When the Birds Stopped Singing: Living with the Wounds of War: Personal Essays by Dr. Clemens Loew

NEW YORK - Nov. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- Dr. Clemens Loew, psychoanalyst, author and co-founder of the prominent National Institute of Psychotherapies, recently published a lyrical collection of essays, When the Birds Stopped Singing: Living with the Wounds of War, blending his harrowing childhood experiences with a search for security, love and building his own family. He survived the Holocaust by first hiding his identity and then by hiding in a convent outside Warsaw.His mother and uncle survived, but the rest of his family was killed. The book was written in honor and memory of his father, mother and uncle whose extraordinary courage and devotion enabled the author to live the life depicted in this collection of essays.

The author explains, “Having lived as a child through times of Nazi violence, I am familiar with loss and terrifying uncertainty, and have witnessed gritty heroism. This is a memoir about my mother’s fierce genius for survival and deep love for me. It is the story of love and hope found in new relationships, and of my struggle to give meaning to the madness I experienced and witnessed and that lingers in me as an adult. I acknowledge that along with the privilege of survival comes the obligation to live one’s life to its fullest and honor those who did not survive.”

Following the war, he and his mother stayed in a displaced-person camp and then in Munich, waiting for visas. They arrived in America in 1949, when he was 11 years old, speaking Polish, German and Hebrew.

He recalls, "My painful early experiences remain with me and echo throughout these personal essays of growing up, finding adventure, and seeking love. In my choice to live life to its fullest, I have found a way to honor my father, my grandparents, and all who were so brutally persecuted."

After obtaining his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa, he furthered his postgraduate training in New York City. He lives and practices in Manhattan, where he is a psychoanalyst, author and co-founder of the prominent National Institute of Psychotherapies. His portraits of child Holocaust survivors, exhibited in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in Manhattan, brought him recognition as a photographer.

When the Birds Stopped Singing: Living with the Wounds of War: Personal Essays by Clemens Loew. Available in paperback from Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/When-Birds-Stopped-Singing-Personal...

All profits from the sale of the book will be given to HIAS, Hebrew Immigration Aid Society.

Praise for the book.

.... “When the Birds Stop Singing” is a masterful, brave, heart rendering read. Told with sensitivity, it beautifully captures Loew’s reflections on the arc of an extraordinary life."
- J. Readick

Intimate, honest and beautifully written, the personal essays of Clemens Loew tell his story.
-   J. Keller

“Clemens Loew’s stories are rich with poetry, saturated images that bear great pain and beauty …”
- E. Fries

This gifted memoirist ... recalls his struggle to overcome his traumatic beginnings, driven by the desire to find the elusive love and security that he missed as a boy but then found late in life, giving testimony to the strength of the human spirit.
- Kenneth Frank, PhD
Co-Founder & Director of Training, NIP

Dr. Loew's memoir describes a frightened orphan little boy who finds solace listening in on the chatter of the singing birds. It is all spoken directly, starkly, in an almost lyrical voice.
- Dori Laub, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University

Read all the reviews on Amazon.

A Reading of the book by actors Jill Choder-Goldman andSteve Friedman will take place on Friday, Nov 21, 2014 at 6:30pm at The Cathedral House at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine - 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112^th Street) in New York City.

For more info visit http://www.clemensloewphd.com/