In Peter Sichrovsky’s short story “New York,” which was recently featured on JewishFiction.net, a Jewish couple living in Brooklyn consider their own survival of the Holocaust as they contemplate whether or not to attend a reception at the Austrian Embassy for the fiftieth anniversary of the end of WWII.

Peter Sichrovsky is an Austrian journalist, author, former member of the European Parliament (1996–2004), and co-founder of Austria’s liberal newspaper Der Standard. His latest short story collection Verklempt (which does not include “New York”) consists of individual pieces that are shards of one mythic prior image — Jewish identity. Can it still exist? Can it ever be made whole?

Verklempt will be re-released in paperback in November.