Thank you so much for this, Claire. As a Holocaust & Genocide Studies professor, I can relate so much for this. I spent a few days in Amsterdam this past May and took several sets of photos of the Stolpersteinen. I would like to return to the Low Countries and would like to know more about Jewish life in Paris where my grandfather spent some time in 1913 en route from Poland to New York.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Barbara. I hope you get to travel and research more and find out all you can. We may get intrigued because of personal stories, but once we learn more, history itself starts to fascinate us.
Beautiful, thoughtful, resonant essay, Claire. This: "We must understand the worst of our nature to become better selves. We must learn about destruction to create anything of value. We must acknowledge the dark to recognize the light." Thank you for writing this.
You have captured well the feelings I have had as we travel to historically complex places--Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Khao Lak. I always feel compelled to stop and absorb all I can, to read every marker at every memorial. As if just paying my respects can somehow help. But we can do more than just acknowledge. We can use our gifts as creatives to tell the stories. Because not everyone will go. Not everyone will stop and stare.
touching,,,, so many Europeans have tragic family stories of what happened during the war... My father in law an italian navy officer spent 4 years in camps in Germany and Poland and then walked back to Italy-he weighed 44 kg when he arrived...then lived to be 99 - but he never spoke about that time. He left us a collection of books he received (through Red Cross) while in the camp for Italian officers, and many others written about that time.
Thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting that he left you with books that were meaningful to him yet not with his personal stories. I’m glad he lived to be 99! (My grandmother is 107)
Great essay, it makes me want to delve much deeper into the ghetto in Rome. I was curious about the Circolo Ragazzi sign and found a good article about it from 2017 in La Voce. Worth a peek. Who knew?
Thank you so much for this, Claire. As a Holocaust & Genocide Studies professor, I can relate so much for this. I spent a few days in Amsterdam this past May and took several sets of photos of the Stolpersteinen. I would like to return to the Low Countries and would like to know more about Jewish life in Paris where my grandfather spent some time in 1913 en route from Poland to New York.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Barbara. I hope you get to travel and research more and find out all you can. We may get intrigued because of personal stories, but once we learn more, history itself starts to fascinate us.
Beautiful, thoughtful, resonant essay, Claire. This: "We must understand the worst of our nature to become better selves. We must learn about destruction to create anything of value. We must acknowledge the dark to recognize the light." Thank you for writing this.
Thank you for reading and for telling me.
You have captured well the feelings I have had as we travel to historically complex places--Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Khao Lak. I always feel compelled to stop and absorb all I can, to read every marker at every memorial. As if just paying my respects can somehow help. But we can do more than just acknowledge. We can use our gifts as creatives to tell the stories. Because not everyone will go. Not everyone will stop and stare.
I agree, Sherry. I understand why you need to stop and absorb and how you make this mean even more by sharing what you see in your stories.
Beautiful, Claire! And so important to face.
Thank you, Patience. (And what a beautiful name you have!)
touching,,,, so many Europeans have tragic family stories of what happened during the war... My father in law an italian navy officer spent 4 years in camps in Germany and Poland and then walked back to Italy-he weighed 44 kg when he arrived...then lived to be 99 - but he never spoke about that time. He left us a collection of books he received (through Red Cross) while in the camp for Italian officers, and many others written about that time.
Thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting that he left you with books that were meaningful to him yet not with his personal stories. I’m glad he lived to be 99! (My grandmother is 107)
Thank you for this essay. Words help us bear witness too.
Yes. Thank you for reading!
Beautiful and important words. Thank you.
Great essay, it makes me want to delve much deeper into the ghetto in Rome. I was curious about the Circolo Ragazzi sign and found a good article about it from 2017 in La Voce. Worth a peek. Who knew?
Thank you. The deeper we search and the more attention we pay, the more stories we uncover. I’d love to read the article you found.
https://lavoceditalia.com/2017/02/03/220197/chiude-il-circolo-ragazzi-48-memoria-storica-del-ghetto-di-roma/
Thank you!
I’ll send you a link. It’s in Italian but not too long.