Traces of Memory

The remarkable, untold story of one Holocaust survivor's resilience against all odds, discovered through a chance encounter with a collection of her wartime poetry.

Originally from Nuremberg, Germany, Else Dormitzer dedicated much of her life to combating antisemitism in a city that became synonymous with Nazi propaganda and spectacle in the Third Reich. Drawing on materials from the family’s extensive personal archive, Traces of Memory follows her life from pre-war Nuremberg to war-torn Amsterdam, from the confines of the Theresienstadt ghetto to post-war life in London. The result is a deeply personal story of a woman at the margins of memory. Accompanied by historical photographs, the book includes Dormitzer’s original poetry collection from Theresienstadt and three testimonial accounts of her Holocaust experience to keep alive the work and story of a singular woman.

Sandra Alfers is Professor of German and the founding & executive director of The Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Her research focuses on Holocaust Literature, particularly on German-language poetry from the Theresienstadt ghetto.