In The Empty Bowl: Poems of the Holocaust and After, Holocaust survivor Judith H. Sherman strives to record trauma through art. Her poems, written largely in the words of a fifteen-year-old survivor, provide historical entry into the Holocaust. Put simply, the poems explore the reality of the events experienced by Sherman in her determination to survive—from first leaving home to illegal border crossings, hiding, capture, imprisonment by the Gestapo, the horrors of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, liberation, and, finally, a full life of joys and challenges that came after, including the unyielding intrusions of the past and hopeful celebration of a compassionate future.
The Empty Bowl is incredibly moving. . . . Judith Sherman's book is a gift from a survivor of atrocity to all who live today, all who have a chance to change the future.--Hilda Raz, author of Letter from a Place I've Never Been: New and Collected Poems, 1986-2020
The Empty Bowl is a treasure trove of poems that paint pictures of life before, during, and after the Holocaust with the use of precise and descriptive language, where not one word is wasted.--Deborah L. Coltin, Executive Director, Lappin Foundation
The Empty Bowl is a treasure trove of poems that paint pictures of life before, during, and after the Holocaust with the use of precise and descriptive language, where not one word is wasted.--Deborah L. Coltin, Executive Director, Lappin Foundation
