When Judi Shink’s parents introduced her to others, they always said, “This is Judith, and she’s an American!” For many years, it didn’t resonate that she was the first American-born member of her family, but eventually, she learned about the miraculous journey her parents and grandparents endured to give her this birthright.
Shink’s memoir, Speaking Through Silence, shares stories from the lives of all four of Shink’s grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. For most of her life, Shink knew them simply as her grandparents - Genia and Jack Grinbaum, and Charlotte and Ted Weiss. But as she learned the magnitude of the miracle of their - and her - existence, they became her heroes, and her identity became more complex.
And then, her daughter came home from school, where kids were making Hitler jokes. “This can’t be happening,” Judi thought. As a former teacher, she was determined to do something about it. She began speaking in schools and sharing her grandparents’ stories as the people she knew them to be, not as the Holocaust statistics one might read in a history book. The more she spoke, the more she realized how many people needed to hear these stories. So, she poured her grandparents’ stories into her first book, a memoir titled Speaking Through Silence.
Judi Shink
“Judi Shink’s story is beautiful and wrenching, and I was excited to partner with her to publish this powerful book. Younger generations need to understand the magnitude of the Holocaust and its reverberations through time by hearing the vibrant stories of real people. Judi does a great job of bringing her grandparents to life and painting a vivid picture of the people behind the atrocity, shining a light on what it takes to survive.” Lynne Golodner, publisher, Scotia Road Books
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The book is endorsed by
Jordana Green, Emmy Award-winning TV news anchor and WCCO radio host; Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan; Merle R. Saferstein, a memoirist and former Holocaust museum director in Florida; Heidi Shertok, award-winning romance novelist; Jennifer Sonterre, professor at Anoka-Ramsey Community College; Salvador Litvak, filmmaker, author and influencer also known as The Accidental Talmudist; Arthur Myron Horwitz, author and former publisher of the
Detroit Jewish News; and Rabbi Marcia A. Zimmerman from Temple Israel in Minneapolis.
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A Milwaukee native who now calls Minneapolis home, Shink is an educator, consultant, and speaker. In 2017, she co-founded Generations After MN, through the Jewish Community Relations Council, as a space for third-generation descendants of Holocaust survivors to share, learn, and build community.
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Speaking Through Silence is available for preorder on Amazon at
https://a.co/d/02JlHq73 or through
Scotia Road Books. On November 10 it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. There is a pre-launch event on Wednesday, November 4. Details and RSVP are found on
Judi's website.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 10:45AM