I recently came across this article about a woman, Yitta Schwartz, who died just last month. "During World War II, the Nazis sent Mrs. Schwartz, her husband, Joseph, and the six children they had at the time to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp." After leaving the concentration camp she, as the article put it: "may have generated one of the largest clans of any survivor of the Holocaust — a thumb in the eye of the Nazis." It struck me that the survivors do not deal with their traumatic experiences all in the same way. I really admired her zest for life, which persisted even after she had lost two children in the Holocaust. She gave birth 18--eighteen!!--times, which is definitely not the norm among survivors. The article also stated, "She sewed her daughters’ jumpers with mother-of-pearl buttons and splurged for pink-and-white blouses — 20 for 99 cents each," which reminded me of Balakian's mother's side of the family. While there is no mention of any businesses Mrs. Schwartz may have been involved with, I remembered how Peter's mother would take him to Lord & Taylor and dress him in beautiful clothes. Mrs. Schwartz is very similar to Mrs. Balakian; Mrs. Schwartz's family is one of her most important responsibilities. She bakes "six loaves of challah every Sabbath" for her large family. While I was happy to hear of her well-tended family, since the article was to announce this woman's passing, I was also reminded of how the Holocaust survivors are dying now, and the importance of remembering their experiences.
Just in case the link didn't work, the url is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/nyregion/21yitta.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The quote in this article really is really interesting: Mrs. Schwartz "may have generated one of the largest clans of any survivor of the Holocaust — a thumb in the eye of the Nazis."
ReplyDeleteThe Nazis annihilated a massive portion of the Jewish population during the Holocaust. This bloodthirsty, murderous act obviously left a mark on the world and on the surviving Jews to follow. Although Mrs. Schwartz was prolific in the production of a large Jewish population, it will only ever be "a thumb in the eye of the Nazis." The lack of aggression and criticalness in this phrase shows the feeble effect of Mrs. Schwartz's actions, as compared to the inconsolable effect of the Nazis, which will be forever imprinted onto future generations.