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"""Epic in scope, but gentle and charming in delivery, Fred Amram's We're in America Now is a quiet chronicle of a clamorous era. Politics and war compel Amram's family to leave the only home they ever knew and embark on a personal exodus, fleeing a new pharaoh, pursuing a new promised land. They arrive in America to discover that paradise is not all milk and honey, but love, loyalty, and faith conspire to hold the family together, and the story of how they rebuild the life that was robbed of them is moving, probing, and insightful."" --J.C. Hallman, author of B & Me: A True Story of Literary Arousal These compelling stories form a riveting memoir that begins with the author's birth during the rise of Hitler in 1930s Germany. He and his surviving family soon escape to Holland and sail to America where they encounter many challenges as immigrants in a new world. This country truly becomes a land of opportunity where one can build a new life and become more than a ""Holocaust survivor."" Fred Amram is a retired University of Minnesota professor of communication and creativity. He spent his early years in Hanover, Germany, where he experienced the Holocaust from its inception in 1933. He witnessed Kristallnacht and the Gestapo invading his home. He watched the British bombers from his balcony when Jews were banned from air raid shelters. The loss of uncles, aunts, a grandmother, and many more relatives has motivated him to share his experiences in hopes of ending genocide everywhere."

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Epic in scope, but gentle and charming in delivery, Fred Amram's We're in America Now is a quiet chronicle of a clamorous era. Politics and war compel Amram's family to leave the only home they ever knew and embark on a personal exodus, fleeing a new pharaoh, pursuing a new promised land. They arrive in America to discover that paradise is not all milk and honey, but love, loyalty, and faith conspire to hold the family together, and the story of how they rebuild the life that was robbed them is moving, probing, and insightful. -- J.C. Hallman, author of B & Me: A True Story of Literary Arousal We're In America Now will take you on a great and perilous adventure with a remarkable teacher, preacher, survivor, and storyteller. Fred Amram is a brilliant and generous soul, who recounts his family's desperate journey away from Nazi Germany to a new life in America. He writes from the point of view of a child, a teenager, a student, an adult, an activist, a father, and a grandfather. His story grips our imagination, stimulates our sense of what is true and just, and reminds us that memory is the first bastion of hope and beginnings, the best recourse of someone who is dedicated to the task of 'Tikun Olam, ' repairing the world.--Freya Manfred, author of Speak, Mother and Raising Twins: A True Life Adventure In clear, understated prose, Fred Amram narrates his family s escape from Nazi Germany and ragged, improvised new life in America. Like Russell Baker in Growing Up, Amram captures his coming-of-age with honesty, warmth, and humor, and a subtlety of voice that conveys real emotional complexity heartbreak, love, unimaginable loss, and gratitude. Amram s narrative teaches us what it means to be displaced, and makes the immigrant experience vivid and resonant. We need this story now as much as ever to be reminded to live what Fred Amram would call, 'a life of mitzvah, ' a life of good deeds. This book is surely one. --Shannon R. Olson, author of Children of God Go Bowling and Welcome to My Planet This beautiful memoir touches my heart. Fred Amram writes eloquently of his childhood in Nazi Germany: being born in a Catholic infants home because Jews were banned from the public hospital; the narrowing of his world as Jews were banned from radios, park benches, trolleys, and schools; opening the door to the Gestapo; and, ultimately, the extermination of nearly all his relatives and his new life in America. But he didn t leave the war behind him in Europe. He writes about how it continues to touch his life and the lives of his children and his grandchildren, not only through the generations commitment to social justice, but in their very DNA that was shaped by the trauma of the Holocaust. --Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Author Information

"Fred M. B. Amram, inventor, artist and author is a retired University of Minnesota professor of communication and creativity. He spent his early years in Hanover, Germany, where he experienced the Holocaust from its inception in 1933. He witnessed Kristallnacht and the Gestapo invading his home. He watched the British bombers from his balcony when Jews were banned from air raid shelters. The loss of uncles, aunts, a grandmother and many more relatives has motivated him to share his experiences in hopes of ending genocide everywhere. Although the transition to a new language and culture was difficult, the alternatives were worse. Consequently, this new continent truly became a land of opportunity where one could build a new life and become more than a ""Holocaust survivor."" Amram is the author of several books and many book chapters, articles, and stories. He has spoken about the Holocaust and other genocides at Clark University, Carlton College, William Mitchell College of Law, and many other educational institutions, churches and synagogues. He frequently leads workshops for government agencies, including the U.S. Army and Air Force. He has testified about his Holocaust experiences at the Minnesota legislature in support of legislation designating April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month."

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