EAST COAST FINISHERS INC

Breaking The Silence

W

hat lurked on the other
side of those louvered
doors? Perfectly pickled
wood of 1955 vintage defined this
slatted door. Slight in stature — less
than a yard wide and only a few inches
the lives and fabric of her whole family
thick — it was a powerful divider
were definitely not addressed.
that stood between each visitor to
She never spoke with her brothers
our home and self-enlightenment. It
separated what was originally intended or sister about the mysterious veil that
concealed her father’s life. Her mother
to be a cement slab
back porch from the never brought up his unfathomable
history, and she never heard the two of
rest of the house.
them discuss the Holocaust. Gail always
Life transpired
felt there was a silent understanding
in that room. Our
among her family that the Holocaust
den played house
should not be mentioned. Nobody ever
to many adventures
and evolving experi- told her to avoid asking questions, but
ences as we grew up. she had a deep internal feeling that she
should not talk about the Holocaust
Given the seven-
Elyse Foltyn
with anybody. More than anybody, she
year age range of us
four children — and felt as if she had to avoid these conver-
sations with her dad.
the length of time that separated my
Until she crouched next to that pick-
father from the Holocaust — that
led wood at age 8, Gail did not under-
room served different purposes and
gave rise to varying memories for each stand why she only saw her maternal
grandparents and few other relatives
of us. What was it about the allure of
on Sunday afternoons and at holiday
that room? We were all magnetically
drawn to it for many different reasons. dinners. Nor did she grasp why she
barely had any relatives on her father’s
The attraction was palpable.
side of the family.
For my sister, Gail Wunsch,
Dad would sit in the den
those louvered doors were
behind the pickled wood
a threshold to learning of
entry all night lighting one
our father’s ominous past.
fresh Kent cigarette from the
They were the only barrier
last and reading from knee-
between her and understand-
deep piles of newspapers and
ing where dad came from,
magazines. He never explained
what he escaped and who he
why he couldn’t sleep at night.
left. Although she could bare-
Gail Wunsch
And, if he did doze off for a
ly hear through the wooden
moment, Gail was frightened
slats, Gail recollects see-
by those times he would wake up
ing countrymen of our father, fellow
screaming or startled.
Holocaust survivors, or “landsmen”
Gail said Dad never really spoke
(pronounced “lonzmen”) as our father
with her about the Holocaust until he
would call them in Yiddish, unleash
had his own awakening more than 20
themselves in our den.
years ago, and months after he had
From 8 years old on, Gail recalls
growing up huddled outside that door- a cardiac arrest in the middle of the
night. Like a cat with nine lives, Dad
way. Away from those louvered doors,
she never really heard much about the sprang back to life months after fall-
ing in a late-night diner. As if a day
Holocaust or its human and physi-
did not pass, he arose from his coma
cal destruction. Gail attended public
school in a largely Jewish suburb along with a commitment to speaking of
with some other children of survivors. the Holocaust. Dad said that while in
Despite this, the Holocaust was not on his coma he had a vision his parents
were sitting on the edge of his bed and
her school curriculum. Oddly, not a
urged him to tell “Their Story” of the
word was spoken about the Holocaust
Holocaust. From that moment on, the
at Gail’s (our) religious school either.
commitment to understanding the
At home, too, discussions of the
past was greater than ever.
Holocaust were nearly non-existent.
And the personal aspect of the
Holocaust, the fact that her father sur- Elyse Foltyn blogs about her family’s Holocaust
experience at SurvivorsStill.com.
vived its horrors and that it touched

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by professional
craftsmen

t Painting
t Plaster
t Rough Carpentry
t Finish Carpentry
t Drywall Hanging
t Specializing in
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of our crew and never sub-contractors.

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September 15 • 2016

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