Stumbling Blocks, a second-generation Holocaust memoir, tells Jennifer's and Paul's stories. Paul, Jennifer’s father, was born in Germany in 1928. At the age of ten, just after Kristallnacht, his parents sent him and his older sisters to Belgium. There, they lived for two years with relatives they barely knew. In 1941, Paul’s parents reunited with the children and fled Germany. When Jennifer was born in the 1950s, she was called a lucky girl. She was born at a time of relative peace and safety. But she felt the presence of the people left behind, whose incomplete histories were told in fragments. Was this because no one knew what happened? Or was someone trying to protect her? Stumbling Blocks is Jennifer’s journey to find truth and meaning from the legacy of the Holocaust.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Krebs’ work has appeared in The Tribe of Dina, Unholy Alliances, and Readings for Diversity of Social Justice. She has recorded "A Perspective" for KQED. Jennifer was an environmental planner for local governments in the San Francisco Bay Area. When not writing or planning, she goes for long rambles in parks with her spouse Amy and her dog Alfie.
The title Stumbling Blocks is a loose translation of Stolpersteine. Stolpersteine are memorials to those persecuted by the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s. Small brass plaques have been placed in the sidewalk in front of the last residence of someone persecuted. To date over 100,000 have been laid throughout Europe, including one for Paul in front of his family home in Germany.
The author plans to give proceeds from the book to Widen the Circle. This organization confronts long-standing injustice rooted in racism, antisemitism, and attacks on democratic values by empowering local activists in Germany and the U.S. who expose legacies of persecution, bring communities together, and promote healing. They create networks of support, collaboration, and education for these activists through fellowships, workshops, increased recognition, and resources to make them more effective in their work. Learn more about Widen the Circle here.
Praise for Stumbling Blocks:
"Stumbling Blocks is an emotional and necessary intergenerational story about the way the traumas of war, loss, and grief are passed down through a family and how we can learn to make peace with a tragic past."~ Julie Metz, author of Eva and Eve: A Search for My Mother’s Lost Childhood and What War Left Behind
"In Stumbling Blocks, Jennifer Krebs has written a riveting and impeccably researched intergenerational family saga of loss, resilience and love. Unique among second-generation memoirs, this book shines a light on some lesser-known stories of migration and adaptation. ... Krebs skillfully interweaves her father’s story with her own, and in elegant prose traces the impact of the family’s Holocaust trauma through the generations. ...” ~ Joy Wolff Ensor, Contributor and Editor, The Ones Who Remember
"A loving daughter reflects on her father, her family, and her growing years, all under the shadow of the Holocaust her parents, aunts, uncles, and older cousins endured. The author’s deep reflection in Stumbling Blocks is a stark reminder of how the suffering of one generation filters down to its descendants." ~ Aline Soules, author of Meditation on Woman
"The magic of Jennifer Krebs’ writing lies in how deftly she carries the reader back and forth in time. Krebs illuminates the lives of family members killed by the Nazis, and reveals the unexpected ways in which subsequent generations were shaped by those losses." ~ Ann Spivack, author of The Essence of Chocolate