Miley - A garland for ashes : World War II, the Holocaust, and one Jewish survivors long journey to forgiveness

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A Garland for Ashes
World War II, the Holocaust,
and One Jewish Survivors Long Journey to Forgiveness
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2013 Hanna Zack Miley
v4.0

Cover designer: Sheila Macho
Photographers: Thomas Cogdell, Julia Stone, Ryan Thurman

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Dedication

To George, my travel companion,
patient listener,
and caring husband,
who keyed in each word
as I read to him from my penciled pages.

Table of Contents

Foreword

In December 2012, a few weeks before A Garland for Ashes went to press, Hanna received this letter from a representative of her home town of Gemnd, Germany:

Dear Hanna,

I will try to use my best English: what I have to tell you is very wonderful!

As you know in 2013 Gemnd will celebrate its 800th birthday. There will be lots of events involving many people. It will be a very important year in the towns history. For the organizers the memory of the Jewish people is a very important part of this. We want to honor the Jews of Gemnd.

I told Manfred [the leader of the celebrations organizing group] your life story and your decision to return to Gemnd every year. The organizers want to thank you for your efforts toward reconciliation. We are thankful that you came back to Gemnd and offered us the hand of forgivenessin this country and town where your parents and family were murdered. We want to honor the Jewish citizens of Gemnd, and we want to honor you as a Jewish citizen of Gemnd and as a woman who is seeking peace and blessing.

I have the wonderful task of asking if you would take the patronage of the celebrations in Gemnd next year. Serving as patron does not require you to carry any public duties or obligations, but you can if you would like. You can come to Gemnd whenever you want and go back to the USA whenever you want. My job is to ask if you would take this patronage. We hope you will, and we will be happy and honored if you do so.

Best wishes,

Georg Toporowsky

A few days later Hanna responded to Georg, saying that she was honored by the request and accepting his invitation. He responded that the organizers would like to have a word of greeting ( Gruwort in German) to use on the official publications surrounding the anniversary celebrations. Hanna sent this Gruwort in reply:

D ear Friends,

Greetings from the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, Arizona.

This year, 2013, is a significant milestone in the history of our home town. We have reached the 800th anniversary of our beginning.

When the Jewish citizens left Gemnd after Kristallnacht, I was the youngest among them. And now, 74 years later, you have invited me to be the patron of our celebration.

Why me? I believe you have given me this honor so that I may be a representative of the Jewish community. I remember some of themtheir names and faces crowd my mind: Kurt Meier, my childhood friend; Gisela Teller, who gave me her sled; Ruth Meyer, who walked with me from my home on Dreibornerstrasse to the cinema. We wanted to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Above all, I think of my parents, Amalie and Markus Zack.

Many years passed before I began to visit Gemnd again. At first, reconnection with the past was a sorrowful experience. Amazingly, several citizens of Gemnd who actually remembered the small child, Hannelore Zack were still alive. I am deeply thankful for their kindnesses. I had so few memories from my childhood, and the stories that Willi Kruff, Lisbet Ernst and Frau Schmitz shared helped me to make peace with the past. I believe that their love for a former Jewish neighbor continues in the decision you made, to remember the Jewish community during the 800th anniversary celebration.

What a beautiful thing you are doing, facing the truth about the darkness of the 1930s, by laying the Stolperstein [memorial stones commemorating Jewish citizens whose lives were lost during the Holocaust] at this time. Surely great blessing will flow out of such forthright honesty. You are seeking the good of this community.

Already in the last years there are evident signs of renewal and economic revitalization. Many visitors are coming to enjoy the beauty of the Eifel. Local young people are expressing their creativity as they connect with the history of Gemnd.

Each time my husband George and I return we experience much joy among our Gemnd friends.

Thank you for giving me this honor.

May God bless us, each one. Shalom.

Hanna Zack Miley

Preface

I remember the exact spot. Gerda and I were walking back from the Jewish cemetery on a cold, grey day toward the end of March 2008. Our friendship had begun years before, but it had been twenty-five years since we had spent time together. We were heading toward Dreibornerstrasse in the center of Gemnd, looking forward to catching up with each other over a relaxed lunch. As we crossed the bridge at the confluence of two rivers, the Urft and the Olef, where the Alte Bahnhofstrasse curves and becomes Am Plan, Gerda turned to me and said, Why dont you write your story, Hanna? This is where it all began.

I had always resisted the idea. What were the roots of my reluctance? I felt inadequate. Information about my family and my early years was sparse. I shrank back from the sheer slog that would be involved in such a project. But more than anything, I feared the pain of digging deep into the past.

When I look back at the events triggered by Gerdas question, I am reminded of my school days in EnglandI must have been about fourteen years old. Our class, dressed in ugly, green gym outfits, was attempting to run with hurdles for the first time. Everyone else seemed to take the obstacles in their stride. I couldnt. I froze before the first hurdle, no matter how many attempts I made. In the end, a couple of friends held each hand, ran with me, and pulled me up and over all the way to the end.

A Garland for Ashes began with the idea of telling my story. As I gathered ideas, chose words, and formed sentences, sleeping memories of my parents gradually stirred to life. Newly discovered documents came into my hands, leading me to visit the places where they were born and where they died. It seems as though my book has turned into a journal recording the process of embracing my family, travelling beyond the horror and the shame of their gassing in Chelmno, Poland, on May 3, 1942, to the Love that never ends.

Like the schoolmates who guided me over the hurdles, so many have given a helping hand along the way: Hans-Dieter Arntz, Lisbet Ernst, Gisela Forbar, Ruth Holden, Annemarie and Willi Kruff, Gnther Lukas, Gerda and Manfred Schaller, (who also introduced me to their editor friend, Ute Mayer, an encouragement at that early, scary stage of writing my story), Maria and Dieter Schmitz-Schumacher, Walter Volmer, Claudia and Hans Wiedenmann, and Detlef and Esther Wurst.