Meryl Ain, author of “The Takeaway Men”
In this virtual fireside chat from September 13, 2020, Meryl Ain, author of “The Takeaway Men” spoke with Holocaust Survivor Irving Roth in a discussion moderated by Thane Rosenbaum, Distinguished University Professor at Touro College. If you missed this program you can watch it now:
About the book, “The Takeaway Men”:
With the cloud of the Holocaust still looming over them, twin sisters Bronka and Johanna Lubinski and their parents arrive in the US from a Displaced Persons Camp. In the years after World War II, they experience the difficulties of adjusting to American culture as well as the burgeoning fear of the Cold War. Years later, the discovery of a former Nazi hiding in their community brings the Holocaust out of the shadows. As the girls get older, they start to wonder about their parents’ pasts, and they begin to demand answers. But it soon becomes clear that those memories will be more difficult and painful to uncover than they could have anticipated. Poignant and haunting, The Takeaway Men explores the impact of immigration, identity, prejudice, secrets, and lies on parents and children in mid-twentieth-century America.
About the Panelists:
Meryl Ain's articles and essays have appeared in Huffington Post, The Jewish Week, The New York Times, and Newsday, and at MariaShriver.com, among other outlets. In 2014, she coauthored
the award-winning book “The Living Memories Project: Legacies That Last,” and in 2016 she wrote a companion workbook, “My Living Memories Project Journal.” She is both a student and teacher of history, as well as a school administrator and researcher. She holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an EdD from Hofstra University. She lives in New York with her husband, Stewart. They have three married sons and six grandchildren. “The Takeaway Men” is is her first novel.
Irving Roth is the director of the Holocaust Resource Center at the Temple Judea of Manhasset, New York. He is the former director of the Holocaust Memorial and Education Center of Nassau County. Roth is a holocaust survivor, writer and internationally known educator. He is the recipient of the Anne Frank Outstanding Citizen Award from the Anne Frank Center USA for promoting human rights and social justice and for developing and initiating the Adopt a Survivor program.
Roth was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, in 1929 and he grew up in Humenne. When he entered the sixth grade in 1940, he was told by his principal that he was not allowed to go to school since he was a Jew. His family fled to Hungary in 1943, as Jews were liquidated in Humenne and Hungary offered safety to Jews. In 1944, Hungary began to liquidate all Jews, resulting in Roth and his family being taken to a ghetto. His grandparents’ and his aunt’s family were gassed in a “group shower.” After a year of being at the camp, Roth was liberated from Nazi bondage on April 11, 1945. Irving's story is now on display as a permanent memorial at the entrance to Auschwitz.
Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro College, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, and serves as the legal analyst for CBS News Radio. His writings have appeared in major media outlets and he is a frequent guest on cable news programs. He hosts “The Talk Show” at the 92nd Street Y. His most recent book is entitled, “Saving Free Speech … from Itself.”
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