Discussion Questions for Book Clubs

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These questions begin with Samuel's hidden testimony, move through survival and resistance, then explore liberation and legacy, and finally, invite readers to connect the memoir's themes with their own experiences.

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• Silence vs. Testimony: For decades, Samuel kept his experiences at Treblinka hidden, leaving his written story tucked inside his prayer shawl bag. Why do you think it might be difficult for survivors of traumatic events to speak about what happened? What made him finally want to share his story with his son, Paul?

 

• Uncovering Secrets:  What emotions did you experience as Paul uncovered Samuel's hidden pages inside the prayer shawl bag? How does the physical location of Samuel’s testimony change the emotional weight of Paul’s discovery? Do the papers themselves become holy objects through this placement? What object in your own life would you use to store an important message for the future?

 

• Discovering Family History: Imagine finding out that someone in your family actually lived through a major event in world history. How does Paul’s perception of his father shift from seeing him as a modest village shoemaker to realizing he was a key figure in a death camp uprising? 

 

• Paul’s Revelation: Paul spends much of the memoir discovering not only his father's history but also a new understanding of who his father was. How did your perception of Samuel evolve as the story unfolded? What happens when an adult child sees their parents not just as figures of security or authority, but as flawed, complex, historical individuals? How did this discovery alter Paul’s understanding of himself?

 

• A Lost Community: Why is it vital for a memoir of survival to focus on the vibrant life of a community before diving into its destruction? Why is it important to remember what was lost—not only who was lost? How does understanding what was lost deepen your reading of what follows?

 

• How do Samuel and Sabina respond when the world they trust begins to collapse?

 

• Sabina’s Courage and Resilience: Sabina had to make a daring escape from the Warsaw Ghetto to survive. What personal qualities helped Sabina survive?  How do her survival mechanisms and emotional processing compare to Samuel’s? 

 

• How does Sabina's written and oral testimony deepen your understanding of her experiences beyond historical facts? Why do you think Sabina believed it was important to share her experiences through interviews, essays, and poetry? What emotions did you experience while reading her interpretation of events? What can you learn from her example?

 

• Throughout the book, Sabina never allows cruelty to define her character. How does she model forgiveness, kindness, dignity, and resilience without forgetting the past?

 

• In what ways does Sabina try to protect her children from her wartime experiences? How did growing up with a survivor like Sabina shape Paul's identity? How do Sabina’s story and her emotional post-war journey reflect the strength of women who rebuild families from total destruction? 

 

• Sabina's story reminds us that courage is not always found in dramatic acts of resistance. How does she demonstrate bravery through endurance, compassion, and rebuilding her life after the Holocaust?

 

• Why is it important to explore Sabina not only as a Holocaust survivor but as a fully realized person—someone whose resilience, creativity, love, and commitment to remembrance continue to shape the family's story across generations?

 

• The Role of Nature: What role does nature play throughout the memoir? How does the author use the physical environment and climate to mirror the psychological atmosphere?

 

• The Essential Craft: Samuel survived in Treblinka partly because his skills as a shoemaker made him useful to Nazi officers. How does the memoir explore the painful irony of using one's craft to serve captors in order to stay alive?

 

• Difficult Choices: In extreme environments like Treblinka, moral boundaries were constantly tested. How does the narrative address the complex, compromised choices prisoners were forced to make simply to survive another day?

 

• What does the stripping away of names, clothing, and possessions symbolize? Which moments best illustrate the struggle to preserve dignity in the face of systematic dehumanization?

 

• The title identifies Samuel as a shoemaker rather than as a victim or survivor. What significance do you see in that choice? What does it say about identity and dignity?

 

• Fighting Back: The 1943 uprising at Treblinka showed that prisoners tried to resist even under impossible conditions and challenges the misconception that Jews went passively to their deaths. How did Samuel's role in the Treblinka Uprising deepen your understanding of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust?

 

• What allows a person to continue when hope appears lost?

 

• Reconstructing the Past: Paul and his wife Sharon had to work through old notes, fragmented memories, and records to piece together his parents' histories. How does the book navigate the gaps and emotional hurdles inherent in historical self-discovery? What challenges do historians and family members face when trying to figure out what really happened decades ago?

 

• Rebuilding after Survival: How does escape mark the beginning of a different kind of struggle rather than the end of suffering? Even after liberation, Samuel's and Sabina’s greatest challenges were not over. Why do you think rebuilding a life after the Holocaust could be as emotionally difficult as surviving it? 

 

• What does "home" come to mean for someone whose family, community, and homeland have been destroyed? Can home exist without the people who once gave it meaning? Can you ever really return to the way things were?

 

• The memoir explores survivor's guilt without offering easy answers. How do survivors reckon with the moral ambiguities and the painful question of "Why did I survive” when others did not? How did Samuel's experience shape your understanding of this enduring burden?

 

• Intergenerational Trauma: How does Paul navigate the burden and responsibility of inherited trauma? In what ways does the book illustrate the unique perspective of second-generation (2G) Holocaust survivors?

 

• How can siblings carry, interpret, and process the inherited trauma of the exact same parents in wildly different ways?

 

• The Next Generation: What responsibility do younger generations have when it comes to remembering and sharing the stories of their parents or grandparents?

 

• The authors emphasize the importance of remembrance throughout the memoir. In your view, what is the difference between remembering history and taking responsibility for preserving it?

 

• As direct eyewitnesses of the Holocaust pass away, the task of preserving memory falls to their children and grandchildren. How does Paul and Sharon's collaborative effort set a model for how families can research, preserve, and pass down their unique lineages?

 

• Keeping History Alive: The memoir is both a personal family story and a historical document. How successfully does it balance intimate storytelling with the responsibility to preserve history?

 

• As the generation of Holocaust survivors passes, what responsibilities do future generations inherit, and what role can a book like The Shoemaker of Treblinka play in keeping these stories alive?

 

• Confronting Modern Antisemitism: Reading survivor memoirs in today's context often highlights the connection between historic persecution and contemporary antisemitism. Which themes from Samuel's and Sabina’s stories feel especially relevant in today's world? What lessons should readers carry forward about prejudice, resilience, moral courage, or the dangers of indifference?

 

• Enduring Messages: What do you believe is the memoir’s most enduring message? Did it change the way you think about history, family, or your own responsibility to bear witness?

 

• Which moment or chapter stayed with you long after you finished reading? Why do you think it had such a lasting impact?

 

• If you could spend an hour talking with Samuel or Sabina, what would you ask them, and why do you think their answers would matter today?