Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

In Chapter 7, Gladwell details the formation and impact of the Holocaust survivors’ community in Los Angeles. The chapter begins with the story of Fred Diament, a 15-year-old who endured the horrors of Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz during World War II. After the war, Diament immigrated to Los Angeles, where he became a central figure in a tight-knit group of Holocaust survivors. This group, including notable individuals like Siegfried Halbreich and Masha Loen, initially struggled with openly discussing their traumatic experiences. Their shared history created a unique bond, but societal reluctance to confront the atrocities of the Holocaust meant that these survivors often kept their stories private.

The narrative highlights the challenges faced by Holocaust survivors in postwar America. Despite their resilience, many survivors felt compelled to suppress their memories to rebuild their lives and assimilate into American society. This silence extended to their families, with some survivors choosing not to discuss their experiences with their children. The chapter underscores the slow emergence of Holocaust remembrance in American culture, pointing out that the atrocities only began to receive widespread recognition and memorialization decades later.

Gladwell particularly focuses on the creation of the first Holocaust museum in the United States, the Martyrs Memorial Museum, established by Diament and his peers.