糖心Vlog

A poignant story of a father鈥檚 Holocaust experience and subsequent second-generation trauma has been shortlisted for a national biography prize.

The Berlin Shadow, by playwright Professor Jonathan Lichtenstein, from the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, is one of five titles shortlisted for the .

It tells the story of a journey taken by Professor Lichtenstein and his elderly father Hans as they travelled back to Berlin, which his father had fled on the Kinderstransport in 1939.

, which celebrates books by less well known authors, has described The Berlin Shadow as a 鈥渄eeply moving memoir in three timeframes that confronts the defining trauma of the twentieth century and its effects on a father and son.

Professor Lichtenstein said: 鈥淚 feel very honoured indeed to be included in this shortlist - and that the Kindertransport is recognised for what it was 鈥� a symbol of hope and an active stand against the most terrible odds.10,000 children, mainly Jewish, survived their certain deaths because of the Kindertransport.鈥�

The four other authors shortlisted are Heather Clark, Hadley Freeman, Sudhir Hazareesingh and Shelley Klein. The winner will be announced at an online prize-giving on 9 March.

The Prize, which is supported by , will be judged by former Telegraph critic and author Rupert Christiansen, journalist and biographer Selina Hastings, and Alexander Masters who has received the Biographers鈥� Club Exceptional Contribution to Biography Award 2021.