At the Dunedin library presentation in Florida on April 4th, Ruth Wade explained to an audience of over 30 people how every author who contributed to our book is deeply committed to Holocaust remembrance and to teaching about the impact of dehumanization from our unique intergenerational lens. We find that conveying our stories is helpful not just to the descendants of the Holocaust but to anyone who has grown up in the shadow of trauma. Participants in our audiences and readers are able to see they are not alone in their struggles to understand and connect the dots of their own history. We feel immensely gratified that that through our book and author events, we can be of help to teach as well as support others in their life journey. On April 4th, Ruth Wade and Joy Wolfe Ensor gave a presentation titled "The Legacy of Holocaust Survivors: The Challenges, Gifts and Impact" at the University of Arizona's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Their slides included documents from their parents, including Joy’s mother and aunt’s poetry from the Buchenwald concentration camp and Ruth’s father’s correspondence from the Jewish Central Committee in Great Britain after the war. Following a robust and engaging conversation, one participant commented that this was the best OLLI program she had ever attended
On Tuesday, March 19th, Ruth Finkel Wade gave a presentation at the Largo Library in Largo, Florida. Entitled “Trauma to Healing”, Ruth spoke about the journey of The Ones Who Remember authors, the story of her Holocaust survivor father Sidney Finkel, the healing power of writing, and the legacy of teaching the lessons of dehumanization. Her talk had a deep impact on the audience of 50+ attendees as they remained for a Q&A that lasted over 30 minutes.
On February 27, Rita Benn facilitated a workshop through Zoom to 15 participants from the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn who wished to begin to explore their life through writing. While this workshop was originally developed by Rita and her training partner Ruth Wade for 2Gs, it was easily adapted for this group who were largely non-2Gs. No matter the family of origin background, the participants described how much they valued the experience. It was not just the remembering and writing stimulated through the prompts that were appreciated, but the sharing of these memories with one another. The workshop activities spurred interactions that invited participants to connect more deeply to one another. As one participant expressed, "I made a new friend". Another remarked that they may have known each other from other events but never felt really like they knew each other. "We grew up in the same area but I was amazed to see how our experiences were so totally different. I never would have thought that". Mining memories through writing and sharing is a powerful way to build community. We hope other organizations will take advantage to offer this type of workshop.
On February 25, authors Natalie Iglewicz and Joy Wolfe Ensor met with a group of eighth-graders and their parents from Ann Arbor Temple Beth Emeth’s religious school. They opened their presentation with stories and photos of their parents’ lives in Poland before World War II, and followed up with inviting students to compare and contrast their lives to those of young Jews who lived during that time. Shifting to the wartime era, Natalie read excerpts from her chapter that highlighted lessons she learned from her parents about acts of lovingkindness. Joy’s excerpts centered on how her mother and aunt's creative writing kept their humanity alive during unimaginable suffering, imparting lessons for future generations. The authors also shared treasured personal family artifacts from this time period - ceremonial Kiddush cups that Natalie’s father managed to carry with him throughout the war, and fragments of original papers on which Joy’s mother and aunt wrote poetry in the camps. The students approached these objects with a level of respect and tenderness that was deeply moving. The authors concluded by encouraging the students to use their shared stories to explore how they can show up for others and themselves when encountering challenges in their own lives. Below are the photos of the artifacts shared and a couple of responses that students expressed in thank you notes to the presenters.
On February 7th at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida, Ruth Finkel Wade discussed the gifts and challenges of growing up with Holocaust survivor parents. She read excerpts from The Ones Who Remember and engaged the participants in a rich conversation about living in the shadow of trauma. Ruth enjoyed sharing a 1978 photo of her with her survivor father in which you can see the twinkle in his eye that he still exudes today at age 92. All the participants expressed their appreciation in hearing about their evolving relationship and the experiences of the other authors described in the book. One person shared, “I never thought about what it was like after the war and how certain traits – good and bad are passed on.” Baltimore high school student Isabel Reed was so moved after reading our book that she reached out to ask to interview some of our authors in the hope of publishing an article of interest for her city's local Jewish community paper. Just published this week, the result is a beautifully crafted and competently portrayed piece of journalism. You can read it right here. In earlier personal correspondence, Rita Benn asked Isabel what in the book specifically resonated for her and what she thought would be most important for young people her age to take away from our stories. She shared these three reflections as the most compelling: that love between parents and children prevails in spite of difficult family relationships and histories of trauma, that forgiveness is possible, and, that events and family issues may appear to be 'black and white' but in reality are much more 'grey' and complex. We are beyond thrilled that our book held so much meaning for Isabel, and grateful for her insight into themes we might emphasize when meeting with high school age students. One of our authors, Cilla Tomas, presented about our book to two different groups when she was travelling in Switzerland. She reflects on this experience and the reception she received in an article published in the January issue of the Washtenaw Jewish News. You can read it about it here.
Please join us for a unique learning adventure where we will take a deep dive in exploring our book over a 6-week period in a virtual book club format sponsored by Nautilus, a prestigious organization that awarded our book with a Silver Award. Our book club will feature a different topic each week with a variety of our authors. Participants will have opportunity to engage in live discussion with our authors and have access to a curated number of resources to supplement weekly presenting themes, and more generally, the second-generation history. In addition, sessions will include guided practices to encourage self-reflection, and experience compassion, gratitude, and tolerance We are limiting this series to only 20 participants so best to register early at this url. We so look forward to being with you through this venue.
SlidingDors, a small program of the Jewish agency, Partnership2gether, offers participating members the opportunity to traverse the division of boundaries of country and periodically come together in one intimate community to share their stories of growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust. We were honored to be invited as a guest panel for this program. To best meet our audience, we decided to choose authors for our speaking panel who would represent the lived experience of diverse countries. On December 10 through Zoom, authors Avishay Hayut originally from Israel, Eszter Gombosi from Hungary, Rita Benn from Canada and Ruth Wade from the USA presented snapshots of our writing experience and life stories to individuals residing in Hungary, Israel, and US communities, such as Ohio, Texas and Omaha, to name a few. Each time we present we continue to be touched by how meaningful our audiences find our stories. We find that through our presentations and discussions, we are helping to draw out stories from our listeners, to validate aspects of their own histories and to reflect anew on their life narratives. We are also benefitting so much by furthering our understanding of the impact of the Holocaust, and forging new connections across the globe. What an unexpected gift and incredible journey we are on! |
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