Karen Kirsten’s grandmother kept a secret for decades: She had survived the Holocaust and the girl she raised as a daughter, Joasia, was actually her niece. To understand and uncover years of generational trauma as secrets unraveled, Mrs. Kirsten wrote “Irena’s Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets and Survival.” In the wake of the massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, she now believes there are valuable lessons on empathy for the world to learn from her family’s story.
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