My mother was in Poland during the Russian and German invasions. Her first husband was killed in the Katyn Forest massacre and she and my father escaped and ended up in a Germany in a displaced persons camp. I grew up on these war stories so thank you for bringing these to light. These should be taught in schools so that we do not repeat past horrors.
Steven, your research is extremely valuable and compelling. Many of your sources l have read during the course of my research on the subject of what really happened concerning the unmentioned topic in the 1950’s in many educated Jewish households.
Telford Taylor was a professor at Columbia Law School where l worked as “the information lady” in the mail room. At Jerusalem University l listened to Gideon Hausner speak about the trial of Eichmann. At YIVO, the Institute of Yiddish Studies, l groped my way into learning the forbidden language of my ancestors as well as history of Eastern Europe and Yiddish culture and literature.
The man who challenged me was my Russian language professor, Tom Bird, ca. 1971.
It was he who invited me to learn Yiddish and Russian literature after my own children were grown and in college.
I’ve never been the same, despite being a civil rights activist and public school teacher - my hidden identity was exposed and celebrated in a most gratifying and inspiring way.
Trump, Musk and the whole basket of deplorable, shleps and gazillionaires . . . bring it on.$&!
Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Sad to report that my own Jewish family, having emigrated from Eastern Europe in the beginning of the 20th century, were unable or unwilling to discuss this horrendous situation.
Was it guilt or shame, or Ignorance? The elders studious avoided discussing such matters, preferring to claim that our relatives “disappeared.”
Until we started asking questions ourselves, the wall of silence was surrounded us. We joined Zionist groups, educated ourselves and we’re finally able to forgive mostly Jewish, were educated. But the conspiracy of silence, persisted
History disappears when you deny the facts. Rather than face the unpleasantness, the lie was buried. “We’re safe here in America, where such barbarity never happens.”
Born in 1948, I have been obsessed with the omission of truth. In my dreams, I too was a victim. I couldn’t share my fears with the grown-ups. “You are too sensitive, hypersensitive,” said my mother with a masters degree in social work.
When I did get psychiatric assistance in my late teens, it was from a Jewish Doctor Who was educated in Vienna and escaped with her sister to New York . We didn’t discuss the holocaust, it wasn’t a word we knew in the 1960s. I understood persecution, but genocide wasn’t a concept that applied to us or our family.
My mother was in Poland during the Russian and German invasions. Her first husband was killed in the Katyn Forest massacre and she and my father escaped and ended up in a Germany in a displaced persons camp. I grew up on these war stories so thank you for bringing these to light. These should be taught in schools so that we do not repeat past horrors.
Steven, your research is extremely valuable and compelling. Many of your sources l have read during the course of my research on the subject of what really happened concerning the unmentioned topic in the 1950’s in many educated Jewish households.
Telford Taylor was a professor at Columbia Law School where l worked as “the information lady” in the mail room. At Jerusalem University l listened to Gideon Hausner speak about the trial of Eichmann. At YIVO, the Institute of Yiddish Studies, l groped my way into learning the forbidden language of my ancestors as well as history of Eastern Europe and Yiddish culture and literature.
The man who challenged me was my Russian language professor, Tom Bird, ca. 1971.
It was he who invited me to learn Yiddish and Russian literature after my own children were grown and in college.
I’ve never been the same, despite being a civil rights activist and public school teacher - my hidden identity was exposed and celebrated in a most gratifying and inspiring way.
Trump, Musk and the whole basket of deplorable, shleps and gazillionaires . . . bring it on.$&!
Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Sad to report that my own Jewish family, having emigrated from Eastern Europe in the beginning of the 20th century, were unable or unwilling to discuss this horrendous situation.
Was it guilt or shame, or Ignorance? The elders studious avoided discussing such matters, preferring to claim that our relatives “disappeared.”
Until we started asking questions ourselves, the wall of silence was surrounded us. We joined Zionist groups, educated ourselves and we’re finally able to forgive mostly Jewish, were educated. But the conspiracy of silence, persisted
History disappears when you deny the facts. Rather than face the unpleasantness, the lie was buried. “We’re safe here in America, where such barbarity never happens.”
Born in 1948, I have been obsessed with the omission of truth. In my dreams, I too was a victim. I couldn’t share my fears with the grown-ups. “You are too sensitive, hypersensitive,” said my mother with a masters degree in social work.
When I did get psychiatric assistance in my late teens, it was from a Jewish Doctor Who was educated in Vienna and escaped with her sister to New York . We didn’t discuss the holocaust, it wasn’t a word we knew in the 1960s. I understood persecution, but genocide wasn’t a concept that applied to us or our family.