Darkness to Light with Hope

All these years while my children were growing up, it was too difficultfor me to talk about my past. The immense terrifying madness that haderupted in history, and in the conscience of humankind was too painful Asmy children grew up they started to ask questions about their grandmotherand grandfather. Finally I told them a little history of the war in Europe. The Nazis in Germany set out to build a society in which there simplywould be no room for the Jews. Toward the end of their reign, their goalchanged; they wanted to leave behind a world in ruins in which Jews wouldnever to have existed. The Germans everywhere in Russia, in the Ukraine,and in Lithuania, carried out the Final Solution by turning their machineguns on more than a million Jews, who were not only killed but weredenied burial in a cemetery. It is obvious that the war, which Hitler and his accomplices waged,was a war not only against Jewish men, women, and children but alsoagainst Jewish religion, Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, therefore Jewishmemory. Yet having lived through this experience, I could not keep silentno matter how difficult, if not impossible, it was for me to speak. I hadmany things to say, I did not have the words to tell them. How was I tospeak of what happened without trembling, heartbroken for all eternity,The hungerthirstfeartransportselectionfirechimney. When it came to tell them, what did happen to their grandparents,aunts and uncles, no words came out of my mouth, we all started to cry. In 1974, November I was given a testimonial dinner for serving as postCommander of the J.W.V. in Orangeburg New York. The editor of ourtowns newspaper came to our house to interview me knowing that I was aHolocaust survivor.