Episode 132: Painful Joy with Max Friedman
May 3, 2023
Max Friedman has spent his career uncovering and writing about the lives of others, but with his newly released book, he turns the focus onto his own family’s past. Painful Joy tells the story of Max’s parents, Sam and Frieda, who were Holocaust survivors that met and married after their liberation from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
His parents’ experiences during the Holocaust shaped their family life—and Max spent much of his life avoiding their traumatic past. It was only five years ago when Max decided to delve deeper into his family’s history. Upon doing so, he discovered the little his parents had told him provided only fragmented glimpses into their complex past.
Painful Joy delves into the true story of Max’s parents and the lasting impact of trauma on their family. Join us as Max shares his journey of writing this book, uncovering his family’s past, and the transformative power of storytelling.
We discussed:
- What led Max to uncover the history of his parents’ past as Holocaust survivors (and why he avoided it at first)
- The profound impact of trauma and what it means to be a survivor
- How Max found peace in his exploration of his parents’ past and how it changed him
- The magic of a published book and a newfound understanding of his family
- The transformative power of a completed journey for book readers
