Peter Stein discusses his World War II memoir A Boy's Journey

Peter Stein discusses his World War II memoir A Boy's Journey: From Nazi-Occupied Prague to Freedom in America

Monday 6/24, 7pm

A Boy’s Journey: From Nazi-Occupied Prague to Freedom in America is a poignant and true story. Peter J. Stein lived through the Holocaust and World War II in Europe. He grew up the child of a Catholic mother and a Jewish father who was forced into slave labor and later disappeared. Almost 50 years later, a group of college students sought Professor Stein’s help to challenge a Holocaust-denying teacher. This encounter awakened Stein’s memories of his childhood in Nazi-occupied Prague, of SS officers in the streets, of fear and betrayal, of loved ones lost.

Stein’s book follows him through that childhood to 1950s America. The 12-year-old’s arrival in New York and his immigrant experience is one of change and downward mobility. His humorous and sometimes difficult assimilation was aided by the love of his family. UNC Professor of History Chad Bryant, says “Stein has produced a remarkable tale of Nazi occupation, the Holocaust, and emigration that reimagines events from the perspective of a young boy.”

Peter Stein graduated from the City College of New York and earned a Ph. D. in sociology from Princeton University. He taught at William Paterson University in New Jersey where he was Co-Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. After moving to Chapel Hill he served as a Senior Researcher at the Institute on Aging at UNC and was a member of The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education of North Carolina. He and his family now live in Washington, D.C. He has written and lectured about genocide and the Holocaust to teachers, middle school, high school and college students, to adult groups, service members, and professional organizations. Peter J. Stein is a witness to history.