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JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT
46th DISTRICT
Regular Term Ending 111/2007
(Vote for not more than ONE)
Chapman and her mother were dis-
mayed by the headline in the local
paper, translating to: "The Jew Edith
Westerfeld Visits Stockstadt."
The trip's highlight was meeting
Mina, who had been more of a fami-
ly member than a servant to the
Westerfeld family. Mina offered
Chapman her grandmother's tea set
and Westerfeld family photographs
she'd preserved.
On the 1995 trip, mother and
daughter also traveled with
Chapman's husband Steve, a Chicago
Tribune columnist, and their three
children. They met Hermann again
but Mina, unfortunately, died in
1992. Her son Jurgen hosted them
in his home outside of town, and he
and Chapman still maintain a warm
relationship.
Schumer and Chapman's trip last
year, with other refugees from the
area, was sponsored by the Society
to Preserve Jewish Culture in the
county of Kreis Gross-Gerau. This
group organized following the 50th
anniversary of Kristallnacht, the
Nazis' 1938 smashing of Jewish-
owned businesses in Germany.
"The people involved in this
group are a little younger, the chil-
dren and grandchildren of the Nazi
generation, and they are open to
understanding what happened," says
Chapman. The Society has about
150 members from eight towns.
Today, Chapman says these
younger Germans are trying to make
amends by "restoring synagogues,
erecting memorials, conducting
research and videotaping interviews
with Holocaust survivors and with
refugees who found safety in other
countries."
On this latest visit to Germany,
Chapman and the others felt decid-
edly pampered. A special moment
came when the Society members
toasted her mother with champagne
for her 75th birthday, shouting,
"Echaim!"
Chapman says she's pleased to see
so many children of Holocaust sur-
vivors writing books. "It's an emerg-
ing genre," she says. "What's hap-
pened is that the next generation is
now old enough to sort out the
experience that affected their lives,
and now they are coming forward
with their stories."
Many of those books deal with
the Holocaust's aftermath; Chapman
says her approach was how the trau-
matic events of that era "ultimately
shaped my mother and my relation-
ship."
She says, "It's about how that loss
of identity completely defined my
mother and affected how she moth-
ered. She was always overly protec-
tive. Every parting from her — even
leaving to get a gallon of milk — is
prolonged because it reverberates
with that painful goodbye of so long
ago."
Chapman is pleased that
Motherland, published in April, was
a Barnes & Noble Booksellers'
"Discover Great Writers" selection
and Hallmark Entertainment has
optioned it for production.
Chapman's story was told in June on
television's Oprah.
The author says her children are
removed from the Holocaust era.
"And that's a positive thing," she
says. "For the third generation, [the
Holocaust is] not an old wound that
is constantly sore."
While she believes the next gener-
ations need to know what happened
in the Shoah, "it's not part of their
everyday life" the way it was for her
and other children of
survivors/escapees.
That's why Chapman doesn't
envision a genre of books on the
Holocaust experience written by sur-
vivors' grandchildren: "For them,
the experience is more muted."
With a smile in her voice, she
says, "They'll have to find some-
thing else to write about." ❑
JAMES M. O'REILLYX
SUSAN MOISEEN
James O'Reilly is decisive and even-tempered with 26 years of
legal experience. He has been rated "Outstanding" by the Public
Advisory Committee on Judicial Candidates. He is endorsed by:
• More than 25 construction and building trade unions
• The Oakland Press
• The South Oakland Bar Association — Unanimously
• Numerous civic and community leaders
O'Reilly will fight for change to make the court
responsive to the needs of all people. He supports:
Rights of all citizens
Extended court hours for greater convenience
4 Televised proceedings so citizens can monitor quality
of courts
4 Assistance for seniors and residents facing language
or cultural barriers
4
JAMES M.
°REILLY
FOR 46th DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
Paid for by the Committee to Elect James M. O'Reilly 46th District Court Judge, 29350 Southfield Rd., Suite 115, Southfield, MI 48076
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Sorting It Out
Writing the book was Chapman's
way of making sense of what has
happened to, and between, her
mother and herself.
"Once my mother decided to take
these trips and we returned to this
town, much of what she was hiding
had to come out," says Chapman.
"It feels like the elephant in the
room is gone. We are free to talk
about those things that she always
avoided. That takes a lot of pressure
off the relationship."
BORDERS'
~AS AMON KIONS-VON1010 MON .
' •
Fern Schumer Chapman will
appear twice on Wednesday,
Nov. 8, at Book Fair: 10 a.m. at
the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center and again at
8 p.m. at the Oak Park JCC.
.
.
E DAY IN
MEIER
Moment No. 105
Meet Author Simon Reeve:
• One Day in September
.• • Sunday, Nov 5 at 7 p.m.
The full story of the 1972 Munich
Olympics Israeli athlete hostages
from a top investigative journalist.
BORDERS'
Downtown Birmingham • 34300 Woodward Ave • 248.203.0005
.2000
55