Amsterdam Publishers

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Amsterdam Publishers
Founded2012
FounderLiesbeth Heenk
Country of originThe Netherlands
Headquarters locationAmsterdam
Nonfiction topicsHolocaust memoirs
Official websiteamsterdampublishers.com

Amsterdam Publishers is the largest publisher of Holocaust memoirs in Europe. It was founded in 2012 by Liesbeth Heenk.[1] Since 2019 it focuses on Holocaust-related literature.

History[edit]

Amsterdam Publishers started publishing ebooks on art in 2012.[2] One of their earliest releases was an ebook on Rembrandt etchings, and accompanied an exhibition on Rembrandt at the Teylers museum in Haarlem in 2013. It was the first time a digital publication accompanied an exhibition.[3] In 2015, the imprint started running self-publishing workshops, which was later accompanied by an instructional handbook published in Dutch.[4]

Amsterdam Publishers added their first non-art titles in 2014. Manny Steinberg’s Outcry – Holocaust Memoirs was an early commercial success.[5][6] Since 2019, the publisher has focused exclusively on Holocaust Memoirs. The founder, Liesbeth Heenk, has stated that the mission of the imprint is to fight anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.[7] Heenk's stable of writers includes a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors as well as second and third-generation members of survivors’ families.[8]

Amsterdam Publishers is one of the few international publishing houses based in the Netherlands. Its authors are international (mainly from the US), and books are (being) published in English, Albanian, Czech, Dutch, Hebrew, Sinhalese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.[9]

On the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the publishing house, the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York hosted an Amsterdam Publishers authors event on 12 September 2022.[10][11] In November 2022, a 7-day booktour in Albania and Kosovo took place to promote Dr Anna Kohen's Flower of Vlora in the Albanian language, Lulja e Vlorës.

Liesbeth Heenk on her motivation to publish stories of the Holocaust:

My motivation is connected to a sense of injustice. It most likely started with my mother telling me and my siblings at the dinner table how she, as a young girl, used to carry pamphlets in her bike for the Dutch resistance. One doesn’t realize the significance of these things until much later. On a deeper level, I feel a strong need to do something meaningful, to change the world as much as an individual is capable of changing the world.

In 2024 the publishing house will release its 100th Holocaust book.

Bibliography[edit]

Holocaust Library

Amsterdam Publishers specialises in memoirs by Holocaust survivors, Second Generation survivors and Third Generation survivors.[12] These include memoirs by Manny Steinberg, Joseph Schupack, Janina Altman, Hank Brodt, Nanette Blitz Konig, Natalie Hess, Walter Leopold, Professor Paul Davidovits, Salo Muller, Robert Krell, Leon Kleiner, Halina Kleiner, Sara Lustigman Omelinksi, Jan Yohay Remetz, Roman Halter, Elmar Rivosh and Leokadia Schmidt.[13][14] Their memoirs are part of the series Holocaust Survivor Memoirs WWII. Many of these survivors can be found on this List of Holocaust survivors.

Memoirs by second and third generation survivors include Adena Bernstein Astrowsky, Evelyn Joseph Grossman, Fred Feldman, Ronny Hein, Zvi Wiesenfeld, Laura Beth Bakst, Nechama Birnbaum, Martin Bodek, Barbara Gilford, Anna Kohen, Ira Wesley Kitmacher, Max Friedman, Mark Prelas, Robert Wolf, Tammy Bottner, Ron Vincent, Ettie Zilber, Professor Hymie Anisman and Emanuel Rosen.[15][16] These publications can all be found in the series Holocaust Survivor True Stories. The series Jewish Children in the Holocaust contains the stories written by children who have been hidden in Holland and Belgium during the Second World War, with books by Dr Robert Krell, Joseph Gosler, Salo Muller and Agnes Schipper. In 2021, the publishing house added a series of New Jewish Fiction which includes novels by Professor Omer Bartov, Annette Libeskind Berkovits, Ruth Rotkowitz, and Casey Hayes. A new series Holocaust Books for Young Adults has been added in 2022, featuring Running for Shelter, written by Suzette Sheft (2006) who started writing the true story of her grandmother at age 13.[17][18] One of its most recent series is Holocaust Heritage which focuses on intergenerational trauma of 2G and 3G survivors.

Amsterdam Publishers has also published the memoirs of Omar Ndizeye and of Hyppolite Ntigurirwa, which detail their experiences of the Rwandan genocide.[19] This topic has since been abandoned, in order to fully concentrate on Holocaust stories and Jewish literature.

Title Author Released ISBN
The War Never Ended Simon Hammelburg May 2014 discontinued
Outcry: Holocaust Memoirs Manny Steinberg September 2014 9789082103137
The Mission of Abbé Glasberg Lucien Lazare March 2016 1522840958
The Dead Years: Holocaust Memoirs Joseph Schupack February 2017 9492371162
Hank Brodt Holocaust Memoirs: A Candle and a Promise Deborah Donnelly April 2017 9492371219
Among the Reeds: The true story of how a family survived the Holocaust Tammy Bottner June 2017 9492371286
See You Tonight and Promise to Be a Good Boy!: War memories Salo Muller November 2017 9492371553
A Quiet Genocide Glenn Bryant August 2018 9789492371829
A Holocaust Memoir of Love & Resilience: Mama's Survival from Lithuania to America Ettie Zilber January 2019 9789493056022
Holocaust Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen Survivor & Classmate of Anne Frank Nanette Blitz Konig January 2019 9492371618
Rescued from the Ashes: The Diary of Leokadia Schmidt, Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Leokadia Schmidt January 2019 9493056066
Mendelevski's Box Roger Swindells February 2019 9789493056107
The Knife-Edge Path Patrick T. Leahy December 2019 9789493056329
Remembering Ravensbrück: From Holocaust to Healing Natalie Hess January 2020 9493056236
My Lvov: Account of the Holocaust in Lvov by a twelve-year-old girl Janina Hescheles January 2020 9789493056367
Living Among the Dead: My Grandmother's Holocaust Survival Story of Love and Strength Adena Bernstein Astrowsky March 2020 9789493056374
Searching for Home: The Impact of WWII on a Hidden Child Joseph Gosler May 2020 9493056341
Wolf: A Story of Hate Zeev Scheinwald May 2020 9493056430
Save my Children: An Astonishing Tale of Survival and its Unlikely Hero Leon Kleiner May 2020 9493056511
Heart Songs: A Holocaust Memoir Barbara Gilford August 2020 9493056538
Shoes of the Shoah: The Tomorrow of Yesterday Dorothy Pierce August 2020 9493056775
Defiant German, Defiant Jew: A Holocaust Memoir from inside the Third Reich Walter Leopold August 2020 9493056554
Hidden in Berlin: A Holocaust Memoir Evelyn Joseph Grossman December 2020 9493056791
The Man Across the River: The incredible story of one man's will to survive the Holocaust Zvi Wiesenfeld January 2021 9493231062
Separated Together: The Incredible True WWII Story of Soulmates Stranded an Ocean Apart Kenneth P. Price January 2021 978949321085
The Story Keeper: Weaving the Threads of Time and Memory. A Memoir Fred Feldman January 2021 9493231038
If Anyone Calls, Tell Them I Died: A Memoir Emanuel (Manu) Rosen March 2021 9493231135
The House on Thrömerstrasse: A Story of Rebirth and Renewal in the Wake of the Holocaust Ron Vincent March 2021 97894993231306
Dancing with my Father: His hidden past. Her quest for truth. How Nazi Vienna shaped a family’s identity Jo Sorochinsky April 2021 9789493231191
Krisia’s Silence. The Girl who was not on Schindler’s List Ronny Hein April 2021 9789493231382
Defying Death on the Danube. A Holocaust Survival Story Debbie J. Callahan with Henry Stern April 2021 9789493231412
In a Land of Forest and Darkness. The Holocaust Story of two Jewish Partisans Sara Lustigman Omelinski June 2021 9789493231337
Sounds from Silence. Reflections of a Child Holocaust Survivor, Psychiatrist and Teacher Robert Krell August 2021 9789493231467
A Doorway to Heroism. A decorated German-Jewish Soldier who became an American Hero W. Jack Romberg September 2021 9789493231498
The Shoemaker’s Son. The Life of a Holocaust Resister Laura Beth Bakst October 2021 9789493231641
Holocaust Memories. Annihilation and Survival in Slovakia Paul Davidovits October 2021 9789493231528
The Redhead of Auschwitz. A True Story Nechama Birnbaum November 2021 9789493231795
From Auschwitz with Love. The Inspiring Memoir of Two Sisters’ Survival, Devotion and Triumph as told by Manci Grunberger Beran & Ruth Grunberger Mermelstein Daniel Seymour January 2022 9789493231887
Remetz. Resistance Fighter and Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Jan Yohay Remetz January 2022 9789493276024
When the Music Stopped. Willy Rosen's Holocaust Casey J. Hayes January 2022 9789493276079
Land of Many Bridges. My father’s story Bela Ruth Samuel Tenenholtz February 2022 9789493231986
Hands of Gold. One Man’s Quest To Find The Silver Lining In Misfortune Roni Robbins February 2022 9789493276109
The Corsetmaker. A Novel Annette Libeskind Berkovits March 2022 9789493231917
On Sunny Days We Sang: A Holocaust Story of Survival and Resilience Jeannette Grunhaus de Gelman March 2022 9789493276185
I Give You My Heart. A True Story of Courage and Survival Wendy Holden April 2022 9789493231719
Creating Beauty from the Abyss. The Amazing Story of Sam Herciger, Auschwitz Survivor and Artist Lesley Richardson April 2022 9789493276109
Painful Joy. A Holocaust Family Memoir Max J. Friedman April 2022 9789493231825
We Shall Not Shatter. A WWII Story of friendship, family, and hope against all odds Elaine Stock May 2022 9789493231764
Sabine’s Odyssey. A Hidden Child and her Dutch Rescuers Agnes Schipper May 2022 9789493231948
In the Time of Madmen Mark A. Prelas June 2022 9789493276154
Monsters and Miracles. Horror, Heroes and the Holocaust Ira Wesley Kitmacher June 2022 9789493276215
My March Through Hell. A Young Girl’s Terrifying Journey to Survival Halina Kleiner with Edwin Stepp June 2022 9789493276284
The Boy Behind the Door. How Salomon Kool Escaped the Nazis. Inspired by a True Story David Tabatsky September 2022 9789493276314
Our Daughters' last Hope Elaine Stock September 2022 9789493276420
There was a garden in Nuremberg. A Novel Navina Michal Clemerson September 2022 9789493231542
Flower of Vlore. Growing up Jewish in Communist Albania Anna Kohen September 2022 9789493276246
Aftermath. Coming-of-Age on Three Continents. A Memoir Annette Libeskind Berkovits September 2022 9789493276390
The Girl who counted Numbers. A Novel Roslyn Bernstein October 2022 9789493276369
Zaidy's War. Four Armies, Three Continents, Two Brothers. One Man’s Impossible Story of Endurance Martin Bodek October 2022 9789493276451
Not a Real Enemy. The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man's Fight for Freedom Robert Wolf October 2022 9789493276727
Running for Shelter. A True Story Suzette Sheft November 2022 9789493276505
The Journey of a Hidden Child Harry Pila with Robin Black November 2022 9789493276543
The Glassmaker’s Son. Looking for the World my Father left behind in Nazi Germany Peter Kupfer November 2022 9789493276468
Brave Face. The Inspiring WWII Memoir of a Dutch/German Child Caroline Crocker November 2022 9789493276659
The Butterfly and the Axe Omer Bartov January 2023 9789493276697
The Apprentice of Buchenwald. The True Story of the Teenage Boy Who Sabotaged Hitler’s War Machine Oren Schneider January 2023 9789493276529
When We Had Wings. The World's First Democratic Orphanage: A Historical Novel Tami Shem-Tov February 2023 9789493276758
The Fire and the Bonfire. A Journey into Memory Ardyn Halter March 2023 9789493276833
Roman's Journey Roman Halter March 2023 9789493276864
To Live Another Day. A novel Elizabeth Rosenberg March 2023 9789493322042
The Cello Still Sings - A Generational Story of the Holocaust and of the Transformative Power of Music Janet Horvath March 2023 9789493276802
The Precious Few: An Inspirational Saga of Courage Based on True Stories David Twain with Art Twain April 2023 9789493322011
A Worthy Life Dahlia Moore April 2023 9789493322165
Good for a Single Journey Helen Joyce May 2023 9789493276611
When We Disappeared Elaine Stock May 2023 9789493276574
Jacob's Courage. A Holocaust Love Story Charles S. Weinblatt June 2023 9789493276925
The Silk Factory - Finding Threads of My Family's True Holocaust Story Michael Hickins June 2023 9789493276895
Dutch Defense Johanna Kinney June 2023 9789493322073
Beyond Borders. Escaping the Holocaust and Fighting the Nazis. 1938 - 1948 Rudi Haymann August 2023 9789493322226
Burying the Ghosts. She escaped Nazi Germany only to have her life torn apart by the woman she saved from the camps: her mother Sonia Case September 2023 9789493322103
Bipolar Refugee. A Saga of Survival and Resilience Peter Wiesner September 2023 9789493276956
American Wolf. From Nazi refugee to American Spy. A true story Audrey Birnbaum October 2023 9789493276987
The Engineers. A memoir of survival through World War II in Poland and Hungary Henry Reiss January 2024 9789493322363
In the Wake of Madness. My Family’s Escape from the Nazis Bettie Lennett Denny February 2024 9789493322349
Before the Beginning and After the End Hymie Anisman February 2024 9789493322240
A Semblance of Justice Wolf Holles April 2024
I Will Give Them an Everlasting Name. Jacksonville's Stories of the Holocaust Samuel P. Cox May 2024 9789493322530
Hidden in Plain Sight. A Journey into Memory and Place Julie Brill May 2024
Winter Light: The Memoir of a Child of Holocaust Survivors, by Grace Feuerverger Grace Feuerverger June 2024
Hiding in Holland. A Memoir in Four Hands Shulamit Reinharz June 2024
The Right to Happiness. After all they went through. Stories Helen Schary Motro June 2024
The Sun will Shine on You again one Day. My Grandpa was a Hidden Child Cynthia Monsour September 2024
Stumbling Stones Joanna Rosenthall October 2024
Between Shadows and Light Jordan Steven Sher November

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Amsterdam Publishers grootste Europese specialist in Holocaust memoires - BOEKBLAD - Vaktijdschrift voor boekhandel, uitgeverij, auteurs en bibliotheek". boekblad.nl. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  2. ^ "Amsterdam Publishers". Ruudhanou.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  3. ^ Ledeboer, Françoise (2013-09-23). "Voor Teylers Museum: Rembrandt krijgt primeur eerste digitale 'catalogus'". Museumkijker.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  4. ^ "Meld je nu aan: Succesvol Publiceren op Amazon (workshop) - inct". inct.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  5. ^ BWW News Desk. "'Outcry: Holocaust Memoirs' Becomes #1 Best Seller". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  6. ^ "Outcry: Holocaust Memoirs Hits #1 on Amazon Best Seller's List". PRWeb. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  7. ^ "Amsterdam Publishers Publishing company profile: Amsterdam Publishers, Oegstgeest, South Holland, Netherlands". Publishersglobal. Archived from the original on 2017-07-15.
  8. ^ "How A Dutch Art-Historian-Turned-Publisher Preserves The Holocaust's Memory". Jewish Press. 2024-01-11. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  9. ^ "Amsterdam Publishers Publishing company profile: Amsterdam Publishers, Oegstgeest, South Holland, Netherlands". Publishersglobal. Archived from the original on 2017-07-15.
  10. ^ "Amsterdam Publishers viert tienjarig jubileum - BOEKBLAD - Vaktijdschrift voor boekhandel, uitgeverij, auteurs en bibliotheek". boekblad.nl. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  11. ^ "10-year Anniversary of Europe's Premier Holocaust Publisher". JNS.org. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  12. ^ "Biographies & Memoirs". Specialist in Holocaust Memoirs. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  13. ^ "Holocaust Survivor's Daughter Recounts Father's Story in New Book | The Examiner News". www.theexaminernews.com. 2020-03-29. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  14. ^ "Biographies & Memoirs". Specialist in Holocaust Memoirs. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  15. ^ "North Phoenix Mom Pens Holocaust Survivor Memoir". North Phoenix Family Magazine. 2021-05-01. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  16. ^ Ghert-Z, Renee. "How one brave woman held Germany accountable for father's suicide in Tel Aviv". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  17. ^ ""American antisemitism inspired me to share our heartbreaking family story"". Newsweek. 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  18. ^ Ghert-Z, Renee. "Teen weaves grandmother's Holocaust experience into a compelling young adult read". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  19. ^ "'Life and Death in Nyamata': Memoirs of a young survivor". The New Times | Rwanda. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2021-02-13.