I Have My Mother's Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations PDF
Preview I Have My Mother's Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations
I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES A HOLOCAUST MEMOIR ACROSS GENERATIONS Barbara Ruth Bluman RONSDALE PRESS & VANCOUVER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION SOCIETY I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES Copyright © 2009 Barbara Ruth Bluman All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency). RONSDALE PRESS 3350 West 21st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6S 1G7 www.ronsdalepress.com Typesetting: Julie Cochrane, in Granjon 11.5 pt on 16 Cover Design: Shawna Romain & Kazuko Kusumoto Paper: Ancient Forest Friendly “Silva” (FSC) — 100% post-consumer waste, totally chlorine-free and acid-free Ronsdale Press wishes to thank the following for their support of its publishing program: the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Book Publishing Tax Credit Program. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Bluman, Barbara R I have my mother’s eyes: a holocaust memoir across generations / Barbara Ruth Bluman. Co-published by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. ISBN: 978-1-55380-070-5 (print) ISBN: 978-1-55380-289-1 (ebook) / ISBN: 978-1-55380-288-4 (pdf) 1. Bluman, Susan. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) — Poland. 3. World War, 1939–1945 — Jews — Poland — Biography. 4. Jews — Poland — Biography. 5. Bluman, Barbara R. — Health. 6. Cancer — Patients — Canada — Biography. 7. Mothers and daughters — Biography. i. Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre ii. Title. DS134.72.B58 B58 2009 940.53′18092 C2009-900660-X At Ronsdale Press we are committed to protecting the environment. To this end we are working with Markets Initiative (www.oldgrowthfree.com) and printers to phase out our use of paper produced from ancient forests. This book is one step towards that goal. Printed in Canada by Marquis Printing, Quebec Table of Contents Foreword 1 Pieces of a Tea Set 2 The Shadows 3 Chocolates and Ice Cream 4 Fire 5 A Shared Sofa Bed 6 Snow 7 A Maze Made of Paper 8 Suffocation and Breath 9 A Ride in the Dark 10 Shades of Green 11 Swamper 12 A Birth and a Letter 13 My Jewish Body First Generation Afterword Third Generation Afterword About the Author Foreword MY MOTHER, BARBARA RUTH BLUMAN, began the task of recounting her mother’s escape during the Holocaust from Nazi-occupied Poland. This was no small assignment and made all the more challenging by her cancer diagnosis. When she died in 2001, the narrative was not yet complete; she asked me to finish it for her. As the initial pain of my mother’s death began to settle, I undertook the process of completing her legacy. The inspiration to publish this book began with the realization that my grandmother and mother’s stories needed to be shared beyond our family circle. The Wosk Publishing Program of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) provided the opportunity to do so. I am grateful to the VHEC for seeing the value in this book and for their ongoing commitment to Holocaust education and understanding. To complete my mother’s work, I relied on the assistance of many. My cousin Adam Lewis Schroeder bravely tackled the first editing phase of the manuscript. In the midst of his own busy writing career and raising a family, Adam took the time to reorganize the memoir and even managed to interview my grandmother not long before she died in order to obtain a few last details. I want to acknowledge the whole publishing team at Ronsdale Press for all the work they have done to bring this book to fruition. In particular, I want to thank Colin Thomas, who edited my grandmother’s story and invested countless hours in helping me reshape the existing material in my mother’s story. Through interviews with various family members and friends we were able to piece together the hidden layers of my mother’s experience and bring them to life. Thank you. I would also like to acknowledge all of the people who shared their memories in order to bring our family’s history to life in the most truthful way possible. Specifically, I would like to thank my Uncle George for being such an important resource, and my father Drew Schroeder, my uncle Bob Bluman and my friend Jim Henning for being willing to be interviewed. I am grateful to my brothers, Michael and Sam, and my husband Marc, who supported me throughout this process and who were always willing to ease my insecurities and celebrate my accomplishments. One final and important acknowledgement: I thank my mother Barbara Ruth Bluman, who trusted me far more than I have ever trusted myself to complete this book for her. Without her faith in me, I would never have had the courage to go deeper into our family story and truly learn what it means to have my mother’s eyes. Danielle Bluman Low (Schroeder) January 2009
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