Blima weisstuch biography of williams
•
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
•
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