After the German philosopher Eric Gutkind sent Albert Einstein a copy of his tome Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt on salvation, Einstein offered some comments in German that he mailed off to the author. (The cost of mailing a letter was 3¢.) Both Einstein and Gutkind had German-Jewish origins, had the good fortune(…)
I was browsing the internet for a reference re ‘human kindness’ for a new work project, and the following came up: -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- The Human Kindness Foundation website is currently undergoing maintenance. We will be back very soon. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. This explains a lot. Happily though, the ache left by the moment’s void, got filled this morning as I hurried down Ninth Avenue.(…)
Is it better to remember or better to forget? As I grow old, nature-enduced forgetfulness will make that decision for me. In small ways it’s already doing so and I really don’t mind. Though I’ve published many Holocaust-related books, I no longer read everything new that appears on the Shoah, WWII, Anne Frank, and no longer(…)
… Their younger brother, Iziu, age ten, was sometimes able to bring them a pot of their mother’s hot soup. But sometimes he couldn’t make it, and Joseph and Marcel had nothing to eat. One very dark night, Joseph and Marcel were making their way back to their rented couch in time for the curfew.(…)
Because an earlier posting (on 3/1/2016) by my guest blogger Jo Schulze — Thanking the Hippies, a German writing on postwar Germany — garnered so much interest, it seemed a good idea for another German to tell another story. From an interview done with Benno Meyer-Wehlack for Fiet’s Vase and Other Stories of Survival, 1939-1945. Sadly Benno is no longer alive.(…)
****Page 1 – Fiet’s Vase and Other Stories of Survival, Europe 1939-1945**** After the Germans attacked the Netherlands at 3:55 in the morning on May 10 in the year 1940, the Dutch fought back. On May 14, in order to force the country to surrender, the German Luftwaffe bombed the historic Dutch city of Rotterdam,(…)
A large bumble bee has been noisily jackhammering the west-facing window glass near me, can’t seem to find his/her way out through an open door not three feet away. Is he/she stupid, or what? I’m tired. I’m working. The beauty of the scenery stops me in my tracks wherever I turn. A 90-year-old red-headed relative died near San(…)
Sent to me yesterday by my Dutch friend Friso van Gent: SOBIBOR-OVERLENVENDE JULES SCHELVIS (95) OVERLEDEN, the title of an article from NOS, Netherlands. My heart began to ache, Now it’s Jules. Wrenching, but not surprising. More surprising had been, year after year, the unique New Year cards designed and printed and signed by Jules(…)
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY: A wave of moisture and a warm front will be moving through. Snow is likely in higher elevations. Otherwise, rain, snow and graupel (sleet) showers A good day to read a good book. All day. To kick off a luxurious day of reading, perhaps in bed, the story of Eric Newby, a British soldier captured in(…)
If it’s the end of January, then International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day that recognizes hatred, must be here. Having been marinated in this subject matter for 20 plus years, you’d think it would get easier to think about. It doesn’t. The opposite is true. This year my thoughts turn to one of the subjects featured in(…)
