Once respected and admired in the small city of Großröhrsdorf, Germany, the Schonwald family was gradually turned into “the Other,” becoming sacrificial victims in the vain attempt by Germany to recapture lost glory and prosperity. The transformation happened in three steps as they were progressively reduced through the mechanisms of defamation, demotion, and, ultimately, dehumanization. Kenneth D. Wald, the son of Holocaust survivors and grandson of Holocaust victims, spent most of his career as a political scientist at the University of Florida. A visiting scholar at Harvard, the University of Michigan and University of Toronto, he also lectured at universities in Israel, England, Canada, Scotland, Sweden, and China.

The story of his paternal family’s encounter with the Holocaust, The Ghosts on the Wall: A Grandson’s Memoir of the Holocaust, was released by Amsterdam Publishers in November, 2024 and was a finalist for best memoir in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in 2025.