Seeing in Color, with Annette Libeskind Berkovits

Every now and then I uncork a story that just won’t leave me and Annette Libeskind Berkovits’ story is exactly one of those.

While this is a story about a person growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, I want to be clear, as does Annette, that this is not a tragedy. In fact, it is a story about overcoming trauma and learning how to adapt when the winds of change are blowing in your face.

In our rich and emotional conversation centered around her latest memoir, Aftermath: Coming-of-Age on Three Continents, Annette and I cover:

Why, when growing up in post-war Poland, Annette felt she did not see in color, only black and white. How she felt when moving to the fledgling state of Israel, the challenges of learning a new language, Hebrew, and how she began seeing in color during this time. The heartbreak she felt when her father left Israel for America. How Annette adjusted to life in America after settling in the Bronx, all the while not knowing the language with her only frame of reference of the United States being the propaganda the Soviets taught her about America when she was in Poland. Why learning from the past is important and how it does not have to define what the future holds for us.