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Pass the Trauma, Please
“It takes great courage to confront one’s demons by sharing them with your children, especially when they are now adults. Yet, that’s exactly what ninety-year-old Holocaust survivor David Diamentstein finally does—before his time runs out.Written with much love and wit, his son Todd comes to grips with his own trauma by connecting the historic dots between the Holocaust and the rise of current global antisemitism in the post–October 7th world. Pass the Trauma, PleasePass Please stands as a unique memoir among Holocaust literature because it does far more than document the past. It connects the past to the present.” —HAYA MOLNAR, author of Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania, winner of the National Jewish Book Award
PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE is a comedy-drama memoir that presents the most brutal moment of Jewish history in an unorthodox manner. With equal parts humor and heartbreak, it honors the life lessons of a Holocaust survivor who reveals long-buried truths about his survival as a drug smuggling orphan in Poland, a child slave in Germany, and a soldier who fought for Israel’s independence. His scandalous secrets are disclosed to his son during an unforgettable Sunday night dinner in a Chinese restaurant, which is presented as a stage play within the book.
But it’s not just stories that were passed down from a survivor to his children. Genetically Inherited Holocaust Trauma hitches a ride, resulting in his son’s dysfunctional relationships and dubious behaviors. Like many books about the Holocaust, PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE addresses loss. But there’s also drug smuggling, attempts to reverse a circumcision, brothels, kibbutz ambushes, divorce, death camp visits, decadent nights at Studio 54, and tales of lost virginity. Despite his own insecurities as a writer, plus deep concerns that other genocides might soon eclipse the Holocaust, a catalyst that drives the author is… will he finish the book while his father, one of the last Holocaust survivors, is still alive?
Another motivation for the book’s unique structure and irreverent tone is the challenge thrown down by Todd Diamond’s father who said, “Do me a favor, son. No long-winded descriptions of the smells in the Ghetto, the corpses. Everyone knows this already. Elie Wiesel, Primo Levy, Anne Frank, that guy who wrote the comic book about the mouse, they all covered it. Don’t be afraid to slip in a few jokes. What do you call it again… that bullshit you always say… oh yeah, write something poster-punk.” He meant to say, post-punk. Todd’s father concluded his appeal by saying, “And besides, you’re no Elie Wiesel.”
So, while PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE probes the darkness of humanity, there’s an irreverence that distinguishes it from most Holocaust memoirs written by those who have experienced the ripple effect of a unique trauma that echoes through generations. Todd writes his story and the story of his parents and his extended family who perished in the Holocaust in a provocative style that will appeal to and educate a broader readership. To that end, Todd finds light and humor amidst the wreckage, a real testament to the power of memory.
Pass the Trauma, Please
“It takes great courage to confront one’s demons by sharing them with your children, especially when they are now adults. Yet, that’s exactly what ninety-year-old Holocaust survivor David Diamentstein finally does—before his time runs out.Written with much love and wit, his son Todd comes to grips with his own trauma by connecting the historic dots between the Holocaust and the rise of current global antisemitism in the post–October 7th world. Pass the Trauma, PleasePass Please stands as a unique memoir among Holocaust literature because it does far more than document the past. It connects the past to the present.”
—HAYA MOLNAR, author of Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania, winner of the National Jewish Book Award
Abraham Foxman
Former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Search through the archives of history, and you’ll discover that few events have darkened humanity as deeply as the Holocaust. The atrocities committed are forever inscribed in the collective consciousness. However, as memory fades, and remaining survivors depart this life, it becomes more important than ever to continue passing on the narratives and lessons of such heartless evil to this generation and those that will follow.
Today, as in so many times throughout history, we are once again seeing an alarming rise of antisemitism, a resurgence of Holocaust denialism across the globe, and the demonization of Israel, a nation born from the ashes of the Holocaust. If we have learned anything from the past, it’s that hateful rhetoric and disinformation can engender violence, inflame intolerance, and lay the groundwork for genocide. If left unchallenged, it will certainly lead to disastrous consequences.
As the former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, and as a survivor myself, I have not only been a witness to the enduring legacy of antisemitism, but I’ve also made it my life’s work to inform the world, through rigorous data gathering and documentation, about the menacing recurrences of extremism. It’s a brutal and unsettling endeavor, but it is vital that we catalog acts of bigotry and violence against Jews as well as other ethnicities confronting immoral forces.
In addition to hard factual evidence, we must never cease to preserve and disseminate our personal stories of survival. Against a backdrop of expanding indifference, and a receding interest in traditional Holocaust education, it is imperative to create space for innovative technologies and unconventional voices. What is needed more than ever are new resonant narratives that engage wider, more diverse audiences with different perspectives that illuminate the past in such a way as to help us understand better the effects of these tragedies on succeeding generations – both those of descendants of survivors and those who were not affected personally. Their stories deserve to be heard. They are bridges between what has been and what could be, vibrant reminders of the complex ways trauma manifests and is transmitted across generations.
Pass the Trauma, Please isn’t just about the death camps, the gas chambers, the incomprehensible evil. It’s about the Holocaust and its aftershocks. The unrelenting ripple effect of a unique trauma that echoes through children raised in the long shadow of tragedy.
Indeed, this story does examine the burden of memory, the inheritance of bruised narratives passed down like heirlooms. But the story doesn’t end there. It’s about resilience too, about the brazen human spirit that refuses to let the bonds of family be extinguished. Most importantly, the book is about carving out a life and managing to find light and humor amidst the wreckage. A testament to the power of memory.
