S8 Ep 2 - Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life

Summary

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True Fiction Project

S8 Ep 2 – Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life

Host: Reenita Hora
Guest: Pamela Reitman, Award-winning Author
Date: July 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on author Pamela Reitman’s novel Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life, a work of biographical literary fiction inspired by the life, tragedy, and artistic legacy of the German-Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon. Host Reenita Hora delves into the challenges and ethics of writing historical and biographical fiction, especially when dealing with sensitive topics like the Holocaust. The conversation explores Salomon's personal struggles, her radical artwork, and the transformative power of creation in the face of trauma. Reitman reads an excerpt from her novel and discusses her process of blending fact with imagination to honor the reality—and mystery—of Salomon’s life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Defining Biographical Literary Fiction

• Biographical fiction is distinct from historical fiction: it is built from the framework of a real person’s life but mingles documented events with fiction to fill in gaps and deepen emotional truth.

  • Pamela Reitman (01:00 & 03:36):

    “Historical fiction and biographical fiction, they are a melding of two literary forms. The historical, which is history, and the fictional, which comes from the imagination.”

• Writers must constantly decide what details to invent or adapt, especially with sparse or conflicting facts.

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Navigating Fact and Imagination in Holocaust-Related Stories

• Ethical concerns become pronounced when handling real events and trauma, particularly as living survivors become fewer.

  • Pamela Reitman (05:34):

    “Because we're coming to a time when… there’ll be no survivors. To me, that is a special burden on the writer because there's no one to check with.”

• The line between fact and fiction is blurred by limited historical records and diverging interpretations (i.e., whether certain relationships were romantic or platonic).

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A Writer’s Dilemma: Deciding the Fate of Relationships

• Case Study: Wolf Abrams
  • Charlotte’s relationship with her mentor, Wolf Abrams, is ambiguous in historical sources.
  • Paintings suggest intimacy, but surviving relatives discounts romance.
  • Pamela’s choice: She depicts Abrams as a mentor, not a lover, choosing depth of artistic inspiration over dramatic speculation.
    • Pamela Reitman (06:57):

      “I chose to make them not lovers…He was more, in my mind, a mentor to her, and she relied on his belief in her. While they might have been lovers, I didn't think it would serve my story to add that dimension…I thought it would be distracting.”

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Why Tell Salomon’s Story in Fiction?

• Reitman’s Goal:
  • Fiction transcends the boundaries of biography, using artistic license to explore emotional “what ifs.”
  • She focuses on how art became a vehicle for processing grief and trauma for Charlotte.
    • Pamela Reitman (08:50):

      “I focus on the way that art heals the trauma of great suffering... Her making of this masterpiece, Life? or Theater?, was a way for her to transform her suffering. I wouldn't say heal it…but at least there was some transformation in that creation.”

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Discovering Charlotte Salomon

• First Encounter:

  • Reitman first encountered Salomon's artwork at an exhibit in San Francisco and felt an immediate, almost spiritual connection.
    • Pamela Reitman (13:11):

      “I felt a hand on my shoulder, almost a presence. I felt a knowing inside myself that this was [my story]...I felt in awe of the story and of her and...wanted to bring this remarkable woman into literature as a character.”

• Salomon’s Opus—Life? or Theater?

  • Created over one year in exile in France: 1,325 paintings, later edited to 769.
  • Included dialogue and musical cues; envisioned as a multimedia work, but Salomon was murdered before it could be publicly realized.
  • Work survived due to her family, ultimately debuting worldwide in various art forms decades later.

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Salomon’s Legacy and the Power of Art

• Salomon’s paintings not only depict her family’s trauma but also serve as a testament of resilience and an “operetta of survival.”
• Her legacy was only fully recognized after her death; exhibitions and performances have since introduced her work to new generations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the blending of genres:
  Pamela Reitman [01:00]:

  “Deciding what you can change, what you have to keep…That is done piecemeal. …Did she really attend this exhibit? Was this man a lover or not a lover?”

• On responsibility when survivors are no longer here:
  Pamela Reitman [05:34]:

  “There's no one to check with...that is a special burden on the writer.”

• On artistic transformation:
  Pamela Reitman [08:50]:

  “The way that art heals the trauma of great suffering...her making of this masterpiece…was a way for her to transform her suffering.”

• On first seeing Salomon’s art:
  Pamela Reitman [13:11]:

  “I felt a knowing inside myself…This was...I felt in awe of the story and of her...I really wanted to bring this remarkable woman into literature as a character.”

• Summary of Salomon’s creative process:
  Pamela Reitman [12:13]:

  “She made 1,325 paintings in one year…Then…edited it down to 769…added dialogue…musical prompts…It became like an operetta. In it, she exposes the suicides that had occurred in her family, which was radical and dangerous in her time.”

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Important Timestamps

• 01:00–03:36: Introduction to biographical vs. historical fiction
• 05:34–08:28: Responsibility and ethical dilemmas in Holocaust fiction
• 08:50–11:31: The story and the emotional focus of Reitman’s novel
• 13:11–15:05: Reitman’s discovery of Salomon and insights into Life? or Theater?
• 16:56–20:21: Reitman reads an excerpt from her novel
  • Quote from the excerpt (paraphrased):
    “You are much more. The words...purified it. …Knowing that you are so much more than your suffering. That is how you will do it...You are a genius and I believe in you.”

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Where to Find Pamela Reitman’s Work

• Book: Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life – available wherever books are sold ([16:42])
• Website: [Reitman's site for contact and events]
• Presentations: Offers in-person and online talks, including art print exhibits
• Social media: Facebook

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Final Notes

• Reitman encourages readers to leave reviews and engage in discussion.
• The novel was featured on Amazon’s Biographical Literary Fiction hot new releases.
• Salomon’s story, and Reitman’s retelling, invites us to consider the ethical boundaries of fiction, the necessity of imaginative empathy, and the enduring power of art under oppression.

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For links and more information, check the podcast’s show notes or visit www.TrueFictionProject.com

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Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Pamela Reitman]

Historical fiction and biographical fiction, they are a melding of two literary forms. The historical, which is history, and the fictional, which comes from the imagination. And they're put together so they're both blended, I think in terms of deciding what you can change, what you have to keep. That is done piecemeal. This character, this situation, did she really attend this exhibit? Was she really in gur camp? Was this man a lover or not a lover?

[Renita Hora]

Welcome to the True Fiction Project, a podcast series that explores the origins of fiction. Every week we begin with an interview nonfiction, followed by a creative piece, fiction inspired by something from the interview. The idea is to demonstrate, of course, that fiction is born out of our life experiences. Now here's your host, storyteller, author, public speaker, health and wellness expert, Rita Hora.

Welcome to the True Fiction Project. I'm your host, Renita Hora. Thrilled to introduce today's guest path, Pamela Reitman, who is an award winning author. She is based in Healdsburg, California, but travels to San Francisco frequently where I live. And she also writes historical fiction. So we are here to discuss her book, which I'm gonna let her talk about. It is called Charlotte. Charlotte. I'm pronouncing it wrong, so you know what? Let's bring in Pamela. Hi Pamela. Welcome to the project.

[Pamela Reitman]

Hi Renita. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for inviting.

[Renita Hora]

Thank you for being on the show today. And I'm so tempted to say Charlotte, but I know I'm pronouncing it wrong. So let's start by you telling us the name of your book.

[Pamela Reitman]

The title of my book is Charlotte Solomon Paints her Life. And now I say Charlotte all the time. So I will probably be saying Charlotte but that is the correct pronunciation, Charlotte.

[Renita Hora]

Okay. Well, it sounds so much more elegant.

[Pamela Reitman]

I think it does.

[Renita Hora]

So I am always really intrigued by historical fiction. I write historical fiction. But your book, Charlotte Solomon Paints Her Life Goes Deeper because this is biographical, literary fiction. So can you explain to our listeners what that means?

[Pamela Reitman]

Yes. Biographical literary fiction is fiction that's based on a true life. So historical fiction may be in a period, but. And all the characters are fictional. Biographical fiction is based on a life. And this is the life of Charlotte Solomon, of course.

[Renita Hora]

So obviously, one can only begin to imagine and understand the amount of research that has gone into this. But I'm very curious as a writer, because this is still fiction, biographical fiction, but fiction. How much license do you have to fictionalize? How does it work?

[Pamela Reitman]

Well, that is the question, because one wants to be clear about what one is doing. And the thing is, historical fiction and biographical fiction, they are a melding of two literary forms. The historical, which is history, and the fictional, which comes from the imagination. And they're put together, so they're both blended, I think, in terms of deciding what you can change, what you have to keep. That is done piecemeal. This character, this situation, did she really attend this exhibit? Was she really in gur camp? Was this man a lover or not? A lover? And I do have a slideshow presentation, and in that, I address the questions of fact and fiction, because I think, especially with fiction that is related to the Holocaust, that that is very important for the author to be transparent about the decisions that she or he has made.

[Renita Hora]

So if you could unpack that for us. When you say writing about the Holocaust, it's even more important to be intentional about the decisions you make. Do explain.

[Pamela Reitman]

I feel like, because we're coming to a time when the survivors, you know, there's very few of them, and we're moving into a historical period where there'll be no survivors. And to me, that is a special burden on the writer because there's no one to check with. So I would put. That would be the simple way to put it. Right.

[Renita Hora]

So a lot is then left up to imagination, I'm guessing. How did you tackle this in your book? Could you give us an example of decisions that you made that were difficult, that you had to be intentional about?

[Pamela Reitman]

Yes, I will. I can do that. So there was a character in the book. His name is Wolf Abrams, and he was very influential for Charlotte. He came into her home as a voice teacher, and he was training her stepmother, and he was enamored by the stepmother and to the point where she got disgusted with him and threw him out. But Charlotte was kind of waiting in the wings, and she started to follow him around in cafes and listened to him. She was very impressed by his philosophy. And he had been in the trenches in World War II and had suffered greatly there. And she showed him her work, and he was moved by it, but she was obsessed by him. So the question, the fact or fiction question, is, were they lovers? And that's what people might want to know. So here's what I did. I looked at her paintings, and there are paintings that are explicit where you might make that conclusion, where there are two bodies. Her body is underneath his body in a watercolor gouache floating in a background. And there's many like that, and they're beautiful. And her biographer assumed that they were lovers and just kind of wrote the biography that way. But when the stepmother who survived the war was interviewed many years later, decades later, she said, oh, no, those paintings were just flights of fancy. They were not lovers. So what was I going to do? Am I going to make them lovers or not lovers? I think that I could defend that either way. So I chose to make them not lovers, in case you were going to ask me that question. And the reason I did that is because he was more, in my mind, a mentor to her, and she relied on his belief in her. And while they might have been lovers, I didn't think it would serve my story to add that dimension of their relationship into the story. I thought it would be distracting, and I really wanted to make the mentorship stronger.

[Renita Hora]

I see. So very, very interesting. And when you talk about the story, very basic question I have to ask, what is the story? And really a deeper question is, why did you choose to portray this story through this book, given that there was already a biography out there?

[Pamela Reitman]

Okay. Well, the story is about a young woman who is struggling to become a serious modernist artist while she's in exile. A Jewish German young girl, actually, who had been an art student. And she's struggling to become an artist while she's in exile in the south of France. And while the Nazis are invading France and coming closer and closer. And she struggles to create this masterpiece and get it into the hands of safekeeping before she's captured by the Nazis. That's the story I wrote. Now, your question was, why did I do this when there was a biography? Correct. So biography is very interesting, and I relied on it a lot because I think that historical fiction, biographical fiction is very different than biography. So the biographer, when the biographer comes up against facts or the lack of facts, she can't go any further with the story. But when the writer comes up to that edge where there's no facts, everything opens up. Then the writer gets to do what she wants to imagine what might have happened. And any set of facts, like my story, is only one story. Somebody could have told her story differently. I focus on the way that art heals the trauma of great suffering, because this was a woman who had lost her mother when she was very young. She lost her. Her home when she had to leave Berlin by herself and everything that she had had known. And when she was in the south of France, she found out that all the women in her family had committed suicide. A couple of men, too, and the women included her mother. And so she was really traumatized. And also then the war that's raging. So it's. To me, it's also about how her making of this masterpiece, life or theater, was a way for her to transform her suffering. I wouldn't say heal it. I don't know that she could have been healed, but at least there was some transformation in that creation.

[Renita Hora]

So certainly very strong female characters, autobiographical elements, healing. And I know that you work a lot in healing and meditation. How did you discover Charlotte Solomon? And of course, I can guess what drew you to the story, but you tell us in your words.

[Pamela Reitman]

Okay. You're doing better about saying Charlotte

[Renita Hora]

being intentional.

[Pamela Reitman]

Okay. So I saw an exhibit of her painting, and they came to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. And by the way, before I moved into Healdsburg a couple years ago, I had been living in San Francisco since the 1970s. And so I been introduced to her before, and. But I thought, okay, I'm going to go see these paintings because I'll never have a chance. So I think your listeners and viewers might want to know what life or theater is if I could just digress a little bit.

[Renita Hora]

Please do.

[Pamela Reitman]

Yep. The advertising for it talks about it being a monumental and a masterpiece. And people might think, like, oh, it's like a really big painting or something. No, these are. She made 1325 paintings in one year. Watercolor gouache paintings. She was alone and without identity papers when she did that. Then in the next year, she edited it down to around 769 paintings. She added dialogue, which she wrote on transparencies or write directly on the painting itself. And she added musical prompts that she wanted the viewer to hear. And it became like an operetta. This was a huge work. And in it, she Exposes the suicides that had occurred in her family, which was radical and dangerous in her time. So when I saw the work, it was not the full 769. It was a selection of around 250 at the. And they were on the gallery walls. And I went in and out of the gallery and there was a lot of educational material about her life, which is I've just told you a bit about. And I just found myself stopped with museum gore sort of flowing around me. And it was like I felt a hand on my shoulder, almost a presence. I felt a knowing inside myself that this was. I felt very connected. I felt in awe of the story and of her. And I really wanted to bring this remarkable woman into literature as a character.

[Renita Hora]

Absolutely. I can see why. I mean, it makes perfect sense as you describe it now, this life story that she painted and produced audio as well, music. When did she do that and where was she? This is not when she was in France, surely?

[Pamela Reitman]

Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I think I need to clarify. She did not produce it.

[Renita Hora]

Oh, she.

[Pamela Reitman]

I mean, she did make a production. It was. She was captured by the Nazis and she was murdered in Auschwitz and her work was discovered by her father and stepmother after the war. It was in two big packages, all these paintings, they held on to it for a long time. Eventually they gave it to the Jewish Museum of Amsterdam. And then eventually it actually was performed as an operetta, as a ballet, as a theater piece. And finally a true full scale opera was made and debuted in Salzburg in 2017, I think.

[Renita Hora]

Amazing.

[Pamela Reitman]

But she just made the paintings and it was almost like being the director, putting notes on it so that somebody could figure out how to produce it.

[Renita Hora]

Amazing. It's almost like she had the foresight to know that this would travel and represent not just her story, but the story of so many and so many who are no more.

[Pamela Reitman]

Wow.

[Renita Hora]

Amazing. Where can we find this book and your work and any other work related to it? You know, what sort of links or social media or other things can you give our audience?

[Pamela Reitman]

Okay, so the book can I show? Hold it up so people can see the COVID Oh, look at that.

[Renita Hora]

Yes.

[Pamela Reitman]

And that is an oil painting that Charlotte made of herself in 1940 when she was in the south of France. And I have a slideshow presentation called Revisiting Charlotte Solomon and that's available as an in person presentation. And where a slideshow doesn't work like in a bookstore, I'm available to talk about Charlotte Solomon paints her life and start a conversation. I also bring with me, an exhibit of quality art prints of Charlotte's work to my talks, and they are a big hit. I have two of them behind me here. There's one and then there's the other one. I'm not sure how easy it is to see it, but they are stunning works. And for all the book groups out there, I can do that too, in person where possible, or on zoom. And for all of those things, you can send a message to me through a contact page on my website, which is www.and the novel Charlotte Solomon Paints her Life that can be obtained wherever books are sold. And I am also on Facebook.

[Renita Hora]

And of course, we're going to have links to all of that good stuff in the show notes. So, Pam, you are going to read us an excerpt. Tee it up for us. What part of the book are you going to read? Give us a little bit of context.

[Pamela Reitman]

Okay, so this is a little bit into the book. It starts when she leaves Berlin for the south of France. So she's been there for a little while and she's sitting with a friend of hers who is showing up there at the chateau that she had known in Berlin. And the friend is asking her if she has anybody special in her life. And she's thinking about Wolf Abrams. So this is her kind of a flashback to what's going through her mind as she's sitting and having tea in the garden with her friend. Fantastic.

[Renita Hora]

All right. Can't wait to hear in your hands. Oh, I have had no luck lately.

Wait.

[Pamela Reitman]

Lady luck Britsky.

[Sponsor/Advertiser]

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[Pamela Reitman]

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[Renita Hora]

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And now to the premise of the true fiction project, which of course is to create fiction out of nonfiction.

[Pamela Reitman]

The only thing she knew for sure was that in his eyes, she was an artist. Her mind drifted away from the steeping tea to the day she'd left Berlin when he had helped her onto the train. Her parents had sacrificed black market extras to scrape together the funds for a private compartment. Standing inside it, he had held her close, tightening his arms around her. Then he loosened his embrace and held her at arm's length. You are a sensitive artist and you have had to grow up without your mother grieving and endless loss. It hasn't been easy, I'm sure, yet you have made something from it. You are not who you have thought you are. You are something more. Much, much more. Much, much more. The words had dropped to her core as into the bottom of a well, not dry but containing stagnant water, and they purified it. The water words spread through her like watercolor, washing out as far as she could imagine, saturating her idea of herself fragile, of a mind unworthy of the life she had been given, and that old notion began to dissolve. Knowing that you are so much more than your suffering. That is how you will do it. She heard the words without understanding, yet she felt them to be true. Now I will tell you something you are to remember always, dear Charlotte. In silent inquiry she looked up into his eyes, black as coal, warm as embers. He spoke slowly. You are a genius and I believe in you.

[Renita Hora]

Wonderful Pamela. Thank you so much. It's been so such a pleasure to have you on the show and I can't wait to delve into the novel full on. Is there anything else you would like to say to our audiences before we wrap up?

[Pamela Reitman]

I would just say if you buy my book, please write a review for it as well. Put it on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever reviews are. And thank you so much Renita for having me. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

[Renita Hora]

Such a delight to have you on the show. Thank you for joining us. That is Pamela Reitman. She is a Jewish Book Council Network author, an award winning writer with numerous publications in literary journals, news outlets, magazines. Talking about her book, Charlotte Solomon paints her life over two months on Amazon's hot new releases for Biographical Literary Fiction. Kirkus Call this novel a vividly detailed rendering of real life caught in a milestone of 20th century horror. This is the True Fiction Project and I am your host Rinita Hora. Here at the True Fiction Project we are always looking for great stories that make for compelling fiction. So if you have a great story or know somebody who does, or if you are a writer who would like to contribute then please do get in touch with [e-mail] contact

thank you for listening to the True Fiction Project with Renita Hora. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to receive more inspiring stories showing how fiction is born from our everyday experiences. For more information visit www.TrueFictionProject.com.

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