Listen to older generations and their stories will live on
It’s incredible what you learn when you sit down and actually talk to people, especially older generations that have experienced war, tragedy and triumph.
I was recently approached by WUCF-TV, Central Florida’s PBS station, to produce a series of documentaries highlighting Jewish Americans in World War II. The series is part of a larger special called “G.I. Jews,” which will premiere on WUCFTV on April 11.
While producing the videos, I met a U.S. Army veteran who experienced anti-Semitism while fighting for a country he loved. I interviewed a veteran who joined the U.S. Army Ski Troops, although he had never skied in his life. Another veteran joined the U.S. Army Air Corps after learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And then there is Harry Lowenstein, a Jewish man who is the only member of his immediate family to survive the Holocaust.
After witnessing Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, Lowenstein, his parents and his sister were forced to wear yellow badges as a way to identify them as Jews. They were later rounded up and sent to Kaiserwald, a concentration camp in present-day Latvia.
Lowenstein worked in the garage at Kaiserwald, never knowing if he’d be the next boy chosen to be sent to an extermination camp. He eventually was liberated at age 13. He weighed 65 pounds at the time. Why did he survive? “Plain luck,” is what he told me. Not only is that an astounding answer; it’s also astounding that what happened to Lowenstein happened in the not-too-distant past.
Lowenstein is now in his 80s and lives on a quiet street in Kissimmee. If you saw him at the grocery store or walking around the neighborhood, you’d never know he was a Holocaust survivor.
That is, unless you sat down and talked to him.
Since I started this project a few weeks ago, I’ve had the opportunity to ask some very personal questions and hear some very personal answers. As I sat across from each of the subjects I interviewed for this project, I couldn’t help but think: “Why didn’t I ask my own grandparents about their lives during World War II?”
None of my grandparents are still alive. And while I may have heard a few sentences here and there about their upbringings, I didn’t ever set aside the time to have a long, deep conversation about ... well, anything. I regret that. What should I have asked them? What would they have told me if I had asked? What will I never know about them?
The experiences of Lowenstein and the Jewish veterans I spoke with have been captured on video and will live on for a long time. I’m happy about that because they are important stories, and future generations should hear them.
But everyone’s parents and grandparents have important stories to share, too. So, if possible, talk to your loved ones about their lives, because they won’t be around forever.
And when the storytellers are gone, so too are their stories.