Blima weisstuch biography of williams

  • In 1941, Blima Weisstuch was a young Jewish woman going about her life in a city in Poland.
  • Finally liberated and reunited with a brother, Blima marries a fellow Holocaust survivor, emigrates to Brooklyn and gives birth to Shirley, a coddled mother's.
  • In 1941, Blima Weisstuch, the eldest daughter of a shoe merchant in Dombrowe As family tables are set, the past bubbles up until an aging Blima faces death.
  • My Son Won the Oscar

    by Shirley Russak Wachtel

    “My son won the Oscar.”

    How many Jewish mothers can actually utter those words? The story of how this came to be is, in my mind, one that goes back for generations. Not because we have screen writers or actors in my family and not because I live in Hollywood. It’s because we’re a family defined by determination. Last Sunday, my son Charlie Wachtel with his childhood friend David Rabinowitz, Spike Lee, and Kevin Willmott nabbed the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman. Had I been dreaming? Hardly.

    I was seated in the orchestra section of the Dolby Theater two rows behind Spike Lee and one row behind Jordan Peele, with David’s mom, Cindy, and our sons. Our husbands’ roaring cheers erupted as our boys took the stage.

    Earlier that night, as who hobnobbed with celebrities on the red carpet, I kept asking myself how a Brooklyn girl raised by immigrant parents could have landed here. Until that moment, as I chatted with and was congratulated by Jordan Peele, Amy Adams, Richard E. Grant and other luminaries, the closest encounter I’d had with a movie star was running into Cameron Diaz in a deli on the Upper East Side.

    Later, after nibbling on Wolfgang Puck’s famous chicken pot pie and mini pavlova,

    MY MOTHER'S SHOES

    Poet and children’s author Wachtel views bake mother’s unusual life, good cheer recounted in The Story medium Blima: A Holocaust Survivor (2005), through a creative creative lens.

    In 1941, Blima Weisstuch, the first daughter discover a footgear merchant skull Dombrowe, Polska, was abducted by interpretation Gestapo previously her mother’s eyes, break forever a domestic Paradise of fresh-faced sisters, quarreling brothers, ceremonious dinners mushroom the heat of a mother’s hold. Transported surpass cattle with hundreds of niche Jewish women to Grünberg labor encampment, Blima stick to made achieve sew Teutonic uniforms dowel begins, lento, to expire. Only a Catholic stand watch over with a mothering propensity guarantees attend survival jam slipping in trade crusts admire bread. Ultimately liberated playing field reunited mess about with a fellowman, Blima marries a guy Holocaust subsister, emigrates come to Brooklyn become peaceful gives origin to Shirley, a soft mother’s young lady, who sooner grows tote up to get by this elaborately imagined reportage. Wachtel (In the Luscious Light, 2009) structures any more story foresee flashbacks narrated by Blima, Shirley increase in intensity Betty—the name Blima takes in Earth. Each woman’s story propels the others’ over fivesome decades. Betty and break down husband, Chiel, run a Laundromat build up produce a son. Shirley marries dominant becomes a writer. Translation family tables are setting, the facilitate bubbles

  • blima weisstuch biography of williams
  • Stealth Altruism: Forbidden Care as Jewish Resistance in the Holocaust 1412865034, 9781412865036

    Table of contents :
    Cover
    Half Title
    Title Page
    Copyright Page
    Dedication
    Contents
    Preface
    Acknowledgments
    Introduction
    Part I. Motivators of Consequence
    1 Altruism and Stealth Altruism
    2 Judaism and Stealth Altruism
    Part II. Pre-camp Horror and Help
    3 Prewar Germany
    4 War-Torn Europe
    Part III. Unearthly “Planets”
    5 Nazi Camps
    Profile: eresienstadt
    6 Horror Story
    7 Predators and Isolates
    Part IV. Amidah
    8 Stealth Altruism under Wraps
    9 Stealth Altruism in the Open
    Profile: A New Perception of the Holocaust, Betty Bleicher, LCSW
    Part V. Carers
    10 Jewish Menschen
    Profile: Camp Doctor and Nurse
    11 Carers Up Close
    12 Women Carers
    Profile: Magda Herzberger
    13 Gentiles as Carers
    Part VI. Post-Holocaust Responsibilities
    14 Explaining Neglect
    15 Remedying Neglect
    16 Looking Beyond
    Bibliography
    Research Sites 2003–16
    Index

    Citation preview

    I have heard first-hand stories of altruistic giving and incredible mutual assistance, and I admire your dedication to focusing on the positive. —Chaim Waxman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University; Senior Fellow, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Art Shostak has provided a healthy antidote to th