Comments on: Minnesota Mamaleh: Against All Odds, My Grandmother’s Story

By: Trish

Trish — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:31:04 +0000

I read your Safta’s story and like always, pride and sorrow fill me. My own family, my mother, her sister and her parents, are from Rotterdam. They were living there when the Nazis occupied Holland.

They also did not tell us much about their personal experiences during that time; just glimpses into their life. Now my Mom is 82 years old and she is finally starting to talk. It’s all I can do to not grill her like a witness to the prosecution, and extract every nugget of memory from her.

It is a powerful story of so many human elements. Stupid hatred, great courage, compassion, fortitude, fear, apathy, helplessness, recklessness….. and we must never forget.

I was in sixth grade, in World History class, when I first heard the ridiculous notion that “the Holocaust never happened”. A boy named Lance was touting this asinine idea. It was my first encounter with the preposterousness of racism.

Bless you, Galit, when the day comes that you begin to share this with your children. I think it’s just like the other “facts of life” talk: something to be approached in increments, instead of inundating them all at once with ideas too profound for their young minds. Ideas too profound, really, even for a middle-aged woman like me.

By: Kir

Kir — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:17:00 +0000

Well now I know where all that talent, those awe inspiring words come from in you. While I wish things like thids never had to be retold because they never happened, this story is a testiment to the WOMEN you come from and the amazing qualties they passed down. Wow!

By: Galit

Galit — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:23:38 +0000

hi jennifer! thanks much for the note. indeed, amazing and bittersweet describe all such stories. thank you also for the book recommendation! i’m excited to take a look!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:33:12 +0000

What a lovely tribute. And an amazing story. But as a survivor bittersweetly told my brother when he was reporting his book: “If you didn’t have an amazing story, you didn’t survive.” (This is the book, if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Search-Six-Million/dp/0060542993/ref=ed_oe_p It’s an amazing read.)

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

By: Galit

Galit — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:20:43 +0000

thanks sarah. so great to hear from you again! the word “strong” comes to mind over and over again when it comes to safta. truly a role model and a woman to look up to– hopefully for generations to come!