Sole Survivor

Chaim Frydman survived the Holocaust. He was the only Frydman who did. In Sole Survivor, architect and academic Avi Friedman travels to Europe to trace his father’s journey through the Holocaust and find his family’s genesis. He visits the homes, factories, and synagogues in which the Frydmans made their lives and the ghettos and camps in which they were imprisoned and killed. Avi finds powerful stories in interviews, archives, and the built environment itself, illustrating the ways that buildings were made to affect the events that took place in them and how the architecture of the Holocaust remains a haunting memorial to this day.

Sole Survivor is the story of Chaim Frydman, who fought in the Polish army and returned to survive forced labour, death marches, and the horror of the camps. It is the story of Avram and Rachla Frydman, who raised Chaim alongside seven siblings, of their children and grandchildren, who died in the Łódź ghetto, in the killing centre at Chełmno, in Auschwitz. It is the story of Avi Friedman, witnessing his father’s testimony of from the trenches of Gniezno through Birkenau to freedom and discovering himself as the descendent of a family who survived against impossible odds.

In sharing the Frydman’s history, their experiences, and their testimony, Avi Friedman has created a vital resource for future generations. In sharing his journey and thoughtful exploration of the responsibilities the living bear the dead, he has created a work that will resonate for years to come.