DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Karen’s journey and her father’s journey raise a number of questions around issues of identity.  In that context, what is the significance of Karen and her sons acquiring German citizenship?

2. Karen began her journey by asking a tough question: why would her father kill himself, and why in particular would he attempt suicide in a manner mimicking concentration camp gas chambers. What was resolved by Karen’s journey and what remains unanswered?

3. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said “some are guilty, all are responsible.” What does that mean in the context of the Holocaust and why is it important to understand the various events, people, and victims that make up this tragic event in human history?

4. Salomea asked Karen’s sons if they thought that they would ever come back to Poland. Their answer was “Nah, probably not, except when we have kids one day, to bring them here.” As Karen’s journey is now passed on to her sons, how might young and future generations carry remembrance and how might their remembrance change as the generational gap widens between Holocaust victims and survivors and their descendants?

5. Why was Rudy’s ethical will, i.e., his last letter to his children, so important to him? What impact did that letter have on Karen?