Spirituality
Pain Of
Their Own
Holocaust survivor reflects on being a
child survivor of the Holocaust.
time and he ended up spending an
entire day hiding deep below the hay.
Special to the Jewish News
"I will always remember how my
father smelled at the end of that day.
aisy Miller could have
These are the memories child sur-
been a statistic — one of
vivors have," she said. "Our memories
the 1.5 million children
are very visceral and emotional, and
to perish in the
we've carried them with us."
Holocaust. But, at age 4 or 5, her life
Because of the lack of validation she
was spared because she and her entire
and
other child survivors received for
family went into hiding in several
their
Holocaust experiences, long into
Italian farmhouses.
adulthood, these children
On Oct. 21, Miller
remained silent. But their
told her story to a group
silence was broken in the
of eager listeners at
late 1980s, when they
Temple Israel.
began forming groups.
"I am a child sur-
Miller helped form
vivor," Miller told the
the
first
children's survivor
audience. "The fact that
group
in
Los Angeles.
I am here today is quite
"It's important to recog-
a miracle because so
nize all the experiences of
many children were
the war," she said.
murdered during the
"Children in particular
Holocaust."
came
out of the war com-
She is also the associ-
pletely
alone in many
ate director for annual
cases.
They
had no par-
development for the Log
ents, no grandparents
Angeles-based Survivors
Daisy Miller
and no siblings. Many
of the Shoah Visual
child survivors were sent
History Foundation, an
off to distant relatives or
organization founded by
strangers.
Some
reported life after the
Steven Spielberg to preserve the testi-
war
was
often
worse
than life during
monies of Holocaust survivors and
the
war."
witnesses through video recordings.
In addition to hearing about
The foundation has collected 50,000
Miller's experiences, the Temple Israel
testimonies from 57 countries.
audience heard about the work of the
As a child survivor, Miller said she
Shoah Foundation. In particular,
carries a burden other survivors never
Miller explained how the organization
had to bear. Frequently she hears,
is not only collecting testimonies but
"You were a child. You couldn't possi-
also working hard to make sure these
ble remember the atrocities," or "We
video
documentations don't just sit on
adults knew what was going on and
a shelf.
therefore we suffered more."
She explained how the foundation
Miller, now 63, does have memo-
has a catalogue system that allows
ries, vivid ones of her years in hiding.
users to sit at designated computers
She remembers being unable to cry
and
search for videos based on key
out loud. She remembers being
words,
including names of people or
unable to go outside for any reason.
names
of
cities and towns.
She remembers the few times she was
"Once my generation dies, there
allowed to leave the small room where
will be no one here to tell these stories
she and her family hid. And she
except for the Shoah Foundation and
remembers one occasion when the
other organizations that have also col-
Germans were nearby. She remembers
lected testimony," Miller said.
that her father was in the barn at the
JENNIFER LOVY
D
❑
64
Rabbi Nevins
Leads Israel Trip
Torah Tapes
Enlighten Adults
Rabbi Daniel Nevins and his family
will lead a trip to Israel this summer,
July 7-21.
The itinerary high-
lights include two
days in the Tel Aviv
area, three days tour-
ing the Galilee and
Golan Heights,
Shabbat in Safed, six
nights in Jerusalem
with excursions to the
Dead Sea, and cele-
brating Shabbat in Jerusalem.
The trip is appropriate for adults trav-
eling alone as well as for families.
Several b'nai mitzvah will be marked in
the course of the trip.
An informational meeting will be
held at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Anyone from the community may
attend.
For information, call Rabbi Nevins,
(248) 851-5100
Adult learners whose work and/or
family preclude them from taking
advantage of regular Jewish education
classes are invited to learn - at home or
on the go by borrowing drivetime
Torah audiocassette tapes from Eilu
v'Eilu, the adult Jewish learning proj-
ect of the Michigan Conservative
movement.
The Torah tape library is in the
offices of the Jewish Theological
Seminary Great Lakes Region, suite
310, Max M. Fisher Federation
Building in Bloomfield Township.
There is no charge for borrowing
the tapes. For information or a free
catalogue, call Eilu v'Eilu, (248) 593-
3490.
Barbara Wiener, her parents, Libby and Abe Asner, and her sister Cheryl Gold.
Historical Video Chronicles Town
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Temple Beth El and the Jewish Genealogical
Society of Michigan co-hosted the recent showing of the video chronicle of
Eishyshok, "There Once Was a Town."
The video was a travelogue made by a group of survivors and their fami-
lies, which included Yaffa Eliach, the creator of the Tower of Life in U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Barbara Wiener of West Bloomfield, her father Abe Asner and sister
Cheryl Gold, both of Windsor, made the trip to Eishyshok. The video was
narrated by Ed Asner, Abe's cousin.