E M U L 1 O V of memory e c h o e s UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM score echoes of memory - volume United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, WashinGton, D.C. 1 spine trim United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 ECHOES L U M O E of memory V 1 STORIES FROM THE MEMORY PROJECT UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM This program has been made possible in part with support from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation. • CONTENTS Echoes of Memory LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR ................................................................ i FOREWORD ...................................................................................... iii Elizabeth Anthony, Memory Project Coordinator INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. v Margaret Peterson, Memory Project Instructor ERIKA ECKSTUT ................................................................................ 1 Teach Love, Not Hate .................................................................... 2 Lasting Memory .......................................................................... 4 FRANK EPHRAIM ................................................................................ 5 Sardines .................................................................................... 6 Lunch Trade * .............................................................................. 7 Teapot in a Tempest * .................................................................... 12 MANYA FRIEDMAN ............................................................................ 19 One Snowy Winter Night .............................................................. 20 My Road to Freedom .................................................................... 23 Do Not Forget Them .................................................................. 28 FRITZ GLUCKSTEIN ............................................................................ 31 31 Minutes ................................................................................ 32 Everyday Heroes .......................................................................... 33 In the Devil’s Den ...................................................................... 35 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM CONTENTS Echoes of Memory NESSE GODIN .................................................................................. 39 The Russian Prisoner of War * ........................................................ 40 I Am a Jew ................................................................................ 42 PETE PHILIPPS ................................................................................ 45 Garden Music * .......................................................................... 46 In the Time Remaining *................................................................ 53 CHARLENE SCHIFF ............................................................................ 63 The Promise .............................................................................. 64 I Remember .............................................................................. 67 The Haystack—1942 .................................................................... 69 FLORA SINGER .................................................................................. 71 The Light Blue Ensemble .............................................................. 72 New York .................................................................................. 74 ESTHER ROSENFELD STAROBIN ............................................................ 77 Return to Adelsheim .................................................................... 78 The Cemetery ............................................................................ 82 The Gift .................................................................................. 83 *Works of fiction ECHOES OF MEMORY LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR Sara J. Bloomfield After World War II, the few European Jews who had not been killed in the Nazi onslaught began thinking of their future as they were mourning their past. Their loss was unimaginable, but their resilience was unmatchable. They set about finding loved ones, making families, establishing new homes, and rebuilding their lives. They were not called “Holocaust survivors” at first—they were displaced persons, immigrants, refugees. In the United States they were busy starting over, and the rest of the country was busy fighting the Cold War. They had lived through one of history’s greatest cataclysms, but they were not ready to talk about their experiences—and the world was not yet ready to listen. In the late 1970s that began to change. Their singular ordeal had become known as “the Holocaust,” and the public was becoming increasingly interested. Some—but not all—survivors began talking and writing about their experiences. In 1978, President Carter established a commission on the Holocaust that led to the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which opened in 1993. The Museum itself provided a unique venue for survivors to share their experiences and to make a variety of meaningful contributions to Holocaust education. Now, almost 60 years after the end of World War II, the Museum is celebrating its 10th Anniversary, having welcomed over 20 million visitors. Its enormous success is due in no small measure to the efforts of more than 60 survivors who volunteer at the Museum. They work in Visitor Services, Education, the Speakers Bureau, Development, Special Events, Collections, Exhibitions, Oral History, the Photo Archives, the Archives, the Survivors Registry, and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM i LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR The survivors have enriched the Museum’s staff and visitors in innumerable ways, and many warm relationships and exciting ideas have emerged from our shared experience. One of them—the Memory Project —is a most unusual project and the result of more than two years of writing workshops for our survivor volunteers. Because every story is unique, because every story is precious, it was our obligation— indeed our privilege—to ensure that their memories were captured, preserved, and transmitted to new generations. Their legacy speaks of the past, but it has the power to shape our future. We are eternally grateful to each of them. Sara J. Bloomfield Director September 21, 2003 ii ECHOES OF MEMORY FOREWORD Elizabeth Anthony Holocaust survivors find it difficult to relate what they experienced during the Holocaust. Relatively few have the opportunity to speak and even fewer are comfortable speaking publicly. Still, many feel a sense of duty and obligation to share their experiences and memories. Therefore, it is essential to provide survivors other outlets through which to share their memories. At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, more than 60 Holocaust survivors volunteer their time. Some speak to student and community groups, but the majority work behind the scenes, translating documents, doing administrative tasks, and consulting on exhibitions. They work with a commitment to the memory of lost loved ones and to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust. Few, however, find ways to convey their feelings and memories; many do not have an opportunity to share. To answer that need, the Museum offers its survivor volunteers the Memory Project writing workshop as a means of recounting their experiences, whether in biographical accounts or in fictional form. It is designed to teach participants the writing process, including style, grammar, and structure. These work - shops have met the needs of many survivors who want to tell their story but who have not previously had the right place or time to do so. The Memory Project grew from a conversation with a colleague from the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study. Drew’s “Leave-A-Legacy” writing program also helps Holocaust survivors record their memories while learning the craft of writing. The Drew workshop coordinators were kind UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM iii FOREWORD enough to welcome me into their group for a number of research visits and made three trips to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate their model for our survivor group and our instructor, Maggie Peterson. Since then, Maggie has worked with our volunteers, building upon the exceptional idea of Drew University and creating our own offering for our survivor volunteers. My involvement in bringing the Memory Project to our volunteers is a professional and personal privilege. I have attended almost every meeting of the writing group and have seen the participants grow in ways we—and I venture to say, they—never imagined. I have seen the look on a friend’s face when he or she remembers something not thought or spoken of in more than 60 years. I have heard stories that survivors have previously been afraid to share, sometimes fearing deep emotional reaction or other times underestimating the importance of their experience. As a result, I have witnessed stories previously untold and gained invaluable insight into my survivor friends’ experiences. I am thrilled to help them share these thoughts and stories with you in written form and to bring Echoes of Memory to light. Elizabeth Anthony Memory Project Coordinator iv ECHOES OF MEMORY INTRODUCTION Margaret Peterson When I first began working with the Holocaust survivors in the Memory Project, I was unsure what I might be able