Fred M. B. Amram, inventor, artist and author is a retired University of Minnesota professor of communication and creativity. He spent his early years in Hanover, Germany, where he experienced the Holocaust from its inception in 1933. He witnessed Kristallnacht and the Gestapo invading his home. He watched the British bombers from his balcony when Jews were banned from air raid shelters. The loss of uncles, aunts, a grandmother and many more relatives has motivated him to share his experiences in hopes of ending genocide everywhere.
Although the transition to a new language and culture was difficult, the alternatives were worse. Consequently, this new continent truly became a land of opportunity where one could build a new life and become more than a "Holocaust survivor." Amram is the author of several books and many book chapters, articles, and stories.
He has spoken about the Holocaust and other genocides at Clark University, Carlton College, William Mitchell College of Law, and many other educational institutions, churches and synagogues. He frequently leads workshops for government agencies, including the U.S. Army and Air Force. He has testified about his Holocaust experiences at the Minnesota legislature in support of legislation designating April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month.
October 2016, Midwest Book Review: "We're In America Now: A
Survivor's Stories is an unforgettable memoir, not only of
isolation and genocide during the Holocaust of World War II, but
also of hope and commitment to social justice. His escape to
Holland, and voyage to America, led to his determined effort to
build a new life and a lasting legacy. 'The Hebrew word mitzvah
refers to a good deed. Mitzvah also translates as a commandment. To
do good deeds is a commandment. Perhaps intimate images of the
Holocaust and its after-effects have provided my family extra
incentive to lead a life of mitzvah. I hope that this memoir has
the same effect on my readers.' We're In America Now is highly
recommended for public and university library Holocaust Studies
collections, as well as for personal reading lists." "Epic in
scope, but gentle and charming in delivery, Fred Amram's We're in
America Now is a quiet chronicle of a clamorous era. Politics and
war compel Amram's family to leave the only home they ever knew and
embark on a personal exodus, fleeing a new pharaoh, pursuing a new
promised land. They arrive in America to discover that paradise is
not all milk and honey, but love, loyalty, and faith conspire to
hold the family together, and the story of how they rebuild the
life that was robbed of them is moving, probing, and insightful."
-- J.C. Hallman, author of B & Me: A True Story of Literary Arousal
"We're In America Now will take you on a great and perilous
adventure with a remarkable teacher, preacher, survivor, and
storyteller. Fred Amram is a brilliant and generous soul, who
recounts his family's desperate journey away from Nazi Germany to a
new life in America. He writes from the point of view of a child, a
teenager, a student, an adult, an activist, a father, and a
grandfather. His story grips our imagination, stimulates our sense
of what is true and just, and reminds us that memory is the first
bastion of hope and beginnings, the best recourse of someone who is
dedicated to the task of 'Tikun Olam, ' repairing the world.--Freya
Manfred, author of Speak, Mother and Raising Twins: A True Life
Adventure "In clear, understated prose, Fred Amram narrates his
family's escape from Nazi Germany and ragged, improvised new life
in America. Like Russell Baker in Growing Up, Amram captures his
coming-of-age with honesty, warmth, and humor, and a subtlety of
voice that conveys real emotional complexity - heartbreak, love,
unimaginable loss, and gratitude. Amram's narrative teaches us what
it means to be displaced, and makes the immigrant experience vivid
and resonant. We need this story now as much as ever - to be
reminded to live what Fred Amram would call, 'a life of mitzvah, '
a life of good deeds. This book is surely one."--Shannon R. Olson,
author of Children of God Go Bowling and Welcome to My Planet "This
beautiful memoir touches my heart. Fred Amram writes eloquently of
his childhood in Nazi Germany: being born in a Catholic infants'
home because Jews were banned from the public hospital; the
narrowing of his world as Jews were banned from radios, park
benches, trolleys, and schools; opening the door to the Gestapo;
and, ultimately, the extermination of nearly all his relatives and
his new life in America. But he didn't leave the war behind him in
Europe. He writes about how it continues to touch his life and the
lives of his children and his grandchildren, not only through the
generations' commitment to social justice, but in their very DNA
that was shaped by the trauma of the Holocaust."-
-Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without
Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law "Fred Amram has given us
something very precious. A lively, eclectic and moving memoir of
his life as a Jewish child in Nazi Germany, and as an émigré in the
US. Sensibly written and full of illustrative anecdotes these
stories provide a unique vantage point into the early stages of the
Holocaust, when a community of mutual acceptance has been
destroyed. But the primary function of this book is to keep the
Holocaust--not only the event in history, but also the potential
for its repetition--before everyone's eyes. Fred Amram writes with
the hope that his readers become also witnesses--to the lost world
of European Jewry, to the fate of other children in his family who
did not survive the Nazis, and thus to the past's unrealized
possibilities. Amram invites us to remember and to assume
responsibility for the world we live in."--Alejandro Baer, Stephen
C. Feinstein Chair and Director of the Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota
October 2016, Midwest Book Review: "We're In America Now: A
Survivor's Stories is an unforgettable memoir, not only of
isolation and genocide during the Holocaust of World War II, but
also of hope and commitment to social justice. His escape to
Holland, and voyage to America, led to his determined effort to
build a new life and a lasting legacy. 'The Hebrew word mitzvah
refers to a good deed. Mitzvah also translates as a commandment. To
do good deeds is a commandment. Perhaps intimate images of the
Holocaust and its after-effects have provided my family extra
incentive to lead a life of mitzvah. I hope that this memoir has
the same effect on my readers.' We're In America Now is highly
recommended for public and university library Holocaust Studies
collections, as well as for personal reading lists." "Epic in
scope, but gentle and charming in delivery, Fred Amram's We're in
America Now is a quiet chronicle of a clamorous era. Politics and
war compel Amram's family to leave the only home they ever knew and
embark on a personal exodus, fleeing a new pharaoh, pursuing a new
promised land. They arrive in America to discover that paradise is
not all milk and honey, but love, loyalty, and faith conspire to
hold the family together, and the story of how they rebuild the
life that was robbed of them is moving, probing, and insightful."
-- J.C. Hallman, author of B & Me: A True Story of Literary Arousal
"We're In America Now will take you on a great and perilous
adventure with a remarkable teacher, preacher, survivor, and
storyteller. Fred Amram is a brilliant and generous soul, who
recounts his family's desperate journey away from Nazi Germany to a
new life in America. He writes from the point of view of a child, a
teenager, a student, an adult, an activist, a father, and a
grandfather. His story grips our imagination, stimulates our sense
of what is true and just, and reminds us that memory is the first
bastion of hope and beginnings, the best recourse of someone who is
dedicated to the task of 'Tikun Olam, ' repairing the world.--Freya
Manfred, author of Speak, Mother and Raising Twins: A True Life
Adventure "In clear, understated prose, Fred Amram narrates his
family's escape from Nazi Germany and ragged, improvised new life
in America. Like Russell Baker in Growing Up, Amram captures his
coming-of-age with honesty, warmth, and humor, and a subtlety of
voice that conveys real emotional complexity - heartbreak, love,
unimaginable loss, and gratitude. Amram's narrative teaches us what
it means to be displaced, and makes the immigrant experience vivid
and resonant. We need this story now as much as ever - to be
reminded to live what Fred Amram would call, 'a life of mitzvah, '
a life of good deeds. This book is surely one."--Shannon R. Olson,
author of Children of God Go Bowling and Welcome to My Planet "This
beautiful memoir touches my heart. Fred Amram writes eloquently of
his childhood in Nazi Germany: being born in a Catholic infants'
home because Jews were banned from the public hospital; the
narrowing of his world as Jews were banned from radios, park
benches, trolleys, and schools; opening the door to the Gestapo;
and, ultimately, the extermination of nearly all his relatives and
his new life in America. But he didn't leave the war behind him in
Europe. He writes about how it continues to touch his life and the
lives of his children and his grandchildren, not only through the
generations' commitment to social justice, but in their very DNA
that was shaped by the trauma of the Holocaust."-
-Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without
Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law "Fred Amram has given us
something very precious. A lively, eclectic and moving memoir of
his life as a Jewish child in Nazi Germany, and as an émigré in the
US. Sensibly written and full of illustrative anecdotes these
stories provide a unique vantage point into the early stages of the
Holocaust, when a community of mutual acceptance has been
destroyed. But the primary function of this book is to keep the
Holocaust--not only the event in history, but also the potential
for its repetition--before everyone's eyes. Fred Amram writes with
the hope that his readers become also witnesses--to the lost world
of European Jewry, to the fate of other children in his family who
did not survive the Nazis, and thus to the past's unrealized
possibilities. Amram invites us to remember and to assume
responsibility for the world we live in."--Alejandro Baer, Stephen
C. Feinstein Chair and Director of the Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota
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