That other side of the family history. Terezin.

[TayTay]

Book about tragic fates of Austrian Jews in Terezin coming out
Source: CZECH NEWS AGENCY
Date: October 12, 2005

PRAGUE, Oct 12 (CTK) - The next part of the Terezin Commemorative Book containing the fate of Austrian Jews who went through the former deportation camp at Terezin ((Theresienstadt), north Bohemia, is coming out in German these days.

The book describes the fate of 18,166 prisoners who were deported to Terezin directly from Austria or who came from Austria.

“It is a memorial to all who did not survive war atrocities,” Michal Frankl from the Terezin Initiative Institute told journalists today.
Among the victims, there are, for instance, four sisters of Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist and founder of psychoanalysis, who later died in the concentration camp in Treblinka, Poland, distant relatives of John Kerry, an unsuccessful candidate for U.S.
president, and Elise Richter, the first woman in Austria who defended her doctor’s thesis in Vienna in 1901 and who died in Terezin.

During World War Two, the former garrison town of Terezin served as a ghetto for European Jews from where regular transports were dispatched to extermination camps, mainly to Auschwitz, where most of the 155,000 Jews from the ghetto died.

[beachmom]

1. Thanks for posting this, Tay Tay

I've often thought of this and the fate of Kerry's grandfather to change his name, his religion, and his country, presumably to make a better life. Had he not, John Kerry would never have existed.

I also think back to Tour of Duty, and how Kerry told everyone on his crew that they were going to get through this, and they were going to come out of it alive. But then after, how he talked about how every day is extra.

How history is determined by the quick decisions people make is profound.

[TayTay]

2. I had no ideer what to call this thread.

It is unseemly to call out any one family as having suffered more than any other. But this is a part of the Senator's background, as real as anything I have ever posted on the Forbes side and about the Boston ancestry that goes back so far in local history. And I think it adds a dimension to Kerry as an American, that motley collection of people from all over who came to this country for a wide variety of reasons, including the right to live and practice their beliefs without persecution.

My husbands mom's people came from Poland at the turn of the century. They were Jews who settled in Revere MA. I have inherited numerous things from my mother-in-law that originally came from Warsaw. My husband is aware of his Polish background, but not aware as well. (Burnout, I think, from too many hours spent in Hebrew School. He kind of burnt out of hearing about the Holocaust.) Anyway, every so often my kids will ask about their own backgrounds and where the ancestors all came from, like for school reports and such. I remember when this first came up, my young kids said, oh maybe we can go and look up relatives back there. It was hard to tell them that there is no one left to look up. They either emmigrated or died.

I posted this actually for Kleeb, because he shares some background with Kerry. Hi Kleeb, hope all is going well.

[CBHagman]

3. I think you handled it in just the right fashion.

I suspect many Americans are unaware of this particular aspect of the family history.

As for your husband's own family, I'm sorry to hear what they suffered.

[TayTay]

4. I didn't know they were in Theresienstadt

That was the camp that the Red Cross visited at one point. The place was painted, given a complete-scrub up and so forth for the important international visitors. The Red Cross came, they took pictures, they sent out a notice that no one was being mistreated here. They left.

Most of the inhabitants were gassed shortly thereafter. So sad. I think Ann Frank died here shortly before the end of the war.

[Island Blue]

5. Isn't it amazing the chain of events that had to happen

for each one of us to be here on the planet? I find it a fascinating thing to contemplate. This is especially true in the United States (though certainly not limited to here) because we are all such a mix of nationalities. If just one person had missed the boat at any time, I wouldn't be here. This is especially true for someone like John Kerry who is a mixture of two such diverse backgrounds. Interesting stuff.

[CBHagman]

6. Yes, I think about that sort of thing all the time.

It all boils down to whether great-great-grandpa gets off the boat, whether your future parents are hired by the same company, etc. (Come visit us maniacs in the ancestry/genealogy group.)

The thing about Kerry is that the story is so much more complex, and it breaks my heart to think that most Americans, even if they followed the campaign, probably don't know the real story of his family and just see a man of privilege.

And it was even worse with Teresa. The press made a cartoon character of that woman, but for a few articles that really dealt with her true values and family.

During the 2000 election, I dared to imagine seeing Good Housekeeping or Ladies Home Journal magazine featuring a story titled "Chanukkah with Vice President and Mrs. Lieberman" (I know; it's starting to make me cry). Someday we will cross that particular barrier, but for now, it hurts.