Because of the rich and varied lives my clients have lived, I often reflect on the Jewish experience. It’s deeply sobering that so much of our collective history has involved trauma, but we are a remarkably resilient and productive people considering our stories.
It was my privilege to participate in the Visions of Remembrance, Voices of Hope project at JFS. My task was to formulate the text accompanying the photographs in the gallery and, in order to do that, I listened to each survivor’s taped story for that one small piece of truth that expressed something about his or her individual spirit. It was difficult to choose the words because so much of the testimony was compelling, and I was limited to a paragraph. I felt like each person’s voice occupied a sacred space inside me and with every name, every location, every date, I became more a part of my history. In order to make sure dates and spellings were correct, I had to research them all, forcing my way through the inevitable images that accompanied the articles I read. In the end, it was the film footage of pre-war Jewish villages and neighborhoods that stirred me most deeply – the innocence of ordinary life before the storm. This clip is from one of our survivor’s village in Hungary; she is likely one of the singing school children.
We don’t sense ourselves a part of history because of statistics – no matter how grim or overwhelming – but because of the individual voice that speaks. And it’s the eyes in those photographs that lock us into our mutual humanity regardless of time. Sometimes, in discussions with friends, I’ve said that all we are as individuals are the collection of our memories up to a given point in time. That might be a working definition of self. After participating in this project, I realized that memory includes what we share and incorporate from those who came before us, and we are more of a human chain than a single point. To join hands with our Holocaust survivors was simply an honor.
Read about one survivor’s story here as she celebrates her 92nd birthday here in Seattle.
The 77th anniversary of Kristallnacht/Night of Broken Glass will be observed November 9-10.
By Lani Scheman
Lani is a Geriatric Care Manager in the Aging in Place program. She has worked with a variety of populations for over thirty years. Lani is a longtime resident of Capitol Hill, living with her partner Scott and a Chesapeake Bay retriever. She is interested in just about everything but has a special passion for literature, photography, book arts and the beauty of the natural world.
