Our volunteer writing partners are people of different ages, life stages and religious, cultural and education backgrounds. They share the desire to learn more about the Holocaust and support survivors in telling their stories in the manner that was meaningful to them.
I realize how unusual my mother’s life story is and the resilience she required to manage so many negative events and crises. I am in awe of her ability to be hopeful and move forward. The days I spent interviewing her and reviewing her story, she was consistently calm and introspective. Sometimes she shook her head in disbelief about what had happened to her, her family and the Jews of Europe. She agreed to tell her story to a broader audience because it is a lesson, a reminder. It started with words.
I had heard snippets of my mother’s story over the years. Sitting down with her and reviewing events chronologically gave me a greater understanding of the challenges she has had to meet since she was a child—from growing up Jewish in Germany with the Nazis’ rise to power when she was eight, to leaving Germany on a Kindertransport to England at fifteen and never seeing her parents again. She always said, “We had to keep looking forward.”
Page 1 /
