Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Biography & Memoir
Episode: Alexander Kimel and Martin Kimel, "The Pessimists Son: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope" (Cherry Orchard Books, 2025)
Description: The Pessimists Son: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope (Cherry Orchard Books, 2025) is a personal depiction of life in Poland set against the Nazi and Soviet takeovers of Europe and their cataclysmic aftermaths.
It is the compelling memoir of Alexander Kimel, taking him from a shtetl to a Nazi ghetto to liberation and the parallel Holocaust story of his beloved wife, written by their son.
It is also the harrowing story of his wife, Eva, whose father was murdered in the "Holocaust by Bullets. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...