PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE is a comedy-drama memoir that presents the most brutal moment of Jewish history in an unorthodox manner. It honors the life lessons of a Holocaust survivor who reveals long-buried truths about surviving as an orphan and soldier who fought for Israeli independence. His scandalous secrets are disclosed to his son during an unforgettable Sunday night dinner in a Chinese restaurant.
But it’s not just stories that were passed down from a survivor to his children. Genetically Inherited Holocaust Trauma hitches a ride, resulting in his son’s dysfunctional relationships and dubious behaviors.
Like many books about the Holocaust, PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE addresses loss. But there’s also drug smuggling, attempts to reverse a circumcision, brothels, kibbutz ambushes, divorce, death camp visits, decadent nights at Studio 54, and tales of lost virginity.
Despite his own insecurities as a writer, plus deep concerns that other genocides might soon eclipse the Holocaust, a catalyst that drives the author is... will he finish the book while his father, one of the last Holocaust survivors, is still alive?
Another motivation for the book’s unique structure and irreverent tone is the challenge thrown down by Todd Diamond’s father who said, “Do me a favor, son. No long-winded descriptions of the smells in the Ghetto, the corpses. Everyone knows this already. Elie Wiesel, Primo Levy, Anne Frank, that guy who wrote the comic book about the mouse, they all covered it. Don’t be afraid to slip in a few jokes. What do you call it again… that bullshit you always say… oh yeah, write something poster-punk.”
He meant to say, post-punk. Todd’s father concluded his appeal by saying, “And besides, you’re no Elie Wiesel.”
So, while PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE probes the darkness of humanity, you’ll also find an equal amount of irreverence and humor that distinguishes it from most holocaust memoirs.
Put another way, if Mel Brooks and Amy Schumer adopted a second-generation Holocaust survivor, raised him, then sent him off to a writer’s retreat for anxious Jews, you’d get PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE.
To reach an ever-growing uninformed audience about the Holocaust, Todd Diamond has written this new resonant memoir, PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE with the intent to try and engage a wider, more diverse audience with different perspective that illuminates the past in a way that will help new generations of readers to understand the ongoing impact of these tragedies on succeeding generations.
Second-Generation Holocaust memoirs are bridges between the past and the future and useful reminders of the complex ways trauma manifests and is transmitted across generations. Pass the Trauma, Please isn’t just about the death camps, the gas chambers, the incomprehensible evil. It’s about the Holocaust and its aftershocks. The unrelenting ripple effect of a unique trauma that echoes through children raised in the long shadow of tragedy. He writes his story and the story of his parents and his extended family who perished in the Holocaust in a provocative and irreverent style to hopeful appeal and educate a broader readership. To that end, Todd finds light and humor amidst the wreckage, a real testament to the power of memory.
Born in Queens, New York, Todd Diamond delivers narratives that are unapologetically raw and darkly humorous--a reflection of the borough that raised him. He is a graduate of the Newhouse School Public Communications at Syracuse University. Armed with a Bachelors of Science in Advertising, he landed his first copywriting jobs in Providence and Boston where he created various product ad campaigns. He left New England for Silicon Valley and started the DMNA Agency that in a few years grew to become the one of the largest advertising firms in Silicon Valley. In addition to his acclaimed branding work for tech companies, Todd also founded a non-profit arts organization called Red Ink Studios that converted underutilized commercial properties into studios for more than 60 artists--revitalizing economically challenged areas in San Jose, San Francisco, and Flint, Michigan. After more than two decades leading his ad agency, Todd left Silicon Valley to break some ground of his own: he purchased a peony flower farm in Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter the pandemic hit and during this period Tod donated thousands of peonies to veteran homes, churches, synagogues, hospitals and artist collectives. With the travel ban in effect, Todd realized that he might not get the chance to spend time again with his father, a Holocaust survivor wholes in California. He therefore started writing his second-generation memoir, PASS THE TRAUMA, PLEASE, My Father's not-so-depressing Holocaust memoir about loveless, laughter, and legacy. Today Todd and his family live in Northern Virginia.
Abe Foxman is an American lawyer and activist. He served as national director ofthe Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from 1987 to 2015 and is currently the League's national director emeritus. From 2016 to 2021 he served as vice chair of the board of trustees at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City in order to lead its efforts on antisemitism.
