Return to the Place I Never Left

By: Tobias Schiff

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Synopsis: A personal testament in poetry to survival, resilience, and the complex legacy of the Holocaust. In this harrowing firsthand account of the Holocaust, survivor Tobias Schiff displays the depths of human suffering, the capacity for hope and renewal, and the impact of starvation on the human mind. Schiff was a teenager when Nazis deported his family to Auschwitz from Antwerp, Belgium, and he spent the next thirty-three agonizing months in numerous concentration camps. This deeply personal memoir-in-verse explores personal faith, identity, memory, and trauma across a lifetime interrupted by suffering. Through his eyes, readers witness the atrocities and struggles that defined his daily existence, feel his tenacity while beaten and starved, and learn what enabled him and others to cling to life while surrounded by death. Schiff's verse challenges dehumanizing narratives and provides an intimate view of the realities of life in Nazi death camps and the long-lasting impact of trauma. As racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia resurge and continue to pollute the modern era, his pain—imparted through concise, rhythmic verse—serves as a reminder of our collective humanity and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.