Keeping our perspective in check
When my friend, a passionate book lover, suggested I read “Shores Beyond Shores, from Holocaust to Hope, My True Story” by Irene Butter (with John D. Bidwell and Kris Holloway, 2018), I was skeptical. Was this point in history the time to delve into what was surely going to be difficult to process?
The fact is, after reading this touching and compelling memoir, I discovered it was the perfect time to read the true story about a sweet young Jewish girl and her remarkable story of survival.
I knew it was the book for me when I read Butter’s simple introduction: “When I got off the ship that brought me to the United States in 1945, the American relatives who took me in urged me to forget everything that had happened to my family — and to me — in the Holocaust. They told me to never think or speak of it again. I was 15 years old and they were adults, so I listened to them. For 40 years, I was quiet. I was not truly free until I started to tell what had happened to me as a child. Here is my story.”
I was intrigued. “Shores Beyond Shores” was a book written by a resilient woman courageously revisiting the horrors of war and concentration camps. As a retired therapist, how could I not read her story? I’d spent the majority of my adult life encouraging and supporting people to share their stories and free themselves of destructive secrets. Of course, I would appreciate and admire Butter’s experiences. And, I did.
Butter’s story begins when she is a happy little 5-year-old living a privileged life in Berlin. It’s summertime in 1936. Surrounded by loving family and friends, there are trips to the zoo, time in the garden with her beloved grandparents and a red tricycle that brings her unlimited joy. Jewish holidays and birthdays are celebrated, songs are shared and endless cups of delicious hot chocolate savored. Neither Butter, nor the caring adults in her life, have any idea about the future that awaits them.
But slowly, Butter’s charmed life begins to unravel. She starts to spot “black zigzags” throughout her neighborhood and her older brother, Werner, explains they are Nazi swastikas. Then, public trams become off limits to her father, a banker. As pressure continues to mount, he finally leaves for Amsterdam to begin relocating his family as far away as possible from the invading Germans.
Tragically, Butter’s cherished father is unable to save any of them from the Nazis. What follows Butter’s brief stay in the Netherlands
is the harrowing story of survival in two concentration camps, Camp Westerbork and Camp Bergen-Belsen.
By 1943, Butter’s family struggles to make it through each day. The camps’ horrendous conditions have left her parents and brother fighting severe illnesses. Butter, now an adolescent, tends to their needs, but also lovingly cares for the younger starving children of the camp. One day, she discovers that her Amsterdam neighbor, Anne Frank, is in the camp. Witnessing Anne’s circumstances, Butter even manages to bring her friend much-needed clothes.
Because Butter’s father had managed to obtain Ecuadorian passports before his family’s internment, they have one chance for freedom … if they are healthy enough to travel. Eventually, Butter alone arrives by ship’s passage in New York. (And no, I haven’t given away the ending.)
As testament to this remarkable woman’s resilience, Butter eventually earned a doctorate in economics from Duke. Married and the mother of two, both she and her husband, Charlie, became professors at the University of Michigan.
But, it wasn’t until her daughter was in high school that Butter first spoke publicly about her experiences during World War II. Over the next few years, she finally found her voice and began pursuing peace work. Finally, in 1990 she co-founded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal & Lecture at the University of Michigan. (Wallenberg is credited with saving thousands of Jews in Nazi occupied Hungary during the Holocaust.) The foundation provides humanitarian role models for students and community. Their mission is: “One Person Can Make A Difference In Building A Better World.” As of 2017, there have been 25 medalists who have spoken on the U of M campus.
Butter also began Zeitouna, an Arab-Jewish woman’s dialogue group dedicated to “promote the peaceful, just and sustainable coexistence of the Arab and Jewish peoples through connection, trust, empathy and action.”
In closing, I’ll quote Butter one last time: “I didn’t ask to go through the Holocaust, but I was saved through the miracles of luck and the love and determination of my Pappi. I owe it to him and everybody who suffered to talk about what I learned because suffering never ends, so our work must continue.”
It’s a very good time for all of us to keep our perspective in check and, if possible, look out for those less fortunate than ourselves.
As a retired therapist, how could I not read her story? I’d spent the majority of my adult life encouraging and supporting people to share their stories and free themselves of destructive secrets. Of course, I would appreciate and admire Butter’s experiences. And, I did.
Tracey Barnes Priestley is a life coach with a master’s degree in community counseling psychology and more than 30 years of experience as a counselor, educator and consultant. Visit her website, www. thesecondhalfonline.com; email her at: tracey@ thesecondhalfonline.com; or send letters to 665 F St., Arcata, CA, 95521. Tracey regrets she cannot answer all letters and emails.