“I went to work in the bakery and was very happy there…. It took so little at that point to find pleasure in the day.”
1943 to 1945 | Poland and Germany | By LOUIS NEIBRIEF, as told to JEFF KATZ

“An ancient scream ripped through me. Not one of anger or fear but one of relief and freedom.”
1942 | Croatia | By DANI NOVAK

“When the train had first started to move, I had almost screamed. I couldn’t get enough air, and I think that may have saved my life.”
1939 | Poland | As told to THURSDAY BRAM

“If it wasn’t for pickles, my grandfather and my dad wouldn’t have survived the war, I wouldn’t be here, and my children wouldn’t be here.”
Spring of 1998 | San Francisco, California | By MIMI PAIS

“For the first time in a long time, I felt needed. Truly needed…. And it felt disgustingly good.”
January 2003 | Virginia Beach, Virginia | By R.V. DELUMPA

“I consider a suicide note and reject it. I don’t care to say anything, and it doesn’t matter, for I’m nearly gone already.”
May 2002 | Berkeley, California | By TONY LEE

“A man was killed, another man will most likely be brutalized in prison … and now the rest of us will go about our lives.”
January 2007 | Clarion, Pennsylvania | By D. CURTIS ALDRICH

“When I was 22 years old, I killed an 8-year-old kid in a car accident. After that, many things changed.”
Mid-1980s | Los Angeles, California | By ANNE GRAY

“I tossed it sidearm — as if skipping a stone — from a jagged slab of cement that pushed out of an industrialized section of shoreline.”
September 2000 | Hoboken, New Jersey | By JOHN McCAFFREY

“The night after his father’s burial, both grieving and finally free, Stevie went cruising for men. It was his first time.”
1972 to 1992 | Columbus, Ohio | By LAUREN MORGAN