Voted Best place to buy
a Hearing Aid 2021!
Voted Best Audiologist
on The Main Line
Since 2007!
Th e memoir, which mostly unfolds Bank’s childhood and
time in undergraduate and law school, is the third book in what
Bank calls an “inadvertent trilogy.”
He published “Feig” and “I Am Terezin” in 2014 and 2017,
respectively, and while the former is fi ction and the latter,
non-fi ction, ‘Tree of Sorrow’ is a work of creative nonfi ction, and
a personal one at that.

Despite growing up with an “oma” and “opa” who survived
Th eresienstadt and a mother who was a refugee of the Holocaust,
Bank knew surprisingly little about his family’s experience of
the Shoah.

Th ough Bank could speak some German to communicate
with his grandparents, they skirted the topic of the Holocaust.

“Th ey never spoke about it. My mother never spoke about it.

Her sister never spoke about it. Th e family never spoke about it,”
Bank said.

Despite his grandmother living until he was 21, Bank never
asked her about her time in Th eresienstadt.

He published “I Am Terezin” about the camp without know-
ing that he also had an aunt on his mother’s side who died in
Th eresienstadt. Four other great aunts and uncles — his grand-
father’s siblings — also died in the Shoah. He had no idea until
he spoke with his mother shortly before the book’s publication.

“I grew up with the idea that you don’t ask,” Bank said. “Th at’s
why I’m writing so much about it now — because I do want to
know about it, and I want to share with others, so that other
people know about it and don’t take that same attitude.”
Helping to care
for the people
you love!
Flexible schedule
Care for anyone
recovering from
surgery or illness
Short- or long-term
Hourly, daily, or
s live-in schedule
Competitive rates
215-885-7701 slhomecare.com
PA State Licensed. All caregivers are bonded and insured.

16 DECEMBER 16, 2021
Hayden Bank (center) with his grandparents, Francine (left) and
Richard Bank.

Courtesy of Richard Bank
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM