Put your X by the 0! 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 Visit us at WWVV. oreilly4judge.com •Custom Gutters and Gutter Guards • FREE No Clogging ownspout Baskets • No Gutter Clogging • Stop Ice Damming • Siding & Trim Installed • CALL NOW 0 F if 248-559-7300 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