THE SHOEMAKER OF TREBLINKA
A Son’s Discovery and Quest for Meaning
Foreword by Michael Berenbaum
Book Launch- January 2027 by Amsterdam Publishers
A hidden past. A haunting inheritance. A journey of discovery.
For decades, Paul believed he had heard all his parents’ tales of tragedy and loss during the Holocaust. After finding the handwritten testimony his father had hidden in his prayer shawl bag that was left for him after his death, Paul discovers a staggering secret. His father, Samuel, a village shoemaker, was one of the few survivors of the notorious extermination camp Treblinka, where he was forced to make boots for Nazi officers. Even more astonishing, the pages reveal his role in the camp’s 1943 prisoner uprising.
Driven by questions that refuse to settle, Paul – aided by his wife Sharon – embarks on a
journey to reconcile his image of the modest father he thought he knew. Piecing together his parents’ histories, including his mother’s daring escape from the Warsaw Ghetto, Paul faces a painful past he had long ignored, and wrestles with the consequences of his new understanding.
The Shoemaker of Treblinka moves between history and memory, absence and revelation,
broadening our perspective on Treblinka and the uprising. Intimate and unflinching, this powerful
memoir shows how a single discovery can redefine a family’s narrative and shape its future, turningsilence into testimony as their stories unfold.
About the Authors
Sharon Citrin Goldstein, an ordained Cantor and MA graduate in Jewish Education from Hebrew
College with valedictorian honors, has shared her passion for Judaism through sermons and song. She has performed for the Hidden Child Foundation and dedicated nearly twenty years to ADL’s Connecticut region, educating and empowering thousands of students and their families to confront antisemitism. Her writings on Judaism and family heritage appear in numerous publications, including Moment, JewishGen, the Connecticut Literary Anthology, and Tell Your Story Challenge of West Palm Beach, where she was a short-story finalist.
Paul Goldstein is a native New Yorker who grew up with Polish Jewish immigrant parents. He earned an MBA in Marketing with honors from Babson College. After a career of creating ad campaigns for major brands, he taught Marketing and Advertising at universities in New York City and Connecticut. As the son of Holocaust survivors, he’s become a prominent Holocaust presenter and educator, speaking at hundreds of schools, religious and civic organizations, and on podcasts. He has been honored as a keynote speaker at the University of New Haven, the Jewish Historical Society, and before the United States District Court. The couple lives in Westport, Connecticut, and Delray Beach, Florida.