Legacies, Lies and Lullabies

V. Levy Esther

Description

Legacies, Lies and Lullabies: The World of a Second Generation Holocaust Survivor is a smorgasbord of history, memoirs, interviews, poems, recipes and cultural tidbits. It explores the rise of Hitler, the perils of life in Terezin, the soap opera of Eastern European relatives, and the invisible baggage of the second generation. A riveting must-read for anyone who hungers for a slice of humanity.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• The Holocaust
• Memoir
• History of Europe
• Germany

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 27 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781622873319
• Langue: English

Extrait

LEGACIES, LIES AND LULLABIES:The World of a Second Generation Holocaust Survivor
Esther V. Levy


First Edition Design Publishing
LEGACIES, LIES AND LULLABIES
The World of a Second Generation Holocaust Survivor




First Edition Design Publishing
Legacies, Lies and Lullabies
Copyright ©2013 Esther V. Levy
ISBN 978-1622873-32-6 PRINT
ISBN 978-1622-873-31-9 EBOOK

LCCN 2013942880

June 2013

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



Edited by - Sharon L. Siegel
Cover Art – Deborah E Gordon

ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .
This book is dedicated to the blessed memory of my mother, Miryam, my maternal grandparents, Fanny and Ludvic, my brother, David, and most of all, to all the innocents like my Aunt Zorinka who did not survive the Holocaust. Their spirits are eternal.

“Somehow it was, somehow it will be.”
-- engraved on my mother's monument
PREFACE: WHY I WROTE THIS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PART I: THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH MY MOTHER’S EYES
CHAPTER 1 My Beloved Mother, Miryam Šapšovič Levy
CHAPTER 2 The Interview: A Tale Of Terezín (Theresienstadt)
PART II: THE CAST OF CHARACTERS, MEET MY MISHPOCHA (FAMILY)
CHAPTER 3 My Grandfather, Ludvik Šapšovič The Shoemaker
CHAPTER 4 My Grandmother, Fanny Šapšovič
CHAPTER 5 My Aunt Zorinka
CHAPTER 6 My Father, Erwin Levy
PART III: THE EYE OF THE STORM: THE BEGINNING OF THE END
CHAPTER 7 Jews: The Root Of All Evil
CHAPTER 8 The Crime Scene At Terezín
CHAPTER 9 The Point Of No Return
PART IV: DAILY PERILS OF TEREZÍN: JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
CHAPTER 10 Housing In The Ghetto: Not Exactly The Ritz
CHAPTER 11 Keeping Clean In Terezín: Facilities And Amenities
CHAPTER 12 Let Them Eat Dirty Soup
CHAPTER 13 Rise And Shine: The Working Classes In Terezín
CHAPTER 14 Law And Order In Terezín
CHAPTER 15 Striving To Survive And Get Out Alive
CHAPTER 16 Culture Survives In A Fool’s Paradise
PART V:WHAT THE WORLD BELIEVED:THE CRUEL HOAX OF TEREZÍN
CHAPTER 17 The Model Camp: Merely A Mirage
CHAPTER 18 Lights, Camera, Propaganda
PART VI:THE END OF THE LINE
CHAPTER 19 Terror At Terezín: Transports To Tragedy
CHAPTER 20 The Killing Factories: Auschwitz And Beyond
CHAPTER 21 Horrific Days Of Judgment
CHAPTER 22 Destroying The Evidence
CHAPTER 23 Skeletons Walk Out Of The Closet: The Truth Revealed
PART VII:THE WAR ENDS
CHAPTER 24 Liberation!!!
CHAPTER 25 The Final List
PART VII:BACK IN THE USA: A POST-HOLOCAUST SOAP OPERA
CHAPTER 26 Sifting Through The Debris
CHAPTER 27 My Close-Knit European Family: Fanny’s Family File
CHAPTER 28 The Aftermath: Survivors’ Psychological Fallout
PART VIII:SECOND GENERATION SOCIOLOGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS
CHAPTER 29 “You Don’t Look Jewish!”
CHAPTER 30 My Charmed Childhood: 5162 Post Road
CHAPTER 31 Psychological Fallout: A Field Day For Psychiatrists
PART X:TREASURE TROVE FROM TATTERED TIMES
CHAPTER 32 My Pilgrimages To The Czech Republic
CHAPTER 33 The Joy Of Yiddish
CHAPTER 34 Babi's Cookbook
CHAPTER 35 Mélange: Poetry And Musings
AFTERWARD
EPILOGUE
PICTURES AND DOCUMENTS
www.secondgenerationsurvivor.com
PREFACE: WHY I WROTE THIS

For fifty-eight years, I've been harboring within me an epic family story, lying dormant beneath the surface and threatening to eat me up alive: My mother and maternal grandparents were Carpathian Mountain People who, for four years, lived in a snake pit, often saw dead people, and worked for murderers. What is even more absurd is that the world believed their community was a cultural center.
No, they weren't criminals, just honorable, valuable, hard-working people, with normal human frailties. Their "crime" was being Jewish in Czechoslovakia in 1941, for which Hitler's Third Reich incarcerated them in the Terezín concentration camp. Only about 75,000 people survived the Nazi camps; of these, about 3,200 adults and 150 children survived Terezín. Miraculously, three of them were my mother and her parents. I am alive because my grandfather made custom boots for the SS, the elite Nazi officers.
I'm now one of about half a million children of Holocaust survivors alive today, who grew up in the shadows of their family's trauma. Many of us second generation (2G) survivors are imbued with “the unbearable lightness of being” (the title of a book by Milan Kundera, set in the Czech Republic), cursed and blessed at the same time, in a perpetual state of mourning for that which we have never known. The truth is, we're all partially meshugener (crazy)! We were raised differently than other children, and like our survivor parents, we carry emotional baggage from the Holocaust.
I have always been a Holocaust junkie, compulsively devouring wartime stories with morbid fascination. As a child, I would relish watching my grandmother cook and bake while telling me her family’s experiences. Her face and emotional expression would become a kaleidoscope of laughter, animation, tears, and despair. Since I was a young artist, I loved how my grandmother figuratively painted for me the picture of her amazing history, in intricate detail. I was absolutely riveted; I couldn’t get enough. I knew this information was precious. It was part of who I was and who I would become.
My story includes the following ingredients: what led to the Holocaust, what life was like in Terezín, how survivors and their offspring were personally affected, and what this means to future generations. Of course, the story wouldn't be complete without some personal family melodrama, expressed in poems, recipes, travel notes, and essays.
Now, eighty years after the rise of Hitler, the world is losing its Holocaust survivors. As the survivors are dying off, we must never forget this shocking chapter in world history. Second generation survivors are the only ones left to bear witness for those who can no longer speak for themselves. I feel it is beshert (meant to be, destined) that I try to document, understand, and memorialize my family’s past. The experience has been life-affirming. So, I give you the story of my mother and her family, my own real life heroes and heroines, of which I am so proud. May their history never be forgotten, and may the world never know another Hitler.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank, with utmost gratitude, my extended family, for opening your wounds to share your experiences with me, and believing in my passion to immortalize our family’s history.
Mom, I know that you are giving me your blessing and cheering me on, even from the grave. I am certain your spirit is always with me, surrounding me with love and wisdom.
I wish that my beloved brother, David Stewart Levy, had lived to see this book published. David was at the forefront of my memories and inspired me in many ways. He exemplified the reasons Jews took such pride in their identity, even in the face of persecution.
I would especially like to thank my dear sister Sharon Levy Siegel, for assuming the daunting task of editing and compiling the brush strokes of my manuscript, while reminding me of forgotten memories and adding her own marvelous insights and recollections.
I would like to thank my friends, especially my friend and child survivor, Ela Weissberger, for their unwavering support and inspiration. As Ela said about her fellow child performers of Brundibár , “Remember my friends.”
I would like to thank Martin Jelinek and Michaela Sidenberg from the Jewish Museum in Prague for locating my mother’s Terezín artwork in museum storage and sending me attachments.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Oded Breda of Beit Theresienstadt for assisting me with correct documentation.

Esther Vivien Levy
April 2013
PART I: THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH MY MOTHER’S EYES
CHAPTER 1 My Beloved Mother, Miryam Šapšovič Levy

Zorinka: "Mila, you've got to help me!"
Mila:"What's the matter, Zorinka?"
Zorinka:"Those boys over there are being mean to me! They're saying I'm too delicate and dainty to play dodge ball."
Mila:"Don't worry, Zorinka. I know how to handle those bullies. If they don't stop, I'll just bite them in the ankle!"
Mila was the Czech name of my mother, Miryam, and Zorinka was her older sister. (For more about Zorinka, see chapter 5).
My mother was born on August 2, 1931, in Chust, Czechoslovakia, a rural farming village in the Carpathian Mountains which was then part of Czechoslovakia but is now part of the Ukraine. Her given name was Emilie (pronounced “Emil-yay”) Šapšovič. In Europe, Jewish women had to have both a Hebrew and Gentile name. My mother used her Hebrew name, Miriam, as her primary name. In Czech, Miriam was spelled “Mirjam,” which people pronounced as “Mere Jam,” so she changed it to “Miryam."
Before World War II, my mother, her sister, Zorinka, and their parents moved to Prague, where they had a carefree and happy life. My mother was a happy-go-lucky, precocious tomboy, a wanderer, and a little terror! She took mischievous pride in identifying herself as “the smart one” whereas her sister was “the pretty one.” Her joyful memories of Czechoslovakia wove a colorful and vibrantly textured tapestry that included all of these: her love of music, singing, puppets, playing the violin, delectable pastries and chocolates, eating her fill of watermelon, going to the cinema, her love of school, and her parents’ love of Czech President Tomas Masaryk.
She often recounted a favorite joke she and her sister shared: