judeu) após o holocausto e em um país distante, os EUA.
February 11, 2024
I found this book by chance when I happened to read an article, not long ago, by Joseph Berger in the NY Times about immigrants. He mentioned that his family stayed in lodgings on 87th Street that was provided by a Jewish charity. My father, in his personal memoir/notes, had written that we stayed in lodgings provided by another Jewish charity, but also on 87th Street. So I wrote to Berger and it turned out that we were staying in the same place and it was called Capitol Hall.
So I bought his book to see what else we might have in common. It turned out there was quite a bit. His mother was from Otwock. My father's family lived in Warsaw and vacationed a few miles from Otwock in Swider. But those two places were really worlds apart.
His parents spent the war in the Soviet Union. My parents also spent the war in the Soviet Union. But their experiences, once again, were worlds apart.
And once in the United States, although we spent the first few years in New York (in Brooklyn, not the Bronx), we then moved to Los Angeles, and as everyone knows, that is a whole other world.
So, as much as we had in common, we also had very different histories and experiences. But so what? Berger's book is interesting, very well written, and in some parts very moving. Many people think of the Holocaust as the murder of six million Jews. But not all Jews were in camps. Some like Berger's parents and mine, escaped Poland and went to the relative safety of Russia, and their Holocaust stories are significantly different. Nevertheless, his parents lost most of their family members who had stayed behind, and my parents lost all of theirs. That we certainly did have in common.
So I bought his book to see what else we might have in common. It turned out there was quite a bit. His mother was from Otwock. My father's family lived in Warsaw and vacationed a few miles from Otwock in Swider. But those two places were really worlds apart.
His parents spent the war in the Soviet Union. My parents also spent the war in the Soviet Union. But their experiences, once again, were worlds apart.
And once in the United States, although we spent the first few years in New York (in Brooklyn, not the Bronx), we then moved to Los Angeles, and as everyone knows, that is a whole other world.
So, as much as we had in common, we also had very different histories and experiences. But so what? Berger's book is interesting, very well written, and in some parts very moving. Many people think of the Holocaust as the murder of six million Jews. But not all Jews were in camps. Some like Berger's parents and mine, escaped Poland and went to the relative safety of Russia, and their Holocaust stories are significantly different. Nevertheless, his parents lost most of their family members who had stayed behind, and my parents lost all of theirs. That we certainly did have in common.
July 29, 2019
I recommend this book to anyone really. It crosses many of my interests but is told in such a way that it is memoir and also a look into immigration, Eastern European history, Jewish history and culture, New York in the 50s and further. It’s a gem and stands out in my mind clearly. Read it.
March 8, 2021
Interesting perspective of an refugee/immigrant from Poland & Russia, growing up in New York City shortly after the end of WWII. The emotions expressed by the author, his parents, brother and friends gives the reader great insight on what's it like to by an outsider.
June 2, 2019
Very interesting to read about the process of going from refugee to American. And can you really?
November 28, 2019
I couldn't put this book down. It was written with great empathy, respect and love for the people in it, and presenting a moving picture of life for Holocaust survivors.
February 21, 2022
very clear account of the trials and ongoing difficulties survivors and their children have.
December 18, 2020
I have read many many memoirs related to WW2 and the Holocaust. This is one of the few I haven’t enjoyed much. It was largely focused on the experience of one family in New York after immigrating here. In theory, I should love that, but I just couldn’t get interested.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews