Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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If you like this one, Phil, find "The Periodic Table" by Levi. It's his autobiography, organized by chemical theme (Levi was a chemist).
-Darryl
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"I found the book by the above title written by an Italian Jew lying around the house. "
Wow Phil, what are the chances of finding an Italian Jew lying around your house? And a book writer at that? Comedy aside...
[I generally get my colleague Craig to spearhead the communications with SOR but this is a more personal note].
I am always looking for personal memoirs about The Holocaust to include with The Holocaust Stamps Project (Canada). So I will look around to see if there are any copies available here in Canada.
Interestingly, one of our early donors (referred by the original Holocaust Stamps Project) also wrote a memoir of his days in a concentration camp. When he told me, I bought the only 5 copies available in Canada, kept one for myself and gave the others to significant donors and partners. Here's the link for those who are interested (probably still available in the USA).
https://www.simonandschuster.ca/authors/Michael-Gruenbaum/408859859
My dad turns 94 next week. He was in the RCAF and injured when his plane crashed returning from a mission. My mother - who passed 25 years ago - was Jewish (and sent to Canada when she was around 10). So I find it pretty hard to read these stories and not feel torn apart at the unbelievable inhumanity that was not only perpetrated - but allowed to be by those who just looked the other way. And just a few generations away from us today!
As an interesting side note on the timing of this discussion: Yom Kippur ("the day of atonement") ends today at sunset.
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Another great book to read is "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankl (the creator of "logotherapy"). I was given this book by my Grade 11 English teacher, Mrs. Goldstein, who just asked that I return it when finished.
I read it so many times that I forgot to do so until 6 or 7 years later, only to find she had passed. I got ahold of her daughter who just laughed and told me her mom had probably given away dozens of different "meaningful" books to her "favorite students" and always said the saddest thing was when they actually returned them to her.
Talk about "paying it forward"!
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Its not easy to read books like this ..my wife has some recall of the occupation of the Netherlands 1940-45..her older siblings who were teenagers remembered much more but some things they refused to talk about.
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That is very recognisable. My grandfather also witnessed many things during ww2 but rarely talked about it. It was by piecing together the little bits of information he sometimes gave to me, my brother and sister and my mother (born in 1944 so no memories of that period), we were able to conclude he must have experienced many things, including very dangerous events dealing with the resistance...
It made me realise that many times the silent people have more significant stories than the talkative ones.
Best regards Jan-Simon
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Jan-Simon:
My highschool girlfriend's dad was from Haarlem (Netherlands). Apart from getting me hooked on Dutch "total football" (it was 1974) and martinis made from "Oude Jenever" he told me a few things that have stuck with me to this day 45 years later...
When I ate dinner at their place I would trim the fat off steak and he would get upset and tell me to eat it. He explained that meat and fat were so scarce during and after the war that it was still almost like gold to him and that the fat I was ready to throw away would have been worth a few months of his father's wages.
The other story was him being in church when a commotion broke out. The Nazis had come in and were ordering people out. When he went to look at what was happening, an older man pushed him aside and told him to get out of his way. The Nazis told the old guy to go to the side of the church then let the next 9 (including - interestingly enough - young "Jan") go out. They were taking every 10th person to be shot in retribution for a resistance-group killing of 2 soldiers the previous day.
What a horrible experience to go through!
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That was certainly true in the cities. My grandparents had a farm where conditions were a lot better. Haarlem and Amsterdam are 60 kms or more away, but still people came on bicycles to get food. This is what happened in 1944 when my grandfather had harvested wheat. If you look closely you can see the huge queue.
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I found the book by the above title written by an Italian Jew lying around the house. No one seems to know where it came from. He starts with the preface "it was my good fortune to be deported to Auschwitz only in 1944,that is , after the German Government had decided owing to the growing scarcity of labour , to lengthen the average lifespan of the prisoners destined for elimination." He then since he was there gives a day to day description of life in Auschwitz..the work, some of the insane rules etc; status was determined by the the number tatooed on your left arm. His number 174517 made him a newbie..the lower your number the more you were looked up to. The number also told the people in charge everything they needed to know about you.
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
If you like this one, Phil, find "The Periodic Table" by Levi. It's his autobiography, organized by chemical theme (Levi was a chemist).
-Darryl
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
"I found the book by the above title written by an Italian Jew lying around the house. "
Wow Phil, what are the chances of finding an Italian Jew lying around your house? And a book writer at that? Comedy aside...
[I generally get my colleague Craig to spearhead the communications with SOR but this is a more personal note].
I am always looking for personal memoirs about The Holocaust to include with The Holocaust Stamps Project (Canada). So I will look around to see if there are any copies available here in Canada.
Interestingly, one of our early donors (referred by the original Holocaust Stamps Project) also wrote a memoir of his days in a concentration camp. When he told me, I bought the only 5 copies available in Canada, kept one for myself and gave the others to significant donors and partners. Here's the link for those who are interested (probably still available in the USA).
https://www.simonandschuster.ca/authors/Michael-Gruenbaum/408859859
My dad turns 94 next week. He was in the RCAF and injured when his plane crashed returning from a mission. My mother - who passed 25 years ago - was Jewish (and sent to Canada when she was around 10). So I find it pretty hard to read these stories and not feel torn apart at the unbelievable inhumanity that was not only perpetrated - but allowed to be by those who just looked the other way. And just a few generations away from us today!
As an interesting side note on the timing of this discussion: Yom Kippur ("the day of atonement") ends today at sunset.
Login to Like
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
Another great book to read is "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankl (the creator of "logotherapy"). I was given this book by my Grade 11 English teacher, Mrs. Goldstein, who just asked that I return it when finished.
I read it so many times that I forgot to do so until 6 or 7 years later, only to find she had passed. I got ahold of her daughter who just laughed and told me her mom had probably given away dozens of different "meaningful" books to her "favorite students" and always said the saddest thing was when they actually returned them to her.
Talk about "paying it forward"!
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this post
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
Its not easy to read books like this ..my wife has some recall of the occupation of the Netherlands 1940-45..her older siblings who were teenagers remembered much more but some things they refused to talk about.
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
That is very recognisable. My grandfather also witnessed many things during ww2 but rarely talked about it. It was by piecing together the little bits of information he sometimes gave to me, my brother and sister and my mother (born in 1944 so no memories of that period), we were able to conclude he must have experienced many things, including very dangerous events dealing with the resistance...
It made me realise that many times the silent people have more significant stories than the talkative ones.
Best regards Jan-Simon
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re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
Jan-Simon:
My highschool girlfriend's dad was from Haarlem (Netherlands). Apart from getting me hooked on Dutch "total football" (it was 1974) and martinis made from "Oude Jenever" he told me a few things that have stuck with me to this day 45 years later...
When I ate dinner at their place I would trim the fat off steak and he would get upset and tell me to eat it. He explained that meat and fat were so scarce during and after the war that it was still almost like gold to him and that the fat I was ready to throw away would have been worth a few months of his father's wages.
The other story was him being in church when a commotion broke out. The Nazis had come in and were ordering people out. When he went to look at what was happening, an older man pushed him aside and told him to get out of his way. The Nazis told the old guy to go to the side of the church then let the next 9 (including - interestingly enough - young "Jan") go out. They were taking every 10th person to be shot in retribution for a resistance-group killing of 2 soldiers the previous day.
What a horrible experience to go through!
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this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
That was certainly true in the cities. My grandparents had a farm where conditions were a lot better. Haarlem and Amsterdam are 60 kms or more away, but still people came on bicycles to get food. This is what happened in 1944 when my grandfather had harvested wheat. If you look closely you can see the huge queue.
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