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Troubled Memory: Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana
This powerful work tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, the Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. The first book to connect the prewar and wartime experiences of Jewish survivors to the lives they subsequently made for themselves in the United States, Troubled Memory is also a dramatic testament to how the experiences of survivors as new Americans spurred their willingness to bear witness.
Perhaps the only family to survive the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto as a group, the Skoreckis evaded deportation to Treblinka, by posing as Aryans and ultimately made their way to New Orleans, where they became part of a vibrant Jewish community. Lawrence Powell traces the family's dramatic odyssey and explores the events that eventually triggered Anne Skorecki Levy's brave decision to honor the suffering of the past by confronting the recurring specter of racist hatred. Breaking decades of silence, she played a direct role in the unmasking and defeat of Duke during his 1991 campaign for the governorship of Louisiana.
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"Brilliant. . . . Even readers who are knowledgeable about the Holocaust should be Troubled Memory has the power to sting.--American Jewish History
"[Powell] tells this tale with wonderful narrative grace and moral force. He deftly explores ethical compromises and nuances.--Time
"A powerful, harrowing account. . . . Troubled Memory reads like a gripping novel of family survival against impossible odds.--New Orleans Times-Picayune
"A fine piece of historical scholarship. . . . Troubled Memory is also an inspiring story about standing up against evil.--Journal of American History
"Combines the sweep of history with the intimacy of memoir.--Chicago Tribune
"[An] important and riveting book.--Choice
This compelling work tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Through Levy's tale, Lawrence Powell connects the prewar and wartime experiences of Jewish survivors to the lives they built in the United States and shows how their experiences as new Americans spurred their willingness to bear witness. -->
Perhaps the only family to survive the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto as a group, the Skoreckis evaded deportation to Treblinka, by posing as Aryans and ultimately made their way to New Orleans, where they became part of a vibrant Jewish community. Lawrence Powell traces the family's dramatic odyssey and explores the events that eventually triggered Anne Skorecki Levy's brave decision to honor the suffering of the past by confronting the recurring specter of racist hatred. Breaking decades of silence, she played a direct role in the unmasking and defeat of Duke during his 1991 campaign for the governorship of Louisiana.
<!-- copy for pb
"Brilliant. . . . Even readers who are knowledgeable about the Holocaust should be Troubled Memory has the power to sting.--American Jewish History
"[Powell] tells this tale with wonderful narrative grace and moral force. He deftly explores ethical compromises and nuances.--Time
"A powerful, harrowing account. . . . Troubled Memory reads like a gripping novel of family survival against impossible odds.--New Orleans Times-Picayune
"A fine piece of historical scholarship. . . . Troubled Memory is also an inspiring story about standing up against evil.--Journal of American History
"Combines the sweep of history with the intimacy of memoir.--Chicago Tribune
"[An] important and riveting book.--Choice
This compelling work tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Through Levy's tale, Lawrence Powell connects the prewar and wartime experiences of Jewish survivors to the lives they built in the United States and shows how their experiences as new Americans spurred their willingness to bear witness. -->
616 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2000
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550 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence N. Powell
9 books18 followersLawrence N. Powell, former holder of the James H. Clark Endowed Chair in American Civilization, is Professor Emeritus of History at Tulane University.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 9, 2019
This was a fascinating book --- it has a lot to it: a family's history, the times they lived in, their struggles, their triumphs, their setbacks, those who tried to destroy them and everyone in their group. A lot to be said about it that I think my review fails to capture -- so I apologize if my comments seem to ramble! This is the story of the Skorecki family -- Polish Jews from Lodz --- living in the tumult of the inter-war period, the German invasion of Poland; starvation and constant threat of death within the Warsaw Ghetto; fugitives in the heart of the Third Reich; escapees from a closing Iron Curtain; immigrants and naturalized American citizens to a nation vastly different from the one they left. It's very well-written, and Powell describes them as they were --- as real people with all of the good and the less admirable. In other words as ordinary people facing dreadful situations who were able to adapt accordingly and show extraordinary determination, creativity, selflessness, and toughness.
Having said that, a word needs to be said about the preface. I usually read these in any book that has one. Sometimes they provide insights on the author's work. With respect to this one's, I'll just say that, for liberals of the view that all those not sharing their views are motivated by racism, they'll love the affirmation from it. For those that are not, then they may not agree with the suggestion that they are either racist or guilty of creating conditions favorable to racists --- and may be too insulted to read further. Which would be a shame because the book itself has so much to offer.
The first part of the book goes into the pre-war period --- covering the various Skorecki family members, what they were like and what life was like for Jews during this time in Poland. This part may seem somewhat slow, but it's necessary to give context on these people for the events that follow.
The second part next goes into the Nazi occupation of Poland, the gradual and increasing persecution of Polish Jews -- and eventually the Skoreckis ending up in the Warsaw Ghetto. This is one of the most gripping parts of the whole book. It really reminded me of Leon Uris' novel, "Mila 18" --- except that this really happened. The Warsaw Ghetto, I think, was terrifying because it was, rather than a fall into Hell, a slow, descending, increasingly painful spiral into it. Each month, by degrees, became one of increased desperation, squalor, deprivation, and terrifying uncertainty.
The perversity of the Nazis was not just in their brutality and bloodshed --- as evil as they were -- but in the way, within the Ghetto, how their methods took and twisted the best impulses of humanity within the Jewish community --- looking out the weak, a parent's love for their child, deference for the old, caring for the sick, adult children looking after their parents -- and turned these into means of hurting and destroying them. You could say that it was like what made the movie, "Saw" so terrifying -- placing people into awful situations in which they have to make horrifying decisions on what they'll do to survive.
Mark and Ruth Skorecki and their 2 children, Anne and Lila, were caught within this, and, without being a spoiler, long story short, his creativity and work ethic -- her strength and clear head -- and an element of luck --- saved them and their children. What is amazing to me also is the way in which Anne and Lila, young girls, obeyed their parents in every way --- in so doing saving their lives during times in which the Nazis did their periodic sweeps of the Ghetto for those designated for transport to Treblinka or Auschwitz, the infamous death camps.
The Ghetto, in some ways, may have been more terrifying towards the end of its sad existence than the dreadful camps. Parents desperately trying to conceal their children from the Nazis' SS guards -- most of who were rabidly anti-semitic -- the Ukrainian and Lithuanian auxiliaries. The stories are heartbreaking --- the grandfather who inadvertently smothers his deaf grandson, hidden with Anne and Lila in an underground cellar --- during one of the Nazis sweeps for Jews --- when the boy cries out in terror when the search dogs begin barking near the window. The father who, faced with a choice between going to a labor detail and living, or staying with his young daughter and infant son and dying with them, abandons them, even as the little girl while holding her baby brother cries out "Daddy, Daddy, don't leave us." The baby hidden by his parents within a work pack on his father's back during one of the Nazi's mandatory formations, cries out --- and is bayoneted in the pack by one of the Ukrainian guards. I could go on, but I won't.
Eventually, Mark Skorecki, as one of the last remaining Jews in the Ghetto, realizes that its end is near, and organizes the family's escape. It's a gripping story.
But escape from the Warsaw Ghetto is not freedom. Not for Jews. Street gangs would hang around its outskirts, and extort money and possessions from escaped Jews in return for not turning them into the German authorities. And informers and collaborators with the Germans are everywhere. This next part of the story is also remarkable ---- how the Skoreckis were able to pass themselves off as "Aryans", find employment, and blend into the Polish population --- no easy task for a Jewish family in Poland, given the deep cultural and religious differences between the two groups. How the Skoreckis accomplished this is a fascinating story of adaptation and resourcefulness -- right down to posing as devout, lifelong Roman Catholics with going to Mass, celebrating Christian holidays, and carrying a rosary and prayer book. Interstingly, the younger daughter, Lila, not realizing the ruse of her parents, found true solace in the Church, and took it very seriously to the extent of becoming a lifelong Catholic.
With the end of the War and defeat of the Nazis, the next part of this book is about the Skoreckis immigration from Poland to the US and building a new life here. For the most part, they flourish even as they deal with all the problems that first generation immigrants to America deal with --- adapting to the different culture, balancing when to keep parts of the old culture while incorporating America's. They have to deal with the attempt of the American Nazi Party under George Lincoln Rockwell to get publicity and recruit followers in New Orleans in 1961 --- overcoming this.
Then, decades later, an admirer of Rockwell, neo-Nazi, and former KKK leader, David Duke, wins a seat in the Louisiana legislature, during an off year election, shocking the nation --- and especially alarming the New Orleans Jewish community include Anne, now married, with her own family. While telling of how Anne summons the courage to tell her story of life during the Holocaust, the story of how other Louisianans came together to overcome Duke is also an amazing political drama -- the climax being reached during the final gubernatorial debate between Duke and his opponent, Edwin Edwards. I thought it a real page turner!
This is a story that needed to be told. I am grateful that I found it. Particularly, as the World War 2 generation passes on, along with the last Holocaust survivors, I really do think it all the more important that their experiences and those of so many others be read and remembered --- lest their experiences of survival, of death, and of terror be lost in the anonymity of just the raw statistics of the Holocaust --- and from there into insignificance and triviality in the minds of succeeding generations, raising the possibility that such horrors may happen again in this century.
Having said that, a word needs to be said about the preface. I usually read these in any book that has one. Sometimes they provide insights on the author's work. With respect to this one's, I'll just say that, for liberals of the view that all those not sharing their views are motivated by racism, they'll love the affirmation from it. For those that are not, then they may not agree with the suggestion that they are either racist or guilty of creating conditions favorable to racists --- and may be too insulted to read further. Which would be a shame because the book itself has so much to offer.
The first part of the book goes into the pre-war period --- covering the various Skorecki family members, what they were like and what life was like for Jews during this time in Poland. This part may seem somewhat slow, but it's necessary to give context on these people for the events that follow.
The second part next goes into the Nazi occupation of Poland, the gradual and increasing persecution of Polish Jews -- and eventually the Skoreckis ending up in the Warsaw Ghetto. This is one of the most gripping parts of the whole book. It really reminded me of Leon Uris' novel, "Mila 18" --- except that this really happened. The Warsaw Ghetto, I think, was terrifying because it was, rather than a fall into Hell, a slow, descending, increasingly painful spiral into it. Each month, by degrees, became one of increased desperation, squalor, deprivation, and terrifying uncertainty.
The perversity of the Nazis was not just in their brutality and bloodshed --- as evil as they were -- but in the way, within the Ghetto, how their methods took and twisted the best impulses of humanity within the Jewish community --- looking out the weak, a parent's love for their child, deference for the old, caring for the sick, adult children looking after their parents -- and turned these into means of hurting and destroying them. You could say that it was like what made the movie, "Saw" so terrifying -- placing people into awful situations in which they have to make horrifying decisions on what they'll do to survive.
Mark and Ruth Skorecki and their 2 children, Anne and Lila, were caught within this, and, without being a spoiler, long story short, his creativity and work ethic -- her strength and clear head -- and an element of luck --- saved them and their children. What is amazing to me also is the way in which Anne and Lila, young girls, obeyed their parents in every way --- in so doing saving their lives during times in which the Nazis did their periodic sweeps of the Ghetto for those designated for transport to Treblinka or Auschwitz, the infamous death camps.
The Ghetto, in some ways, may have been more terrifying towards the end of its sad existence than the dreadful camps. Parents desperately trying to conceal their children from the Nazis' SS guards -- most of who were rabidly anti-semitic -- the Ukrainian and Lithuanian auxiliaries. The stories are heartbreaking --- the grandfather who inadvertently smothers his deaf grandson, hidden with Anne and Lila in an underground cellar --- during one of the Nazis sweeps for Jews --- when the boy cries out in terror when the search dogs begin barking near the window. The father who, faced with a choice between going to a labor detail and living, or staying with his young daughter and infant son and dying with them, abandons them, even as the little girl while holding her baby brother cries out "Daddy, Daddy, don't leave us." The baby hidden by his parents within a work pack on his father's back during one of the Nazi's mandatory formations, cries out --- and is bayoneted in the pack by one of the Ukrainian guards. I could go on, but I won't.
Eventually, Mark Skorecki, as one of the last remaining Jews in the Ghetto, realizes that its end is near, and organizes the family's escape. It's a gripping story.
But escape from the Warsaw Ghetto is not freedom. Not for Jews. Street gangs would hang around its outskirts, and extort money and possessions from escaped Jews in return for not turning them into the German authorities. And informers and collaborators with the Germans are everywhere. This next part of the story is also remarkable ---- how the Skoreckis were able to pass themselves off as "Aryans", find employment, and blend into the Polish population --- no easy task for a Jewish family in Poland, given the deep cultural and religious differences between the two groups. How the Skoreckis accomplished this is a fascinating story of adaptation and resourcefulness -- right down to posing as devout, lifelong Roman Catholics with going to Mass, celebrating Christian holidays, and carrying a rosary and prayer book. Interstingly, the younger daughter, Lila, not realizing the ruse of her parents, found true solace in the Church, and took it very seriously to the extent of becoming a lifelong Catholic.
With the end of the War and defeat of the Nazis, the next part of this book is about the Skoreckis immigration from Poland to the US and building a new life here. For the most part, they flourish even as they deal with all the problems that first generation immigrants to America deal with --- adapting to the different culture, balancing when to keep parts of the old culture while incorporating America's. They have to deal with the attempt of the American Nazi Party under George Lincoln Rockwell to get publicity and recruit followers in New Orleans in 1961 --- overcoming this.
Then, decades later, an admirer of Rockwell, neo-Nazi, and former KKK leader, David Duke, wins a seat in the Louisiana legislature, during an off year election, shocking the nation --- and especially alarming the New Orleans Jewish community include Anne, now married, with her own family. While telling of how Anne summons the courage to tell her story of life during the Holocaust, the story of how other Louisianans came together to overcome Duke is also an amazing political drama -- the climax being reached during the final gubernatorial debate between Duke and his opponent, Edwin Edwards. I thought it a real page turner!
This is a story that needed to be told. I am grateful that I found it. Particularly, as the World War 2 generation passes on, along with the last Holocaust survivors, I really do think it all the more important that their experiences and those of so many others be read and remembered --- lest their experiences of survival, of death, and of terror be lost in the anonymity of just the raw statistics of the Holocaust --- and from there into insignificance and triviality in the minds of succeeding generations, raising the possibility that such horrors may happen again in this century.
November 5, 2013
You will find the history of Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, Ann Levys' familily's escape from that, the family's experience in America, and her gutsy and important role in stopping KKK-apologist and Holocaust-denying David Duke fascinating. All true. (I have the pleasure of being a friend of the author, Larry N. Powell, who was a high school classmate. A Tulane University professor emeritus of history, his newest book is The Accidental City, about New Orleans up to and beyond Katrina. I own that book but have not yet read it.)
Read
May 13, 2016Great book. Extremely well researched. Long, but covers 70 years of a family leaving Nazi Germany and finding Nazi's in Metairie, LA. If you lived through the David Duke nonsense in Louisiana, this is a very well detailed account of that bizarre time.
May 25, 2025
I thought this was a remarkable book and a very timely read for me. It didn't strike me before how unusual it was for a family to escape the Holocaust intact, although it is obvious in retrospect. All the more amazing is this story of Anne Levy's family. Her parents Rose and Mark are truly heroic getting the children Anne and her younger sister Lila out of the Warsaw Ghetto and hiding in plain sight.
What struck me as well was the mental toll on the adults not only dealing with the terror of being found out, but the pressure of telling constant lies for the three years they were dodging the German "selections." And how to live after the conflagration with the guilt.
It was David Duke's later run for public office in Louisiana that drove Anne to finally let loose and share her personal trials with the rest of the world. She knew what anti-semitism was and what it meant for everyone, of the corruption of ordinary people, and how deadly it could become if ignored.
That is a very good lesson for today. Hitler learned how to hide the worst of his anger until it turned out useful for him and his band of murderers and thieves. All these years later I continue to be amazed at how greedy the ordinary people became once everything the Jews owned became free for the taking. The apartments. The furniture and clothing. Even the gold in their teeth. It disgusts me to the core.
What struck me as well was the mental toll on the adults not only dealing with the terror of being found out, but the pressure of telling constant lies for the three years they were dodging the German "selections." And how to live after the conflagration with the guilt.
It was David Duke's later run for public office in Louisiana that drove Anne to finally let loose and share her personal trials with the rest of the world. She knew what anti-semitism was and what it meant for everyone, of the corruption of ordinary people, and how deadly it could become if ignored.
That is a very good lesson for today. Hitler learned how to hide the worst of his anger until it turned out useful for him and his band of murderers and thieves. All these years later I continue to be amazed at how greedy the ordinary people became once everything the Jews owned became free for the taking. The apartments. The furniture and clothing. Even the gold in their teeth. It disgusts me to the core.
December 7, 2016
This is an amazingly well-researched and detailed account of one Polish Jewish family and their survival, from 1930's through the 1990's. It covers the Holocaust in Poland in detail, particularly the horrific story of the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as the rise of David Duke in Louisiana. Although the combination of these two stories is a bit forced at times, the connection is reasonably well-made. (If these were two different books, I would have given both five stars). Anyone reading this book in 2016 will be struck by the similarities of David Duke's campaign and victory with that of Donald Trump's. History does, in fact, repeat itself, which is, of course, the premise of the book.
March 15, 2023
I picked this up a few months ago from a Little Free Library in my town, originally thinking it to be a work of fiction. It was pretty clear once I dove into the first chapter, that this was the story of a real family and the horrors they endured at the hands of evil.
I'm not often one to give a 5-star review about a book. No book is perfect. But I am compelled to after learning about the life of Anne and her family. To have survived what they did, and to have come out the other side with their immediate family intact (the four of them), is nothing short of a miracle. That never happened. Moments throughout took my breath away as I waited anxiously to see if they would survive yet another round of tragedy and loss.
The story of the Skorecki family is a profoundly moving one. As are the stories of every family that endured such ruin and loss. Thinking back on these moments in human history, it is impossible to imagine what one must have felt to be a part of it. It is unconscionable in its entirety.
Though hard to read in a great many places, I am so very glad that I did read it.
I'm not often one to give a 5-star review about a book. No book is perfect. But I am compelled to after learning about the life of Anne and her family. To have survived what they did, and to have come out the other side with their immediate family intact (the four of them), is nothing short of a miracle. That never happened. Moments throughout took my breath away as I waited anxiously to see if they would survive yet another round of tragedy and loss.
The story of the Skorecki family is a profoundly moving one. As are the stories of every family that endured such ruin and loss. Thinking back on these moments in human history, it is impossible to imagine what one must have felt to be a part of it. It is unconscionable in its entirety.
Though hard to read in a great many places, I am so very glad that I did read it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews