Ernestine Schlant Bradley didn’t use her allotted speech time on Friday to plug her husband’s campaign for the presidency; instead, she spoke about another topic that’s close to her heart.

Bradley, 64, spoke about her recently released labor of love, “The Language of Silence: West German Literature and The Holocaust,” to an audience of about 60 people in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.

The wife of former Sen. Bill Bradley is an accomplished author and researcher, as well as breast cancer survivor and mother of two.

Speaking in a crisp German accent, Bradley said the Holocaust has left scars on her homeland. She came to the United States in 1957, and if her husband is elected president, she would be the only naturalized citizen to become first lady.

“I think [the Holocaust] is something everybody born in Germany has to work through,” said Bradley, referring to the World War II genocide as a “formidable, horrifying experience.”

“All Germans, living in Germany … have to and to some extent do look at the Holocaust … and what it means today,” she said.

Bradley’s book is unique, she said, because instead of examining the history of the Holocaust, she researched how today’s authors view the tragedy.

“I didn’t want to write just another interpretation of the Holocaust; there are libraries full of those,” she said. “I wanted to ask the question, ‘Who are the people who are writing now?'”

Bradley said many Germans have taken their parents to task for their parts, whether large or small, in the Holocaust.

She admitted asking the same of her own parents: “So what, you weren’t in the party, but you were still German!”

But she said it’s easier to speak in hindsight about historical issues such as the Holocaust. She also spoke with admiration of the Germans who struggled against the Nazi regime and fought to illegally shelter Jews.

“There was the other Germany, and that other Germany has really not spoken out very much,” she said.

For her part, Bradley said her book, which she worked on for about 15 years, is the method she used to come to terms with the horrors of the Holocaust.

“You live with the awareness, or as a legacy, a responsibility, a tremendous burden,” Bradley said.