Under the Same Roof

"Under the Same Roof" is the story of Dr. Mark Henry Kinn's life as the child of Holocaust survivors. In a sensitive and compelling way, he illustrates the complex influences of the Holocaust: his fear of his father's anger, his conflicted feelings about religiosity, his guilt (for having a better and easier life than his parents) and the poignancy of his parents' will to live.

In some families, the horrors of the Holocaust are repeatedly dissected. In Dr. Kinn's family, they were rarely discussed. "My mother wanted to move on. My father wanted to preserve his memories of the shtetl. They didn't want to traumatize us during our childhood, so they rarely spoke of their experiences. But they were our parents and they went through something unspeakably horrible, unimaginably evil. And we knew."

"Under the Same Roof" is a memoir about the insidious and unrelenting influence of the Holocaust. It quietly illustrates how the scars of brutality and loss can color every action and twist the perception of every failure and triumph.

Rather than an explicit story of war or trauma, "Under the Same Roof" describes how both shaped the life of a brilliant and empathetic son. For those who share a legacy of extreme suffering, ever-present fear and anxiety, this story will ring true. Anyone who seeks to understand the deep and often hidden consequences of intergenerational trauma will find Dr. Kinn's story an insightful read.