Book Page 1
JEANNE BEKER
Photo by Ed Michael Roth
We Used to Dream of Freedom
We Used to Dream of Freedom explores what a family is or
could be; the psychology of survivors and the impact of survivor
silence on their family; and the responsibility of second generations from traumatized communities to share knowledge from their
own histories to help alleviate the suffering of others. Irreverent,
moving, and tragic, often all at once, at its heart it is a story of a
man who disappeared on his family, his quest to understand why
he had to leave, and the long-overdue discovery about his parents
that brought him back.
SAM CHAITON is one of the Canadians who helped wrongfully imprisoned Rubin Carter gain his freedom. Co-author of
the international bestseller Lazarus and the Hurricane, he is portrayed in the film The Hurricane by Liev Schreiber. A founder of
Innocence Canada, Sam lives in Toronto
Advance Praise
We Used to Dream of Freedom is a fascinating and compelling
account of a life lived outside convention yet guided by the
most important human values: freedom, family, compassion,
memory, and self-knowledge. Frank, touching, thoughtful,
and surprising, Chaiton’s memoir is a testament to the healing
and understanding, and ultimately, love that is possible when a
family shares the difficult stories, and speaks the unspeakable.
— GARY BARWIN, author of Yiddish for Pirates
We children of Holocaust survivors live precariously, with so
much trauma ingrained in us, and so many reasons to somehow
break free and strive for success. While my survivor parents
were adamant about telling their war stories incessantly, many
others, like Sam Chaiton’s parents, insisted on keeping their
stories a secret. We Used to Dream of Freedom paints a poignant
portrait of the devastating damage mystery and dark secrets
can do to family ties. Chaiton’s fearless and moving memoir is
a precious gift to anyone who yearns for a better understanding
of intergenerational trauma and the path to true liberation.
- JEANNE BEKER, author, fashion editor, and television personality
A bold, honest, and absorbing exploration of how the Holocaust
and its secrets continue to traumatize a second generation.
Chaiton’s flight from familial dysfunction sets him on an extraordinary path, leading to the freedom of Rubin “Hurricane”
Carter. The author’s stunning realization then brings us full
circle: the trajectory of his Jewish survivor parents and the
African American boxer “are scarily similar in the injustices
of their incarcerations, based entirely on racism rather than
reason.” A timely and gripping read.
- LISA BRAHIN, author of Tears Over Russia
A powerful “second generation” memoir that captures the
impact of growing up in a family with two survivor parents
who imposed total silence about their Holocaust experiences.
Among the five sons, Sam’s response was decades of alienation
and disappearance but ultimately healing and reconciliation
after uncovering his parents’ horrific stories.”
- CHRISTOPHER R. BROWNING, professor emeritus of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This multi-faceted memoir is the story of Chaiton’s years raised
in a Holocaust survivor family and followed by his unique adventurous journey working through trauma, reinvention, and
understanding. In our current world of daunting change
and challenge, his story will resonate with all ages, cultures,
and nationalities who are struggling to maintain their equilibrium.
— PAULA DAVID, MSW, Ph.D., survivor trauma expert
You will be transported through time and memory by Sam
Chaiton’s stunning memoir. With remarkable honesty, clarity,
and evocative prose, Chaiton shares a storied life touching on
family, art, activism, the Holocaust, and his relationship and
role in the exoneration of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. We Used
to Dream of Freedom is a must read.
— ALAN DILWORTH, artistic director, Necessary Angel Theatre Company
It is as if the wisdom of Soren Kierkegaard – “life can only be
understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” — set in
motion Sam Chaiton’s memoir, as a guiding directive through
a profound journey of self-discovery and soulful reclamation
of his parents’ past.
— BERNICE EISENSTEIN, author of I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors
Sam Chaiton’s We Used to Dream of Freedom is a brilliant read,
abounding with clear-eyed humanity, telling us about an extraordinary life in which Chaiton resets the scales of justice, not just for himself and his family but for all of us.
- JAMES LOCKYER, co-founder, Innocence Canada
Sam dances through his life-affirming meeting with the early
modern dance movement at a time we know little about in
writing; communal living à la “summer of love”; a persistent
urge to right wrongs in himself and in the world at large. He
finds his family through leaving them behind — his siblings for
two decades, his parents forever — but a solid nuclear circle of
dependable friends surround him and care for him. I found the
book extremely relatable as a Canadian-born dance artist with
roots in Europe through my own father’s parents, themselves
saved by ingenuity, and silence, from the horrors of WWII.
—JAMES KUDELKA, choreographer
From his beginnings as a child of Holocaust survivors (like
me) dreaming of a life in the arts (also like me!), through his
eventual role in helping to secure Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s
freedom, and beyond, comes Sam Chaiton’s frank, wholly en-
gaging memoir. I did not know him until the journey he took
into his family’s heart-rending history led him from Wierzbnik,
Poland, to Toronto, Canada, – and right to my door. The
synchronicity of our two families’ experiences during WWII is
astounding. The slave number that the Nazis forcibly tattooed
on my mother, Manya’s, arm in Auschwitz is a mere fifteen
numbers apart from the one Sam’s mother, Luba, bore since
that terrifying first day of their incarceration. They were in the
very same lineup, and that was just one coincidence on their
tortured road to freedom. What a trip.
— GEDDY LEE, musician, Rush
Sam Chaiton’s search for familial love and connection drew
him into a life marked by keen curiosity, cycles of experimentation, risk, accomplishment, success, loss, acts of compassion, and eventually to the revelation of his family’s buried past. May our obstacles goad us to live lives that make a difference, as Sam’s has.
- DENISE FUJIWARA, artistic director, Fujiwara Dance Inventions
A vividly written, dramatic personal memoir of activism, artistry, alienation, and ultimately, affirmation, depicting a life lived in the murky after-shadows of the Holocaust.
- GABOR MATÉ, M.D., author of The Myth of Normal
Given his experiences as a child of Holocaust survivors, I under-
stand why Sam dedicated his life to righting wrongs and fight-
ing for justice for the innocent, including Rubin “Hurricane”
Carter and me.
— GUY PAUL MORIN
No two Holocaust survivors’ stories are alike. Each is unique
unto itself. And as Sam Chaiton’s revealing, artfully written,
and timely autobiography, We Used to Dream of Freedom,
makes clear, this is equally true for survivors’ children raised
in the shadow of the Holocaust. Chaiton’s second-generation
story, singularly his own, is a conversation starter that deserves
to be read.