The mission of the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center & Archives is to use the lessons of the Holocaust to educate current and future generations about the ramifications of unbridled prejudice, racism and stereotyping.
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Could a Golem be created in Auschwitz from the ashes of the Crematorium?
After escaping from a camp, will a God fearing Jewish mother give up her only son to a priest who wants to bring him up to serve the church?
How can a Jewish survivor who served in the Auschwitz Sonderkomando redeem his shame and guilt?
These questions, challenges, and dilemmas are posed and confronted by characters in Bernard Otterman's short story collection, "Black Grass", which is set in the deadly authentic and surreal circumstances of the Holocaust and its ghostly aftermath.
BERNARD OTTERMAN, Ph.D., is a child survivor of the Holocaust. His stories "Black Grass" and "Kaddish" won first prizes in literary competitions. He is in the process of completing a novel centered on the life and death of journalist and novelist Arthur Koestler. He was chairman of the Department of Engineering at Hofstra University. Most of the stories in the Black Grass collection have been translated into Russian. The Russian collection, titled Golem of Auschwitz Stories as well as Black Grass and Other Stories are available on the author's website: www.bernardotterman.com.