William B. Helmreich - Against All Odds: Holocaust Survivors and the Successful Lives They Made in America
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Against All Odds is the first comprehensive look at the 140,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors who came to America and the lives they have made here. William Helmreich writes of their experiences beginning with their first arrival in the United States: the mixed reactions they encountered from American Jews who were not always eager to receive them; their choices about where to live in America; and their efforts in finding marriage partners with whom they felt most comfortable?most often other survivors.In preparation, Helmreich spent more than six years traveling the United States, listening to the personal stories of hundreds of survivors, and examining more than 15,000 pages of data as well as new material from archives that have never before been available to create this remarkable, groundbreaking work. What emerges is a picture that is sharply different from the stereotypical image of survivors as people who are chronically depressed, anxious, and fearful.This intimate, enlightening work explores questions about prevailing over hardship and adversity: how people who have gone through such experiences pick up the threads of their lives; where they obtain the strength and spirit to go on; and, finally, what lessdns the rest of us can learn about overcoming tragedy.
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Against
All Odds
All Odds
Originally published in 1992 by Simon and Schuster
Published 1996 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX 14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX 14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 95-31897
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Helmreich, William B.
Against all odds : Holocaust survivors and the successful lives they
made in America / William B. Helmreich ; with a new introduction by
the author.
p. cm. (Judaica and Hebraica)
Originally published: New York : Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56000-865-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Holocaust survivorsUnited States. 2. JewsUnited States. 3.
ImmigrantsUnited States. I. Title. II. Series.
E184J5H55 1995
973. 04924dc20 95 -31897
CIP
Against all odds : Holocaust survivors and the successful lives they
made in America / William B. Helmreich ; with a new introduction by
the author.
p. cm. (Judaica and Hebraica)
Originally published: New York : Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56000-865-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Holocaust survivorsUnited States. 2. JewsUnited States. 3.
ImmigrantsUnited States. I. Title. II. Series.
E184J5H55 1995
973. 04924dc20 95 -31897
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-1-5600-0865-1 (pbk)
Dedication
In Honor of
Menacnem Z. Polak and Chana G. Polak, survivors,
in Memory of
Sally (Banach) and Isak Levenstein, survivors,
and
in Memory of
the Stark and Halpern families
from Baberka and Orla, Poland,
and
tne Ungar family
ol Krasne, Poland,
whose members perisned in tne Holocaust along with 6,000,000
other Jews, including 1,500,000 children.
May their memories be a source of inspiration for Jewish survival.
Menacnem Z. Polak and Chana G. Polak, survivors,
in Memory of
Sally (Banach) and Isak Levenstein, survivors,
and
in Memory of
the Stark and Halpern families
from Baberka and Orla, Poland,
and
tne Ungar family
ol Krasne, Poland,
whose members perisned in tne Holocaust along with 6,000,000
other Jews, including 1,500,000 children.
May their memories be a source of inspiration for Jewish survival.
Contents
Errata
P. 9, line 22: Judith should read Dana.
P. 65, line 26: Arrivals should read Americans.
P. 83, bottom line: after accepted insert the following text,
six refugee families. The head of the Selma Jewish Welfare Fund
wrote a letter to the USNA, stating, Responsibility or not, the
wrote a letter to the USNA, stating, Responsibility or not, the
P. 85: delete lines 1 and 2.
P. 88, line 7: Arrivals should read Americans.
P. 145, line 10: insert do not before exhibit.
P. 281, line 33: Leitner should read Katz.
P. 340, column 1: insert Katz sisters, 281 below Katz, Moshe, 231.
P. 340, column 2, line 16: delete Leitner sisters, 281.
P. 342, column 1, line 33: Arrivals should read Americans.
Against All Odds
Against All Odds
Introduction to the
Transaction Edition
Transaction Edition
In February of 1995, I was invited to speak in Miami Beach at what was probably the last major gathering of Holocaust survivors. Like those before it, the event attracted thousands of participants but there was something different about this one. The theme emphasized victory over tragedy and the atmosphere was, if not joyous, at least triumphal.
When Benjamin Meed, head of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, rose to speak at the concluding banquet, he began by saying: He tried to kill us, and he lies in the ground. And we are here. Everyone in the audience knew who he was and the applause was thunderous. Earlier in the day, I had given a talk about my book to 700 survivors. The response was enthusiastic as those present repeatedly interrupted my talk with applause. However, I soon realized that, while they may have appreciated my remarks, they were actually applauding for themselves in an almost self-congratulatory response. They had made it in America and their presence, as well as my words, proved it. That is why they clapped loudest when I said: You came here with nothing and you built new lives, raising families, creating businesses, and starting new communities.
In the years since Against All Odds appeared, I have received hundreds of letters from all over the world, mostly from survivors. Most of them have thanked me for writing a book that speaks to their hearts. Thinking about that, I recall asking Elie Wiesel, when I first began this project, what he thought I should focus on in writing this book. His response: Give the survivors a little dignity in their old age. They have suffered so much, they deserve at least that.
If there is any issue that truly distresses survivors it is the fear that what happened could occur again. A recent New York Times article that appeared on June 28, 1995, cited an Anti-Defamation League Report which concluded that there were more than 3,500 skinheads in 40 states throughout America, with names such as the Fourth Reich Skinheads of Orange County, California. Reports of such activities frighten survivors, and with good reason.
The activities of Holocaust deniers also feed into survivors' apprehensions, for if one can claim it never happened then why should there be any concern about its future occurrence? I myself was influenced by the canards of deniers. Because of them, in large part, I resolved to use real names of survivors in my book, thus not allowing anyone to claim that I made up the names of those with whom I spoke.
Some reviewers asked why I did not focus on Israeli survivors. In truth, that is a separate topic deserving of its own book. Coming to a new country where many fought for survival in 1948, survivors achieved a kind of catharsis in vanquishing an enemy that was not available to those who came to the United States. In addition, Israeli survivors became part of a majority rather than a minority. These two factors, plus others unique to Israel, resulted in an adaptation process that differed from the experiences of the immigrants to America.
Despite my best efforts to qualify my conclusions, some critics thought I had presented too positive a picture of survivors, viewing them as a success story without taking into account their underlying pathology. They neglected to consider the caveat in the book that says they succeeded, considering everything. In fact, survivors are permanently scarred by their experiences and deeply so. Nightmares and constant anxiety are the norm in their lives. And that is precisely why their ability to simply lead normal Uvesgetting up in the morning, working, raising families, taking vacations, and so forthmakes the description of them as successful, fully justified.
The last several years have also witnessed a growing trend among researchers to look at the strengths of survivors, to try to learn more about their coping mechanisms. This has been accompanied by a realization that much of the earlier research that focused on trauma and pathology was both selective and anecdotal. For example, Boaz and Eva Kahana and Zev Harel, who recently completed a major study of survivors, have stressed that survivors are normal people who have endured something horrible, human beings who are responding in surprisingly positive ways. If Against All Odds has contributed to this awareness, then an important objective has been achieved. If the pattern is coincidental, it doesn't matter. What is important is that the stereotypical view of survivors has been challenged and that it is changing.
There were also letters from children who wrote that the book had helped them to better understand their parents. In many cases it was their parents who had given them the book as a gift. The reverse was also true, with many children purchasing the book for their parents because they believed that it accurately portrayed their postwar lives.
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