NO PAST TENSE

LOVE AND SURVIVAL IN THE SHADOW OF THE HOLOCAUST

NO PAST TENSE

LOVE AND SURVIVAL IN THE SHADOW OF THE HOLOCAUST

by D.Z. Stone

No Past Tense is the biography of Katarina (Kati) Kellner and William (Willi) Salcer, two Czech Jews who as teenagers were swept up by the Holocaust in Hungary and survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen, respectively.

Covering their entire lives, weaving in first person 'real time' voices as if watching a documentary about themselves, the unique structure of No Past Tense provides a distinctive 'whole life' view of the Holocaust.

Book Reviews

Bill Tammeus

Former Faith columnist for The Kansas City Star

"...my plan was to read just enough of it to be able to do a short item... But I wound up reading every word and I'm betting you will, too."

Phil Jason

Reviewer & columnist for three Jewish newspapers and the Washington Independent Review of Books

"Soon-to-be-classic Holocaust narrative is a gripping tale of reinvention and romance"

More Reviews

William G. Bentrim

Reviewer, Pick of The Literate

"This is not a Holocaust book as much as a historic perspective of two remarkable people who lived through the Holocaust"

Book News

No Past Tense featured at the annual Jewish American & Holocaust Literature (JAHLIT) Symposium

This year the Symposium will host a special evening highlighting No Past Tense on Tuesday, April 26, at 12:40pm to 2pm in The Betsy – South Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida. The Director of the Symposium, Dr. Holli Levitsky, will interview No Past Tense author D.Z. Stone. The No Past Tense event is free and open to the public.

For more details visit the Betsy website.

The Betsy

No Past Tense Goes Around the World With International Samaritan

No Past Tense was a book club selection for the team members and more than 800 scholars of International Samaritan, a non-profit organization that works to break the chains of poverty and improve lives in six nations.

The Salcer’s son Ron and author D.Z. Stone zoomed in to the book club meeting. International Samaritan President Mike Tenbusch said he was floored by Ron’s memories of his parents and D.Z.’s reflections resonated so strongly that he shared them with the entire organization.

PUBLISHER'S BESTSELLER

No Past Tense, from Vallentine Mitchell & Co., Ltd., the original publisher of Anne Frank’s Diary, is a publisher’s bestseller. No comparable book in the past decade by Vallentine Mitchell has sold as many copies as No Past Tense.

Book Clubs & Classrooms

No Past Tense for General Reading & Academic Audiences

Book Clubs

From California to New York, No Past Tense has been read by book clubs across the country, and around the world thanks to organizations such as International Samaritan.

College Classroom

No Past Tense is taught in college courses on Jewish American Literature, Holocaust Literature and the Holocaust and Film as well as courses on migration and refugees.

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The book is now in over 500 university libraries including Ivy League colleges, large state schools, U.S. service academies and Jewish institutions.

APPEARANCES

Author D.Z. Stone and the Salcer's son Ron can appear virtually at book club meetings and classrooms and when possible, in person. For more info, please inquire below.

Renowned Scholar on Teaching No Past Tense

For those considering No Past Tense for their college classroom, here’s a letter to Ron Salcer from Dr. Holli Levitsky, Professor of English/Director of Jewish Studies, Loyola Marymount University.

Read Letter

Dear Ron,

I wanted to send you a note letting you know how much the book about your parents’ lives, No Past Tense: Love and Survival in the Shadow of the Holocaust, has meant to my students and to me.

As you know, I use the book in two of my courses at Loyola Marymount University. In “Literature of Exile and Terror,” a first year seminar course, the book helps students understand the trajectory of exile that comes from terror. It helps them explore the motivations that determine such exile, and the reasons why exile, finally, becomes the only choice.

In my advanced English course, “American Jewish Literature,” the book helps students discover some of the ways in which Jews have come to the United States and become “American.” The story of your parents’ success and achievement as “American Jews,” also illuminates for students the multifarious ways that Jews helped build this country. Your father’s many patents and your mother’s intelligence, wisdom, grace, kindness and beauty represent a unique portrait of the refugee experience to all of my students.

The exceptional writing and the book’s innovative style and structure are so filmic that after reading the book students often talk about scenes as if they have “seen” them. Moreover, as my students are nearly the same ages as your parents, they relate to the story as your parents’ peers, universalizing the sadness, pain, loss and fear of young people as they are separated from their families, homes, schools, towns and forcibly sent away.

Ron, I just wanted to thank you and Donna for sharing your parents’ story in this powerful book. As a Holocaust scholar and teacher of Holocaust stories, No Past Tense has helped me increase understanding for the victims of Hitler’s genocidal rage and added an important and thrillingly-told narrative to our collection of Holocaust stories. Indeed, it stands above many of those stories for its ability to universalize the experience of terror, loss, exile and displacement, as well as how so many of the refugees from Europe contributed to the growth of 20th century America.

In gratitude,

Dr. Holli Levitsky
Professor of English/Director of Jewish Studies

Inquiries

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