Adena BERNSTEIN

Adena J. Bernstein is an award-winning author, prosecutor, and speaker whose work explores Holocaust history, justice, restitution, and cultural memory. She is the author of Stolen Legacies: The Fight for Nazi-Looted Art (2026), which received the Next Generation Indie Book Award (First Place – Current Events) and the National Indie Excellence Award (First Place – Current Events), and was a finalist in the International Book Awards (Art). The book examines the global effort to recover Jewish art and cultural property stolen during the Holocaust, covering restitution law, museum ethics, provenance research, and the human stories behind these claims across thirteen countries.

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Bernstein is also the author of the award-winning biography and memoir Living among the Dead, which recounts her grandmother's Holocaust survival. The book received the 2022 Independent Author Network (IAN) Outstanding Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award, the 2020 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal in Non-Fiction Biography, and First Place in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards. It has been translated into Spanish and Polish, and its accompanying Educator's Guide is used internationally to support Holocaust education.

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As the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors, Bernstein's work is deeply informed by family history and a lifelong commitment to historical truth and justice. She regularly speaks to museums, universities, schools, libraries, Holocaust organizations, legal audiences, and community groups about Holocaust memory, Nazi-looted art, and the legal and ethical challenges of restitution.

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With more than twenty-five years as a career prosecutor, Bernstein serves as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona, where she manages international extraditions and serves as Arizona's Statewide Fentanyl Policy Strategist. She works with federal and international partners to return fugitives to the United States and leads statewide initiatives that bring together law enforcement, healthcare, educators, legislators, and community organizations to address the fentanyl crisis through policy, prevention, and collaboration. Her legal career has shaped her lifelong interest in justice and accountability, perspectives that also inform her research into Holocaust-era restitution.

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Bernstein lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband and is the proud mother of three adult children.