Danny M Cohen
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Fiction  >  The 19th Window

ENTER THE MYSTERY  >

The 19th Window is inspired by a stirring incident at ruins in Poland where I found myself solving a mystery of architecture and memory.

As we experience the story, we get to decide the actions of Lydia, our fictional protagonist visiting her grandmother's country of birth for the first time. But follow certain paths and we hit dead ends where the mystery terminates, unsolved. On the surface, these decision points serve as motivators; as readers we have a sense of control. On a deeper level, the decision points and dead ends – following no particular pattern or logic – represent how chance and luck, including bad luck, play a role in our investigation of history.

I was Lydia, once. As a teenager searching for my grandfather's murdered family, I was scared of what might be uncovered. What I found were dead ends, but also unexpected connections to hidden histories.


​Yet learning about history isn't enough. We need to explore and question how we've come to remember (and misremember) the past, even when the answers might be frightening or, worse, forever lost.



Published in partnership with Unsilence.

In addition, a linear version of The 19th Window appeared in 
The Holocaust in History and Memory.

Copyright 2021, Danny M. Cohen, All rights reserved.
  • About
    • Profile
    • Affiliations
    • CV
    • In the News
    • Contact
  • Professor
  • Writer
    • Train
    • The 19th Window
    • Dead Ends
    • Non-Fiction > >
      • Holocaust Education >
        • A Day In The Life Of...
        • Overlapping Triangles
        • Teaching About T4
        • When A Boxcar Isn't A Boxcar
        • Crying At The Museum
        • Magical Transports & Transformations
        • When There Are No Words
      • Holocaust Memory >
        • Ava and Miriam
        • Ghosts of Auschwitz
        • Holocaust Remembrance Delayed
        • Love, War, and Fairy Tale Endings
        • Masks of Holocaust Memory
        • Never Heard
        • Something Missing At Treblinka
      • Social Justice >
        • Is There A Canopy In Store For Me?
        • Laughing About Rape
        • The 'R' Word
        • To My Teacher, Mr. Paszek
    • Forewords > >
      • Present Past
      • I Was A Doctor In Auschwitz
  • Musician
  • Public Speaker
    • Keynotes & Workshops
    • Events & Trainings