Stumbling Stones - an interview with author Miriam Landor
For the final blog of 2025, I am delighted to feature an interview with author Miriam Landor, who lives in Deerness. Miriam's book is an extraordinary journey of forgiveness and hope as she comes to terms with her father's family's traumatic history, and realises their experiences and reactions to them have subtly influenced her own character.
Q. Your book focuses on your father's family history. What prompted you to write about it?
Miriam: My father, Robert Landauer, fled Germany for London with his family in late 1938 when he
was eleven.They were assimilated German Jews. He never spoke about his childhood during
his life, but a chance meeting led to my beginning to uncover the Landauer's story. While
living in Switzerland for six months, we were introduced to a German man, whom I've called
Hans in the book. He told me about Stolpersteine - I had never heard of them.
Stolpersteine ('stumbling stones') are brass-faced cobblestones that are set into the pavement
outside the last address of a person who was killed or forced to flee by the Nazis; the brass is
inscribed with their name, date and fate. The idea is that passers-by will stumble in their
thoughts, experiencing a jolt to memory. Hans found out that there were already Stolpersteine
for my great grand-parents in a place called Landshut in Bavaria, and he put me in touch with
those responsible for their installation.Through these connections, I found out so much new
information about my father's family that it seemed wrong to let this knowledge be lost again.
As a psychologist, it struck me that we children who followed the war generation have
'stumbling stones' in our lives too, inherited from those traumatic times. I had the urge to write it
all down - with a sense of 'before it was too late', as those involved are aging. The memoir
lays out my journey of discovery, and the reflections this engendered.
Q. The book deals with dark periods in history, before, during and after WWII, but you infuse hope
and humour where appropriate. How difficult was it to do this?
Miriam: This was not a conscious decision on my part. The way the book turned out was a reflection
of what I was thinking as I discovered my father's family story and tried to consider what
impact these events had on the generation that followed. Many of the Landauers fled, part of
the world-wide diaspora, leaving behind home, possessions, culture and livelihood. Some
stayed, and they perished. Yet Robert, my father, whose middle name was Felix ('happy, lucky'),
wrote to his brother: 'we find happiness and joy in our lives...because of our attitude to life
which allows us to be personally happy while yet deeply feeling with people and the world in
their misery...'
Foremost in my mind when writing the book was the fact that I wouldn't have
known about any of this traumatic family history - the deaths, the losses, the betrayals - had it
not been for the many present-day Germans who sought me out to share their knowledge with
me in meaningful acts of reparation. The book culminates with the restoration of my great-
grandparents' silver salt dish, one small item from the silver levy forced on Jews during the
years of National Socialism. The National Museum of Bavaria has gone to extraordinary
lengths to return each of the silver objects it holds to the families of the original victims.
This kind of action is the source of my hope for the future. The theory of positive psychology
suggests that whatever you focus on will grow; it is important, therefore, to look for reasons
to hope rather than to despair.
Q. The book is obviously very personal and emotional. Did you have any doubts about making it
public?
Miriam: During the long years of putting this book together I took courses in memoir writing, and
this is an issue I gave much consideration to...What should remain private? How can a writer
safeguard the rights of characters who are still living?
When I began, I initially found it very difficult to write down anything that wasn't purely
factual and supported by evidence (from my background in academic psychology) and my
mentor was continually pressing me :- but how does that make you feel? What did that mean to
you? - so anything I eventually wrote of a personal nature was consciously considered. And
similarly, I took seriously my responsibility to the people I was writing about in their private
capacity. I gave each one a pseudonym, and sent them the passages in which they appeared,
asking if they would like to keep or change the name I had given them, or whether they
preferred me to use their real name. Memoir has to dig deep and be honest, if it is to have
anything to offer the reader. Several people have told me the book resonated with their
experience, and yet they had completely different lives to mine, so that made me think I
must have succeeded in touching on themes underpinning the surface events: universal emotions
that have relevance to others.
Q. Your father was a champion for social justice. How much has that rubbed off on you?
Miriam: He was indeed. He espoused the Quaker ideals, had little interest in material wealth or
social status and desired only to be of service to others. He stated in his letters to his brother
that he didn't believe in punishment, and he demonstrated this through his life of action, not
only in his idealistic words: he trained as a probation officer in order to help repair broken
lives, and left his young family to volunteer in a refugee camp in Kenya, run by the Friends,
following the Mau Mau independence struggle. He used to say 'My job is to work myself out of
a job.' My mother, on the other hand, was more of a realist, a pragmatist. She supported and
followed her husband around the world, whilst also trying to ensure that her family had
comfortable lives, and somewhere to call home - to belong to. I guess I fall somewhere
between the two.
Q. Thank you for your very honest answers. Is there anything else you wish to add?
Miriam: This is something I didn't know until the publication of 'Stumbling Stones'; readers'
reviews are important! Whether it's a short comment or a long analysis, reader reviews help
people find their way to books they may enjoy, and helps authors reach a wider audience.
This is my New Year's Resolution: to leave an online review every tie I finish a book; I'd love
it if it could be yours too.
A very big thank you to Miriam Landor for taking part in the interview.
Stumbling Stones can be found on line:
Comments
Post a Comment