Edith Mayer Cord - Finding Edith: Surviving the Holocaust in Plain Sight

Edith Cords masterfully crafted portrayal of surviving the Nazis through flight and hiding, as well as the rich and fulfilling life she created in the decades after, serves as an extraordinary example of an individuals will to overcome. In a broader sense, Finding Edith also depicts the arc of the refugee experience during the Holocaust and presents a case study of the immense difficulties and trials of hiding under such circumstances. Cords honest rendering shares a deeply human story, illuminating human flaws and human strengths, and sheds light on the particular texture of the female experience.

Elizabeth Anthony, Historian,
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Finding Edith is a painful book to readand it should be. In great detail and with unequaled precision, Edith Mayer Cord describes her experience hiding in German-occupied and German-Allied so-called Vichy France as a young girl, and her unrelenting efforts to both get an education and avoid capture. One marvels at her discipline and the courage born of necessity. One also is horrified by the many who exploited her dire situation and impressed by the few who came to her aid. She is brutally honest about her relationship with her difficult mother, who was shattered by the loss of her husband and her son, and by her conditions of dire poverty. One cannot fail to be impressed by the journey that Edith traveled to find herself and create a productive life after so much suffering. I know of few books as candid in explaining the price that was paid for survival.

Michael Berenbaum, Professor of Jewish Studies,
Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute, American Jewish University

Through the interweaving storythe odysseyof the authors and her familys personal experiences, readers learn about the events, the ascent of anti-Semitism that culminated in the death camps, the mass killings of what was termed the Final Solution. There is also mention of some little-known historical information, such as that Italian fascists laid claim to what is now Ethiopia; that Hitler admired Genghis Khan; and the events of the Evian Conference and the Wannsee Conference. Readers learn of the resourcefulness of the authors parents in the face of life-threatening situations, as well as the lessons learned through the experiences of a child and young person during the Holocaust. These lessons Edith Cord carried into her remarkable adult lifesurvival of painful events and personal losses; assimilation is not enough to grant you safety; resourcefulness and adaptability are the most valuable tools; acquire skills to be able to support yourself; be active on behalf of civil rights and democracy. It is indeed an odyssey of personal growth.

Stefanie Seltzer, President, World Federation of Jewish Child
Survivors of the Holocaust and Descendants

FINDING

EDITH

Surviving the Holocaust in Plain Sight

EDITH MAYER CORD

Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana

Copyright 2019 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cord, Edith Mayer, author.

Title: Finding Edith : surviving the Holocaust in plain sight / Edith Mayer Cord.

Description: West Lafayette, Indiana : Purdue University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019008629| ISBN 9781557538086 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781612495972 (epub) | ISBN 9781612495965 (epdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Cord, Edith Mayer. | Hidden children (Holocaust)EuropeBiography. | Jewish children in the HolocaustBiography. | Holocaust, Jewish (19391945)Personal narratives. | Holocaust survivorsUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC D804.196.C67 A3 2019 | DDC 940.53/18092 [B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008629

This book is dedicated to the memory of my beloved father,
S. J. Mayer, deported to Auschwitz on convoy 31 from
Drancy, France, on September 11, 1942, at age 54,
and to the memory of my wonderful brother,
Kurt Mayer, deported to Auschwitz on convoy 26
from Drancy, France, on August 31, 1942, at the age of 19.
May their memory be for a blessing.

Contents

After twenty-five years I finally worked up the courage to read the last letters from my father and brother written just before their deportation to Auschwitz. While reading them I was reliving their agony, despair, and loneliness as they were about to be mercilessly murdered. And for what? This unspeakable suffering endured by those who were so brutally killed, dying alone far from witnesses, was caused by the blind visceral hatred that is anti-Semitism.

Sometimes I feel as though I have packed several lifetimes into this one. I recall my own hardships, pain, and despair as an adolescent hiding in plain sight to escape persecution and death in Western Europe. This book is about my odyssey, my struggle to rise out of poverty, to get an education, to transcend hatred, and to come to terms with many traumatic experiences. The circumstances of my life in those days were harsh. The prolonged attacks on my sense of self were relentless and came from many sources. The profound loneliness and despair of those years was so painful that I choose to tell my story as succinctly as I possibly can. I share my story with the hope that we will learn from this terrible past, that we will have men and women with the courage to stand up for our freedom, and that we will not allow ourselves to be silenced by political correctness, indiscriminate terror, or cowed into submission by nuclear, chemical, or cyber threats. We must speak up for our freedom by using words that heal, that enhance our best and noblest understanding of lifefor everything starts with ideas.

Ideas work their way across centuries: from the Bibles teachings of the Ten Commandments, individual responsibility and redemption, to the concept of democracy in ancient Greece, to the message of Jesus about accountability, love, and forgiveness, to the Enlightenment, with its recognition of mans intrinsic equality before God and the right to worship in freedom. We are the spiritual heirs of previous generations, and these precious ideas and hard-won insights must be passed on to younger generations. Like a thread, both good and bad ideas weave their way into our consciousness. It is up to us to filter them through our moral compass in order to keep the good ones while discarding the bad ones. It is an unending task. Totalitarianism in all its guises, whether it goes by the name of Nazism, Fascism, Communism, or some other fanaticism hiding behind a religious or political ideology, leads to the same results: a ruthless determination to achieve power by all means. We have little or no control over what life dishes out, but we do have control over how we deal with it. I am sharing my story with the hope of inspiring people. They have a choice; they too can work to build a better life for themselves and a better world for all.

Drawing Edith made during an art workshop representing her climb out of darkness and oppression into light. Included in I Remember: Drawings and Stories by Adult Child Survivors of the Holocaust, by Tamar Hendel, 1991.

This book took shape thanks to the invaluable help of my assistant and friend, Gabrielle DeMers, whose constructive feedback and technical skills helped to make the book what it is. My daughters, Emily and Louise, have always provided support as well as valuable feedback during the writing phase. I also wish to thank my lifelong friend Leon (Wodowski) Vermont (19292019) for his constant encouragement to put my thoughts in writing. Finally, I want to express my thanks to the editorial board of Purdue University Pressespecially to Katherine Purplefor their suggestions and technical support during the publication phase of my book.