By Zvi Erenyi Collection Development and Reference Librarian Mendel Gottesman Library. On Feb. 16, 2022, the Yeshiva University Libraries Book Talks featured Dr. Joan Gluckauf Haahr, whose recently published Prisoners of Memory: A Jewish family from Nazi Germany (Full Court Press, 2021) vividly recreated the history of her family before and after the Holocaust. The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program co-sponsored the event, which Eliezer H. Schnall, clinical professor of psychology (and a former student of Dr. Haahr), introduced. Dr. William Stenhouse, professor of history, served as moderator. Dr. Haahr taught English at Yeshiva University for 42 years, 22 of which she served as chairman of her department until her retirement. Alumna of Harvard University, she did postdoctoral work at the University of Copenhagen. She was the recipient of a Fulbright and a Woodrow Wilson fellowship as well as numerous academic awards. Her book, which she began following her retirement, was based on more than 1,000 family letters as well as personal communications from family members and others, as well as on research in archives and elsewhere. Dr. Haahr began her talk on Zoom by setting the initial scenes and background of her book. Her family originated in the small village of Zwingenburg an der Bergstrasse, in the German state of Haase between the cities of Darmstadt and Heidelberg, and not far from Frankfurt am Main. The house in which her mother was born, located on one of the two main streets, had been in her family’s possession since the 17th century; Jews, in fact, had been living there for 600 years. By the early 20th century, the local Jews were quite assimilated. Nevertheless, they still observed the Sabbath, major holidays, kashruth, and lifecycle events. Interfaith relations were good; Jews were accepted and respected by their Christian neighbors. Her mother and her mother’s siblings had many non-Jewish friends and they themselves attended secular schools, where her mother excelled in her studies. All of this changed dramatically in 1933 with Hitler’s accession to power. Within a short time, decrees limiting and then eliminating Jewish participation in economic and communal life were enacted. Living conditions became difficult, not to say dangerous. The author’s grandfather, though a decorated World War I veteran, suffered several incarcerations. Matters reached a crescendo on Nov. 10, 1938, in connection with the widespread riots of Kristallnacht. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were set on fire and looted. Dr. Haahr’s mother and other siblings left Germany one by one. However, her grandparents, similarly to other older German Jews, did not manage to do so; eventually they were deported to their deaths. The second part of the book followed the fortunes of family members during and after the Holocaust. Unfortunately, time limitations prevented Dr. Haahr from delving into these aspects.