Pillar of Salt

Anna Salton Eisen was a founding member and the first president of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. She has conducted extensive research into the Holocaust and spoken on that topic to school and community groups. She served as a docent for the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies (now the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum) and conducted Holocaust survivor interviews for the USC Shoah Foundation. Anna is an Ambassador to #everynamecounts, a digital initiative of the Arolsen Archives, the world’s most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of Nazi persecution. A licensed social worker, Salton Eisen formerly practiced as a therapist, specializing in mental health and trauma. She lives in Westlake, Texas. Aaron Eisen is a third-generation Jewish writer. In addition to coauthoring Pillar of Salt, he has played an important role in developing the documentary film In My Father’s Words. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Aaron is working on a memoir about how the legacy of the Holocaust shaped his life and how the lessons of the Holocaust can help humanity address an alarming breakdown in empathy and connection.

“With its clear, unadorned recounting of a family’s pain, and of the echoes of the Shoah that continue down through generations, Pillar of Salt stands alone as a first¬hand account.”— Jewish Book Council“Anna Salton Eisen inspires me. Antisemitism and Holocaust denial are real. Quality Holocaust education is necessary. By sharing her family stories and personal journey with honesty and clarity, she illuminates our past and helps us recognize the truth and challenge of the Holocaust.”—Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, who was held hostage at his synagogue during an antisemitic attack in January 2022“Anna Salton Eisen’s important exploration of her Holocaust heritage is about building community, building connection, through history, through your family, through your story.”—Deb Liu, CEO Ancestry.com“Pillar of Salt is a profoundly moving story, soon to be the subject of a feature-length documentary film, In My Father’s Words. . . She claims her hidden family history, and in doing so, grapples with questions in the hearts of all of us.”—Jacob Wise, Cinematographer and Documentary Filmmaker “A true and beautiful story of a daughter’s quest to understand her parents’ haunted past, and to discover . . . the indissoluble nature of love and family. A powerful and poignant read.”—Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist“A vividly colored, elegant study of family dynamics as two generations eventually came to terms with a tragic Holocaust past.”—Richard Breitman, author of The Berlin Mission: The American Who Resisted Nazi Germany from Within“Navigating her way through the ruins of memory, Anna bears eloquent witness to the scope of the Holocaust that continues to cast its shadow over generations . . . . Anna found the courage to pen these powerful words [and] we must find the courage to read them and be transformed into witnesses.”—David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas

• ContentsProloguePart 1: AmericaFragments of ChildhoodLucjan Salzman A Secret EducationTeenage InsecuritiesCreeping NazisJewish LessonsAmerican ValuesLending a HandTwo Weeks’ NoticePart 2: PolandWarsawKrakówAuschwitzRzeszówTyczynTomaszów LubelskiBelzecPart 3: InterconnectionsMaking AdjustmentsThe 23rd PsalmParachuting InYour Huddled MassesA Providential CallEpilogueAcknowledgments