I’m not sure why I’ve always been so interested in anything and everything that has to do with the Holocaust. But ever since I can remember, something about it really grabs me in. I’m not sure if it’s the historical aspect of it or just the extreme sadness of it. To even begin to imagine that something like this really happened.
I was a child when I read The Diary Of Anne Frank and it literally haunted me for years. I couldn’t get the imagine out of my mind. Years later I read the book and saw the movie The Holocaust and it was the same thing. It was full of some of my favorite actors and it was back when “Mini Series” were all the rage. I saw Schindlers List as well when it came out and while it was gut wrenching sad, it showed someone who at least tried. Who at least cared about all these people.
The other night on the news when I heard “2 Connected By Holocaust Reunited After 63 Years,” my blood ran cold. I just couldn’t wait to hear the story. Isn’t it funny how after all this time, they reunited and they both remembered each other? I’m not sure if I’d be able to remember back that far. Wilma was 11 which I think I can remember clearly things from that age but Mia was only 2 1/2. She remembers the Germans coming and them hiding her and that’s about it. When her aunt came to get her after the war, nobody wanted that little girl to be taken away. Then during a bout with tuberculosis, she was abandoned by her aunt and later adopted.
She turned out to have a good life but wasn’t it a shame the aunt, who apparently didn’t want her, didn’t just leave her there and have that family who already loved her? But a reunion was so touching to watch and defiantly would have been a good read. I would love to read this book if they ever wrote one.
Does the Holocaust interest you? Does any other historic period or hard time or other war, occupy your thoughts? I know my mom was a child during Pearl Harbor and that time period makes her feel sad and full of thought.
Us Girls..Our Views 
I do like to read about important historical times like that. The only thing is, it is hard to really be sure you’re getting an objective picture. Memoirs are usually believable, but what isn’t clear is whether they are typical or odd exceptions.
When it comes to the Holocaust, it’s interesting that the US has a completely different recollection of the facts than pretty much any other country (except maybe Israel and its founder country, the UK). I’ve met people from other countries who never heard of this phenomenon at all. (And I’m not talking about Iran and such, where it may be politically expedient to deny such things.) This fact is even more interesting when you consider that about half of the world’s Jewish population lives in NY, USA. So are we hearing a balanced report of the Holocaust? I am sure that atrocities occurred, but I don’t feel confident that our information about the scale and severity (on an overall basis) is accurate.
The same can be said of any historical event or time period. This may be why people are so drawn to personal memoirs, especially documents such as Anne Frank’s diary, which were not originally written for sale or for political or propoganda purposes. Aside from being generally credible, these works give us a unique peek into the everyday life of families in a particular time and place. The details of life in different times and places have always fascinated me.
I personally find Anne Frank so inspirational that I named my daughter after her. But the reason isn’t that she died in a concentration camp. It’s that she was such a strong, positive, idealistic, forward-thinking and intelligent young woman. Consider this thought: for every Anne Frank who died as a teen, how many survived and built on their experience to make the world a better place? She was hiding out in the Netherlands. Is it any wonder that the Netherlands is viewed as a forward-thinking country today? Did a lot of other young Jews come out of hiding and do something so that the things they had witnessed would be unlikely to happen again?
When I was a child I dreamt often that I was in a camp and I spoke german. Perhaps it is because of that that I am drawn to the stories as well, I remember my dreams vividly and I feel for the people who lost their lives especially the children. So very sad but what a heart warming tale of the two meeting up again. I can only begin to imagine their joy! Thanks for this, really heart warming!
I can’t discuss the Holocaust. It’s too overwhelmingly sad. But what a wonderful thing–those two women being reunited. I hope they have time to make some wonderful new memories together.
My grandfather’s parents came over from Poland right after WWI, leaving behind an extended family. The village that my family had founded centuries ago was completely destroyed by the Germans – only a handful of my relatives survived, and a few of them soon died under Communist rule. My grandfather lied about his age to fight in Europe, and after an injury ended up reassigned to the Pacific – but during his time on the Continent, he heard plenty of stories about people disappearing in large numbers.
My family on this side converted to Catholicism, but the Polish side is still Jewish. We keep in touch, because it’s important to us not to forget what happened. My great-grandmother’s favorite younger sister and her family went to Auschwitz; members of her spouse’s family ended up in Bergen-Belsin. I take these things very seriously, because I was raised with it.
However, one tragedy that no one seems to remember from that time is the 25 million or so killed by Stalin in his purges. History has studied the hell out of the Holocaust, but glosses over Stalin because he was our ally during the War. So while I grew up with a hartred of Nazis, I also grew up with a hatred of Communism – I spent the first few years of my life and several summers afterwards with my grandfather.
The story about the two women being reunited is very touching. We are soon reaching a time when these survivors will be gone forever, and their personal stories may be lost for all time.
I read the Anne Frank book when I was very young. It had a huge emotional effect on me. The movie “Sophie’s Choice” I could only watch the one time. I cried so much in the theater, to this day I will never watch that movie again. It broke my heart.
I’ve talked to people who were in camps and the stories they told were horrifying.
When I was a teenager I had the pleasure of working with a woman who survived a camp. Her name was Olga. The stories she told were horrific. What always amazed me was the strength of her faith.
I have always been fascinated by the Civil War for some reason. I lived in a house in Connecticut that’s basement used to be a hideout for the underground slave movement. It was very cool!
When I was in sixth grade the Anne Frank exhibit came to our area and we went to see it after we read the book. The book was hard to get through for me, but the exhibit was worse. It was a wonderful exhibit, but the pictures were real and the stories were real and it was very touching. I can’t imagine how people could do such horrible things to other’s and think it’s right. BUT, that’s a whole other topic! The Mayan’s really fascinate me and for all the projects I had to do in school I usually choose them.
The Civil War is thrust upon me… almost daily. Every once in a while someone around un-earths a cannon ball.
A couple of years ago a contractor friend was putting a third floor on a Civil War era home in the down town area. They had to install a steal fraim with the “legs” of the frame running into the ground several feet. They unearthed all kinds of cool stuff including an old “community pipe” mold with the original owner’s intitals on it! FYI a community pipe is a pipe with a really long stem. After you finished smoking it you would snap off the end of the stem and leave a clean section for the next smoker.
And of course the war that most occupies my mind…. well, you know.