People need to be made aware of the fact that there are people this despicable and heartless within our midst. I will not post the picture on my website but I will mention the actual group name in Facebook. It is called YOLOcaust and it shows among other things, a photshopped picture of Hitler sleeping with Anne Frank. It is one of the most disgraceful things I have seen in quite some time and it would be against everything this website stands for to remain quiet. Pass this along, contact Facebook, and make your voice heard. There is no room for one iota of tolerance for something like this and we must make it clear to those who have the power to do something about it.
How Dare They!
August 13, 1943
69 years ago today was Friday August 13, 1943. In Holland this was a time when as a Jew, if you were fortunate enough to still be alive, your life was in constant peril. If you did not look Jewish you still needed to have a false identity and what was perceived as a benefit or purpose to the Nazi occupiers. The Jewish institutions were being systematically depleted and destroyed with the ultimate goal of total extermination. The NIZ, the hospital where my mother lived and worked as a nurse, had reached that point where the final raid was upon them. As a young pretty woman who was clearly Jewish and one who had seen her whole world turned upside down, Sipora Rodrigues-Lopes was on the verge of giving up. She would find the strength and with the support of Nardus Groen would find her way out of the NIZ.
In many ways their story takes on its greatest significance on this day, August 13, 1943, a day when their connection became strong and their travels began. The following is the books Prologue and shows the events of this fateful day.
PROLOGUE
The date was Friday, August 13, 1943, and it felt like the worst moment of Sipora’s young life. She knew that the Germans were in the building and getting closer to finding her. She had already been through so much and she knew that the situation was going to get a lot worse before it got better. Her will to live was being taken over by despair. She was not the type of woman who would ever do anything to speed up her own death, but she also did not feel like running or fighting. So she decided that she would just wait on the third floor and when the Nazi soldiers located her,
she would willingly leave with the rest of the patients and hospital staff . At least then she felt as though she could do some good by making the sick and elderly patients a little more comfortable.
Nardus, however, had no intention of allowing this to happen. As had been the case since the beginning of the Nazi invasion of Amsterdam, he instinctively knew that whatever Jews were not murdered instantly would instead suffer greatly through torture, experimentation, rape, or brutal slave labor. Since he found Sipora before the soldiers did, he knew he had to get her out. And to a man like Nardus, it did not matter what Sipora thought of this idea. It was going to happen his way. And that was that.
When Sipora saw Nardus, she had already sunk so deep into
hopelessness she wasn’t even able to feel any sense of relief. And she was determined to let him know. “I am just going to wait here and let them take me too,” she told Nardus.
“They will need a nurse for the trip. If nothing else, I can make
them feel more comfortable.”
Some moments define an individual, and other moments can define a relationship between two individuals. In many ways, what was about to take place would define much of Nardus and Sipora’s relationship. True to his nature, Nardus was not suggesting or asking what would happen next. What he was doing was telling Sipora what would happen next.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said in his straight-to-the-point manner, “since you are going to your death anyway, and that is your plan, I will throw you out the window right now myself. At least then you will die quickly. Either way you will die.”
Sipora was crying now. “What’s the point?” she said. “There’s no hope. My family is gone; your family is gone. They’re even taking sick and old patients from here and transporting them out of the city.”
Knowing that he needed to remain calm and in control, Nardus made it very clear to Sipora what was to happen next.
“Get up and let’s get out of here. We will find a way to survive this. All you have to do is trust me and listen to what I tell you to do.”
Although what she was experiencing felt like hell, Sipora was at least able to move now. What made the difference was that someone else, someone she was growing to trust more and more by the day, was taking control and leading her in what at least felt like a better direction.
Neither Nardus nor Sipora had any idea what was to come next, but it did not matter. The only thing that mattered now was that Nardus would never allow either one of them to just sit and wait to be killed. At this moment, which signified all the drama, horror, and significance of the times they were living through, these two people were thrust together in a way that set the tone for all that was yet to come.
An Author’s Thank You
There are times when posting on the website is more difficult than others. It isn’t what I would call writer’s block, but it is caused by an inability to find a specific topic that is inspiring me enough to write about or even do research on it. Today being one of those days I just sat back, cleared my mind, and asked myself what I was truly feeling. The word came to me quickly. Gratitude.
I have discovered that a book that is only in its fourth month is in many ways and in most cases still in its infancy. It is impossible to determine what level of success it will reach. That of course is a good thing seeing as 4 months in no one would want to see their creation’s growth hitting a brick wall. I have said from the start that there are different levels of success the book could reach. What I want to briefly speak of now is the level it has reached till now, and to thank those who have helped or shown appreciation in ways that have meant so much to me.
When I speak of the book to others I generally refer to it as “my book”. When I speak of it with my family, I generally refer to it as “the book” or “our book”. That is because a book such as this one that takes us back to our origins and documents where we came from does not belong to only me it belongs to my entire family. And that means whoever wants to hop on board, since those origins are not exclusive to a limited few. The families that have emerged are numerous and I welcome anyone connected to join in and feel the connection. Whether it was a nephew who stated that he loved learning things about where he came from, or a relative who read the book twice to gain insight on the people in the book she knew or had known in person, the reactions of family who felt a greater connection to the family as a result of the book has meant so much to me.
The support of my family as a whole has been tremendous, and actions such as helping post a YouTube video or pushing sales in a place of employment such as a Japanese restaurant, or setting up speaking engagements has helped push this book to what appears to be the next level of success.
I have heard people say they cried when they read it, felt inspired by it, and think of it when they were down as a reminder that their life was not all that bad. People have shown me that it has struck a chord and impacted them in positive ways. And to all those who have expressed that, to you I say I thank you. Your words mean everything to me for they reinforce for me that what I have done here has true meaning.
From the warmest of welcomes from a synagogue in Philadelphia, to the graphic artist who helped me create a bookmark, to the friend who interviewed me for his radio program, and the generous and kind woman who wants to set up a book signing for me in New York, I say, thank you.
There are so many people whose expressions and actions have been meaningful that I chose to leave out names. I thank all of you and want you to realize how special you have made this experience for me so far. Maybe most of all I thank my mother for being part of the process with me, or even better, going back to how the story began, allowing all of us to be part of the process with her.
I have learned that although only one person writes a book, it is the people who appreciate it and value it that give it its true meaning and life. And to all of you I say thank you.
Radio Interview with the Author of Jew Face
The following is a radio interview I recently recorded discussing the book Jew Face. The interview will be broadcasted on August 4, 2012 on 88.1 FM WCWP and tcbradio.com. But why wait? You can hear it now by clicking the following link. Thanks to Richard Solomon for making this happen and to him and his brother Paul for a great hour plus of discussion about my parents and the book.
Tisha B’Av: In the Mind and in the Heart
Most of my posts are done with some degree of research and historical reference. Although the basis of this post will originate in overall Jewish and personal experience, this particular post comes entirely from the heart. The wide range of emotions felt by any one individual make up who they are and although there are many, the 2 primary ones are joy and sadness. Emotions are impacted by our level of maturity. This does not necessarily imply that one is immature if they do not feel certain emotions, but that who we are and how we have grown, positively or negatively, will impact our emotional responses. I say this because when I look at how I feel about Tisha B’Av today compared to years back, the difference is significant.
I’ve always known the religious and historical reasons for the commemoration of Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av. It is said that both Jewish Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, many years apart, on the same day, Tisha B’Av. The city burned, people died, and the greatest physical symbol of Judaism was destroyed twice, on the same calendar date. Since the Holocaust, Tisha B’Av has held greater meaning as it is used to recognize the loss and sadness of the Jewish people during that horrific time. And yet, through so many of my adult years, although I always intellectually understood the importance and acknowledged it to different degrees, I would be dishonest if I were to say I truly felt sad. This was until a few years ago.
So what changed? I did not become more observant. I am still someone who for right or wrong, picks and chooses what Jewish laws I keep and which ones I do not. No one sat me down and gave me a speech to influence my feelings. And yet, tonight, as I sit and write this on Tisha B’Av, I feel a genuine sadness. I credit much of how I feel to the impact the writing of the book had on me. However, not in the way one might think.
My experience in writing the book had me immerse myself into the world of my parents between 1940 and 1945. How fortunate I was to feel at times as though I was there with them yet never actually be hungry, desperate, cold, hunted, and in constant danger. I imagined I was there yet at no time was my life ever threatened. What this did was teach me one of the most important and poignant lessons of my entire life. It’s not all about me. We all live our lives that consist of the good and the bad. Many do live with some degree of fear or danger. I do not, and I thank God for that. But today I am a different person. I am now someone who understands that it is not only my personal suffering and tragedy or that of those close to me that matters and should cause me true sadness. Tisha B’Av is a day to recognize the sadness of others and to allow ourselves to truly feel it with emotion, not just intellect. A day in which my own personal growth has now given me the opportunity to put myself in someone else’s shoes and see past my comfort and freedom and be truly sad for the pain and suffering of the Jewish people. Now on Tisha B’Av my heart feels what my mind always knew. I once heard a Rabbi compare Tisha B’Av and Yom Kippur and how we fast full days on both saying, on Yom Kippur if one truly understand the awe of judgment by God, who would be able to eat? And on Tisha B’Av, knowing the true sadness of the day, who would want to eat? That makes sense to me now, not because I understand it, I always did, but because now I feel it with true emotion.
Tisha B’Av and an Olympic fiasco
As the sun sets this Saturday, July 28, 2012, the we being the commemoration of the 9th day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar. This day, known as Tisha B’Av, is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem and is widely recognized as the day used to remember those lost in the Holocaust when exact dates are not available. The sadness of the day is in line with the feelings of despair caused by the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people by Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany. This is going to be a short post designed to make a very powerful and important point. On the eve of Tisha B’Av 1941, the Nazi killing machine signed into effect the “Final Solution” against the Jews. On the eve of Tisha B’Av 1942, the Nazis ordered the beginning of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto. And on the eve of Tisha B’Av 2012 the OIC (Olympic International Committee) will not sanction just 1 minute of silence at the opening ceremonies for 11 Jewish people murdered at one of its previous events, the Munich Olympics.
Let me make something very clear. I am by no means comparing the decision makers of the OIC to the evil murderous thugs of Nazi Germany. However, the message this sends to me is that 70 years later Jewish lives still do not hold value to many out there, and subsequently what I do on this site and what many reading do in their lives carries a great responsibility and importance to Jewish people worldwide. We must never forget, and in doing so do whatever possible to make sure the world never forgets.
A Day of Sadness
With Tisha B’Av less than a week away, I will be putting together some special posts in respect to what is widely considered as the saddest day in the Jewish year. It is widely accepted as the day used to remember those murdered by the Nazis on unknown dates and has a powerful relevance to this website.
Never Again!!
I admit I am trying to sell a book on this website, but in doing so I’ve become very aware of the need to make sure people never forget what the Jewish people went through under Nazi occupation. Today’s terror attack is a powerful and sad reminder of how important this mission has become. An attack most likely orchestrated by Iran, a nation whose president leads the world in Holocaust denial, today’s bus explosion in Bulgaria shows what people who have no value for human life, specifically Jewish life, are capable of doing. The same mentality that existed during Hitler’s Germany today exists in the radical Muslim world. Make no mistake. Today’s attack was not merely and anti-Zionist activity. It was an attack on Jews by people who want the same thing the Nazis wanted, the annihilation of the Jewish people worldwide. We must never forget, because in remembering we can clearly identify when we see it again, as we did today.
Holland's Heroes 