Liesbeth Heenk, founder and editor-in-chief of Amsterdam Publishers, which specializes in Holocaust memoirs, speaks at Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia. (Photo by Darcy Grabenstein)

By Darcy Grabenstein

Antisemitism is on the rise, with a 340 percent increase in incidents globally compared to 2022, making it a “peak year,” according to a report by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel. That’s why Liesbeth Heenk says her work is more important than ever.

Heenk is the founder and editor-in-chief of Amsterdam Publishers, which specializes in Holocaust memoirs.

“I do believe that Holocaust stories are more important than ever,” she said. “Globally, the knowledge of the Holocaust is minimal. People don’t know the consequences of what happens if antisemitism goes unchecked.”

On June 29, Heenk was honored for her work at an event at Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, “Stories of Resilience in Times of Crisis.” Echoing the event’s title, Heenk told the crowd: “Holocaust stories are not just about suffering. They are also about resilience, resourcefulness and an astonishing capacity for hope. They are powerful accounts of survival, struggle, strength and the choice to embrace life.”

Joining Heenk at the event were several of her authors — Roslyn Bernstein, Nechama Birnbaum, Robin Black, Max Friedman, Evelyn Joseph Grossman, Oren Schneider and Peter Wiesner — all of whom also participated in the 2025 American Library Association Conference in Philadelphia.

The Rodeph Shalom event, which happened to coincide with Pride Month, was cosponsored by pRiSm, Rodeph Shalom’s queer connection group; Tikvah, a Philadelphia-area organization devoted to improving the quality of life for adults with mental illness; the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center of Elkins Park; and Sons and Daughters of Holocaust Survivors of Greater Philadelphia.

The June 29 event at Rodeph Shalom. (Photo by Marina Zaticeva)

Heshie Zinman, cochair of pRiSm, noted that other Rodeph Shalom connection groups also supporting the event included RS Women, Israel/Palestine Discussion Group and Israel ConnectRS. Zinman said another author, Dr. Jake Newsome, spoke at Rodeph Shalom on the Pink Triangle Legacies Project, a grassroots initiative that honors the memory of the Nazis’ queer and trans victims and carries on their legacy by fighting homophobia and transphobia today through education, empowerment and advocacy. Just as the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars, queer and trans individuals were forced to wear pink triangles.

Amsterdam Publishers will publish in September “Under the Pink Triangle,” a book by Katie Moore. Although this gay love story is fiction, Moore spent five years on research.

“The Holocaust was such a huge, devastating event,” she said, “that I felt I had to get it right.”

Moore is not Jewish, nor does she identify as LGBTQIA+, which made her ask: “Is it OK for me to tell this story?” She decided, “It’s about finding the humanity in the story.”

Like Moore, Heenk is not Jewish. And like Moore, she questioned her authority to publish Holocaust books.

“Who am I to publish these stories?” she asked herself. As an ally, she said, “I think it’s just as well I’m not Jewish…I’m proudly representing my mainly Jewish authors.”

Heenk explained how she became interested in publishing Holocaust memoirs. She attributes her passion to her mother’s stories of growing up in Nazi-occupied Holland, helping her family hide men from going to the Arbeitseinsatz forced labor camp and distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets as part of the Dutch resistance.

The June 29 event at Rodeph Shalom. (Photo by Marina Zaticeva)

One of Amsterdam Publishing’s books, “The Boy Behind the Door” by David Tabatsky, is being adapted for film. The young-adult book tells the true story of Salomon Kool, a Dutch teenager who escaped the Nazis.

Wiesner, author of “Bipolar Refugee,” lives in Bucks County. The book is about his mother, a child Holocaust survivor who later battled depression and lived with bipolar disorder. As a result, Wiesner and his sister spent time in a Jewish children’s home.

“I became very independent,” he said. “You really have no choice when you grow up like that.”

Wiesner has shared his mother’s story throughout the greater Philadelphia area, including at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Bensalem, Newtown Friends Meeting and Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park.

“I’m very happy working with a publisher who really gets it,” he said.

Nechama Birnbaum’s book, “The Redhead of Auschwitz,” is about her grandmother, Rosie Greenstein. Birnbaum, who teaches creative writing at the Manhattan School for Girls, said her grandmother spoke often about her experiences during the Holocaust.

At Auschwitz, all prisoners’ heads were shaved, and Greenstein was no exception. Birnbaum said when her grandmother happened to see her reflection in cracked glass she was horrified because her red hair was such a big part of her identity.

Her redheaded grandmother’s stubborn spirit served her well at Auschwitz, Birnbaum said. When her friends said they were going to heaven, Greenstein would retort: “I’m not going to heaven. I’m going home from here.”

Although Greenstein passed away three years ago, she lived to see her granddaughter’s book. Birnbaum has another book in the works, this time a fictional novel about, coincidentally, a granddaughter with a grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.

For Max Friedman, author of “Painful Joy,” the research he conducted for his book revealed surprising secrets about his parents who survived the Holocaust. Unlike his father, who he said never talked about his past, his mother talked incessantly about the concentration camps.

Friedman said his mother would stop people in the street — everybody she met — and tell them about the Holocaust. His diminutive mother would grab the person’s arm and not let go until they heard her story.

“Every evening when I lie in bed,” Heenk said, “I wonder if I’m closer to my goal” of publishing Holocaust books on 6 million people, the number of Jews killed by the Nazis.

Darcy Grabenstein is a freelance writer.