Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Friday March 8, 2002

Shoah memoirists describe penning of the unspeakable

MICHELLE GABRIEL
Bulletin Correspondent

For some survivors, it's emotional; memories are too painful to recall and therefore better left buried deep within. For others, it's a matter of not knowing how or where to start.

"Everyone believes in the importance of having the stories written down," says Hava Megiddo, coordinator of the South Bay Holocaust Group, "but many survivors are intimidated by the process. They don't know where to begin."

In an attempt to address those issues, as well as to motivate and encourage other Holocaust survivors to write their stories, the South Bay Holocaust Group featured four local Holocaust survivor-authors at a recent Sunday brunch at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley in Los Gatos.

Speaking to an audience of more than 60 people, Werner Barasch of Los Gatos described how it took him nearly half a century and the insistence of good friends to persuade him to write his story, "Survivor, Autobiographical Fragments 1938-1946," because "I did not realize that there was a strong and useful message."

When finally convinced of the importance of his message, which he said was "to learn from the past, yet have the ability to relinquish it," Barasch set out to write it all down. "It seemed important enough for me to try to reconstruct the incredible but true story of one individual between two fires, who developed an uncommon attitude and produced his own tactics to win against great odds, where 6 million perished."

After completing his book, Barasch found a publishing house in Germany that agreed to publish his manuscript both in English and German. Barasch eventually purchased the rest of his books from the publisher and is now trying to attract an American distributor.

The second speaker, Alicia Appleman-Jurman of San Jose, explained the motivation behind her book, "Alicia -- My Story," which was published by Bantam Books.

"After my brother was killed, I swore on his grave that if I lived I would speak for our silenced family."

Appleman-Jurman fulfilled her promise in 1982 when she began writing her story. The process took three years to complete, with Appleman-Jurman writing seven days a week, 13 hours a day.

"Once I started writing, it all came back to me," she says. "As a young child, I was a promising artist. I kept everything in picture form in my head. Along with the memories came nightmares, but still I kept writing." Asked about her fears, she replied, "Yes, I was afraid most of the time. You can be afraid and you can cry, but then you have to go and fulfill your commitment." The third speaker was Chayale Ash, a translator of poems and articles from Yiddish, Russian and Romanian to English.

Ash, who lives in San Jose, has devoted most of her life to keeping Yiddish arts alive. Born in Kishinev, the capital of Moldavia, Ash was a Yiddish actress, vocalist and comedian, entertaining audiences in Europe, America, the Soviet Union and South Africa.

Rather than using books to tell her story, Ash says she prefers to speak directly to people, telling them, in both Yiddish and English, of the importance of protecting the cultural heritage of Yiddish. "As long as we live, we have to defend that heritage. We didn't survive the Holocaust only to tell the stories and say Kaddish," the 71-year-old told the audience. "Yiddish literature and language is part of our identity and our Jewish heritage."

For Helena Smith, author of "Zdenka," it was a matter of enrolling in writing classes to learn how to put her thoughts down on paper.

"I wanted to write, but I didn't know how to start," the 90-year-old Smith said of her writing journey. The catalyst that started the creative process for her was following the advice of one of her writing teachers, who told her to just "sit down and think of her childhood and something would eventually come up."

When her story was written, Smith, a Los Gatos resident, decided to self-publish it. "I had heard that Margaret Mitchell, author of 'Gone With The Wind,' submitted her manuscript 44 times before getting it accepted on the 45th try. I sent my manuscript out to only three (publishers)," Smith says. "I thought that was enough."

The South Bay Holocaust Club, which meets monthly, is dedicated to Holocaust education and awareness as well as the psychological and social support of its 120 members.

Separate ongoing programs and activities, sponsored by the group, include a writing circle, beginning computer class, Jewish film club and a speaker's bureau. A Second Generation Group, composed of children of survivors, also meets once a month to discuss common issues and challenges.

Information: Hava Megiddo at Jewish Family Service of Silicon Valley, (408) 356-7576, ext. 25.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.