Contributing authors Ruth Wade, Rita Benn and Fran Berg just returned from the World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants that was held in the Toronto area. The meeting spanned three days where new learnings occured and new connections forged between the young and old attending from Canada, the US, Europe and even China and Australia. Ruth and Rita ran a workshop to help survivors, 2Gs and 3Gs mine their memories to begin to craft their life stories. We were also privileged to not only listen to clinical psychologist Irit Felsen's amazing lecture on the intergenerational impact of anti-semistism but to also watch Irene Butter share her riveting story of survival during the Holocaust to a rapt audience. A special highlight was spending precious time in close community with her and other  Survivor friends like ninety-year old Renee Grosman. The resilience of this Survivor generation continues to inspire us to rise above present moments of despair in current events and to hold true to the hope that we can create a world where peace, freedom, and tolerance will one day co-exist amongst all peoples and nations.   

The Institutue for Holocaust Education in collaboraton with the Jewish Federation of Omaha sponsored a presentation about our book for their monthly lunch and learn series. On June 20th, Fran Lewy Berg, Joy Wolfe Ensor and Rita Benn zoomed in to offer riveting readings from their chapters and respond to audience questions. We continue to be reminded of the importance in sharing our stories when we see the tears shed by audience members who are so deeply moved by our words. We are grateful to the Executive Director for this opportunity who reiterated again to us in an email: "It was a honor to learn from you."  You can view the recording of our presentation at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXuuiz7GQgI

On June 4, Temple Shir Shalom of West Bloomfield, MI welcomed authors Julie Ellis, Joy Wolfe Ensor and Ruth Taubman to read from their chapters and share the origin story of our book. Shir Shalom’s Book Club had read our book and, realizing the importance of our message, opened the gathering to the entire congregation. More than 40 people attended and joined in a very meaningful discussion on how the ripple effects of the Holocaust relate to all of us. We are grateful that our book presentation was so warmly received and found to be so pertinent to the current geo-political world situation.

On May 9, Rita Benn and Phil Barr traveled to Lakeview Michigan for a book talk at Tamarack District Library. A year and half ago, two other authors presented stories from our book here and the librarian was interested to have another set of authors present again to their community during the week of Yom Hashoah remembrance. Several of the same community members showed up a second time. The audience sat rapt and with tears as Phil read the excerpt  from his chapter in which he reflected on his father's death. One audience participant came up to us after the talk and quietly shared how grateful she felt to us for writing our book and speaking of our parents'  experiences to the folks in this rural part of the State. She described that she spent her whole life in this area, did not travel and would never have learned about our parent's resilience and trauma or their lived atrocities, had we not visited. She reported that she not only bought a book for herself but for her sister to read as well, and like many people to whom we have presented, she discussed how she needed to read the book in small bites, absorbing each story one at a time rather than sitting down to read them all at once.  

On April 25th, Ruth Finkel Wade spoke with high school students at Dunedin High School in Florida. In her talk, she shared her father's story of Holocaust survival and described the complicated relationship she experienced with him which is depicted in her book chapter "Not Made of Glass". She also engaged in conversation with the class about the healing power of writing, and what she learned from the process - in particular, how, in her own words, "forgiveness starts with ourselves". The students listened attentively as she spoke about growing up in the shadow of her father’s trauma.​

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.