This week’s storyteller, Cara, reads us her Zeydy’s (grandfather’s) harrowing tale, a survivor of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Originally in Yiddish, Cara’s mother, Lorraine Weinberg, interviewed and recorded her father for an assignment for a class at Brooklyn Collge and was later translated to English by Cara’s aunt. As a story passed down between the generations, Cara recounts her grandfather’s terrifying and horrific experience from his hometown to the camps, and then escaping at the end of the war to a life in the United States, aided by HIAS.
Cara then shares the lessons she learned both from his trauma and from the kindness he showed in life, even after he experienced life in the ghetto and the camps, the liquidation of the camps and the end of the war.
(Note: Cara & I both know many descendents of Holocaust survivors or other widespread trauma have a wide variety of experiences- some have completely disowned the past or have lived traumatic childhoods themselves. Cara’s is one story of many).
For those of you who are unsure of some of the words or concepts she uses, here is a brief explanation of these words before you watch or listen:
Kapo- a prisoner in the concentration camps who was assigned by SS guards (paramilitary under Nazi Germany) to supervise the forced labor in the camps. It was designed to turn “victim against victim.” They were often chosen because of their past as rough people to begin with.
Bar Mitzvah- literally “son of the commandment”, it is a ceremony that 13 year old boys go through, signifying their transition to adulthood. (Bat Mitzvah for girls at 12 or 13 & B’nai Mitzvah for multiple/non-binary).
HIAS-Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society- a Jewish non-profit started in the 1880s to help Jewish Refugees, HIAS helped many survivors of the Holocaust seek refuge. They continue to help refugees today from all different nationalities, religions, cultures and traditions.
Shabbat/Shabbos- The Jewish Sabbath that begins at sundown Friday and lasts 25 hours. Shabbos dinner Friday nights are very important (more observant share all 3 meals together).
Shavuot/Shavuos- A Jewish holiday that commemorates the day when the Jewish Nation received the Torah (The 5 Books of Moses & Oral History). In English, this may be known as the Feast of Weeks (the word Shavuot itself means weeks). It’s also a festival that marks the wheat harvest, particularly in ancient Israel.
Watch or listen to Cara’s story below.
Click below to watch or listen to Cara’s story.
Watch Cara’s Story Here
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