This spring Tutti’s Promise will be published as a paperback and in e-book format. I love the idea of saving paper and lightening the loads in kids’ backpacks. It seems everyone has a iPad or a Nook or some sort of e-reader. Even my 88 year old father reads on a Kindle. One advantage ofContinue reading “Dicey Splicing”
Category Archives: Holocaust
Stumbling on the Stumbling Stones
Gunter Demning is a German artist who has made a name for himself installing stolpersteine (translation – stumbling stones) in front of the final residences of Holocaust victims. I was lucky enough to be invited to help set the stolpersteine for my great uncle and his wife in Tilburg in January 2014. This past weekendContinue reading “Stumbling on the Stumbling Stones”
The Value of a Life
After finding out at the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen that there were Gestapo files on several of my relatives I was very excited that our next stop was Duisburg. This is where the State of North Rhine Westfalia (NRW) Archives are located. The building is on the waterfront of the inner harbor ofContinue reading “The Value of a Life”
Needles in the Haystack
We arrived in Bad Arolsen after dark. Only one other person got off the train with us at the small station and we followed him to the one taxi parked at the curb across the street. The taxi driver was happy to take both fares. As we drove through town, I noticed that everything wasContinue reading “Needles in the Haystack”
Yom HaShoah
For Holocaust Remembrance Day I am sharing some pictures of my mother’s family members who did not survive Hitler’s hatred and evil. Pictured above are Flora and Louis Spier (my mother’s maternal grandparents). Below are Franz Robert Spier and Justine Spier-Bendien (my mother’s aunt and uncle). This card tells us that Franz Robert Spier wasContinue reading “Yom HaShoah”
Feeling the Bern*
One of the mysteries of my family’s Holocaust survival is their passport from Paraguay. According to my mother, that passport saved her father from a transport to Auschwitz. We have a copy of the document along with a letter of notarization stating that it is real. The mystery here isn’t that the passport exists, butContinue reading “Feeling the Bern*”
Terezín
I had a visceral reaction to Terezín. I’ve started this post several times over the last two weeks, and I can’t wrap my head around putting my reaction into words. I found the town of Terezín (it is a town now) to be completely and utterly depressing. You might say to yourself – of courseContinue reading “Terezín”
On the Way to Terezín
Our guide, Jiri, picked us up at our hotel. After a few minutes of introductions and small talk we climbed into his minivan and headed to Terezín. The drive there from Prague was about 45 minutes, and I used the time to explain to Jiri that my mother and her family were prisoners in TheresienstadtContinue reading “On the Way to Terezín”
Kaddish in Prague
For our second day in Prague I had set up a meeting with one of the archivists at the Jewish Museum. I was hoping that she might have access to some of the primary source material I was looking for. According to my great-grandfather’s diary, my grandfather, Heinz, had been told to report for aContinue reading “Kaddish in Prague”
Writer’s Block (Or How I Got Stuck but Am Finding My Way Back)
Recently I hit the wall. I got stuck. I contracted a case of writer’s block. All of that is an excuse for the simple fact that I lost confidence. I wanted to make my manuscript better, and I didn’t know how. So, instead of buckling down and working harder, I turned my back on theContinue reading “Writer’s Block (Or How I Got Stuck but Am Finding My Way Back)”
K Heidi Fishman (Popje and Me) 