Read: ‘Dancing with my Father’ by Jo Sorochinsky

Dancing with My Father is a compelling account of a life shaped by the Holocaust. Raised a Catholic in Vienna, Ans Horwitz was 16 when the Nazis marched into Vienna and he became a target for extermination because his parents had converted from Judaism. He was kicked out of school, prohibited from entering parks, cinemas and concerts; his father lost his job and his mother scrambled to find food for the small family – and safety for her only child.

Ans fortunately escaped to Ireland when the Irish Coordinating Committee for Refugees provided safe haven. His parents were unable to leave and starved to death in the Minsk Ghetto; his 83-year-old grandmother was gassed in Auschwitz. Only by meeting the love of his life, Noreen Foley, in Ireland was Ans able to keep on living. He hid his deep suffering in silence and lies, always afraid his background made him a target.

This is a rich and important story, carefully researched, that captures the horror of the Holocaust and its wrenching mark on those who experienced it directly as well as the generation that followed. At the same time, it is a layered story of persistence, love and ultimately, a family’s reconciliation with its past.

Book availability: Amazon.co.uk