In The U.S. and the Holocaust, Botstein and Novick chronicled the unspeakable pain and trauma suffered by Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
Telling the stories of the women was crucially important. “It’s impossible not to think about what the impact of this catastrophe was on women,” says Novick.
“For me, it was the family separation. The stories killed me as a mother and a daughter–but, really, as a mother. I’ve seen movies, I’ve read books, but there was something about meeting [the survivors] who had been separated from their parents, and then not knowing if they’re going to see them again. That’s just something I could really key into as a human being.”
Botstein and Novick worked hard to give voice to the fearless female reporters who played a key role in alerting the world to the horrors of the Holocaust. These women, like so many others, deserve to be known.
“Hearing what these women wrote, how they thought about things and how they were getting ahead of it–that was just incredible,” says Botstein. “Focusing on the women who were behind the scenes helping to rescue Jews and working for the nonprofit aid organizations and religious groups–so often these women behind the scenes are slightly less visible. We wanted to put them up front.”
