Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
After our online events with Roger Ross Williams and Francis Fukuyama – you can watch them both on our website – we were happy to host our third online event, this time with author Esther Safran Foer: https://www.john-adams.nl/event/esther-safran-foer/
The mother of three renowned authors – Franklin, Jonathan and Joshua – has written a heartfelt memoir exploring the history of her parents and extended family who were killed in Ukraine during World War 2. Her book, 'I Want You to Know We’re Still Here', has been translated into Dutch by publishing house Spectrum as 'Ik wil je laten weten dat we er nog zijn'.
It was Jonathan Safran Foer’s renowned debut novel Everything Is Illuminated which started Esther’s mission of finding her lost family. But where Jonathan’s search hit a wall – and he used that for a fictional story – Esther’s journey did yield new leads. When Esther’s mother casually mentions an astonishing revelation – that her father had a previous wife and daughter, both killed in the Holocaust – Esther resolves to find out who they were, and how her father survived. She travels to Ukraine, and what she finds reshapes her identity and gives her the opportunity to finally mourn.
This video was recorded on May 26, 2020.
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After our online events with Roger Ross Williams and Francis Fukuyama – you can watch them both on our website – we were happy to host our third online event, this time with author Esther Safran Foer: https://www.john-adams.nl/event/esther-safran-foer/
The mother of three renowned authors – Franklin, Jonathan and Joshua – has written a heartfelt memoir exploring the history of her parents and extended family who were killed in Ukraine during World War 2. Her book, 'I Want You to Know We’re Still Here', has been translated into Dutch by publishing house Spectrum as 'Ik wil je laten weten dat we er nog zijn'.
It was Jonathan Safran Foer’s renowned debut novel Everything Is Illuminated which started Esther’s mission of finding her lost family. But where Jonathan’s search hit a wall – and he used that for a fictional story – Esther’s journey did yield new leads. When Esther’s mother casually mentions an astonishing revelation – that her father had a previous wife and daughter, both killed in the Holocaust – Esther resolves to find out who they were, and how her father survived. She travels to Ukraine, and what she finds reshapes her identity and gives her the opportunity to finally mourn.
This video was recorded on May 26, 2020.
Ready to receive the best and the brightest of American thinking from the fields of literature, politics, history in your mailbox? Apply for our newsletter: https://www.john-adams.nl/newsletter/
Follow us on:
Facebook: facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute
Instagram: instagram.com/johnadamsnl
Twitter: twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL
LinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam
