Lessons learned

Although the Holocaust (Shoah) is a Jewish tragedy, the themes and lessons learned transcend religion and ethnicity. The fallout from that period in our history is overwhelming when one realizes how many families are yet to be reunited, how many graves are yet to be found, how many children are yet to be named?

I recently found my Uncle Leo Chimowicz's grave in Prague from a simple statement made by a child survivor named Eva, "Maybe your Uncles hitched a ride from concentration camp Theresienstadt to Prague with my family?" I had searched cemeteries worldwide, had zoomed in the Czech ones, but did not find his grave until I was given this potential clue! I had searched the worldwide cemetery databases, I had searched cemeteries in the Czech Republic, I had searched cemeteries in Prague, but when I heard Eva's words, I zoomed in on one city, and one city only.

Since my Uncle Alfred Chimowicz had seen his youngest brother, Leo Chimowicz, who was alive on release from Theresienstadt, in a hospital, I figured this youngest brother must have been buried, but the question was what hospital, in what city? As a child, I saw my father and uncle light memorial candles for their youngest brother. We knew that this youngest brother wanted to go back to the East to search for his wife and three sons, just as my father went to the West to search for his wife and young daughter.

The Holocaust cut short the lives of 11.5 million persons of all faiths. What can we do to tell the true stories as we know them and what can we do to "fix" those stories that are false about such an unbelievable event in the history of the world?

If you have a story to tell, do not hesitate to publish it on a blog, in comments on a blog, on a website, on Facebook, or whatever media you feel comfortable with. If you are searching for answers, for the truth, for the fate of lost family members, better to get it out in the media sooner rather than later.

Do not wait until you have a "perfect" book, write up what you have and get it out there.
There will be negative reviews no matter how "perfect" or how well-edited your book might be, but any closure, any new information that you might find, will most certainly be worth the effort.

If you are a member of the 2nd or 3rd generation, search the word "Holocaust" or "Shoah" in FB groups and join one that would welcome your family's stories.

When you connect with someone who may have information on the fate of one of your ancestors, do not let go, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity might never come again!

I am grateful to have found someone who was close to my sister's age and on the journey with my lost sister. Although I had older cousins that were with my sister, having found a child close to her age and seeing the world from the child's eyes is incredible and truly beyond what I expected.

I was fortunate to get a glimpse of my sister's world, literally "Through Eva's Eyes."

Eva's journey was documented in a children's book written by her granddaughter, Phoebe:

If it is time to explain what happened in that horrible period of our world's history to a child, Phoebe Unterman's book, which is most beautifully illustrated, "Through Eva's Eyes," is a wonderful place to start the journey and begin to "Walk Forward."

Eva's story is my lost sister's story, a story about the group now called "The Last 500."

Miracles

Finding a cousin was a miracle, but small miracles have continued since the publication of "Walk Forward."

A wonderful lady, who at 12 years old was on the final journey with my 9 year old sister, responded to a letter I sent to her in Oklahoma. I was privileged to visit this incredible person named Eva, who gave me a chance to envision a bit of the most complicated and horrible world as my lost sister might have seen it. Had Eva's hair been blond and her eyes blue, I would have believed that perhaps I had finally found my lost sibling! We know we are not sisters, but family relationships are yet to be researched.

Eva and I found we have very much in common. The more Eva and I search, the more similarities we find. We have uncovered many coincidences, but their true meanings are yet to be revealed. Not only do we like the same foods, have similar furniture in our homes, and the same desire to tell the story so that history does not repeat itself, we both feel strongly that the 1.5 million children who were murdered in the Shoah should never be forgotten. The children were not numbers, but had names and wonderful lives before the events of the Second World War destroyed their childlike qualities and hopes. Eva is a survivor of the Shoah, I am not a survivor, but the daughter of a survivor. I am a member of the second generation (2g), the generation who heard the first person stories, felt the enormous pain of the survivor (our parents') generation, and who continue to search for lost family members in lifelong attempts to put the pieces of the complex puzzle together.

As members of the second generation, we did not experience the Shoah in person, but we have the obligation to keep the true stories alive. We must do the best we can to publish the truth as we know it and encourage our peers to do the same. We owe it to those who can not speak, who dare not write, who are afraid to remember or publish the truth, and the millions who died long before their time. Hundreds of millions of words are lost forever, they never made it into books!

Genocide has horrible effects on many generations. Man's inhumanity to man remains with the young as fear and pain are not easily forgotten.

If you have a secret to survival or to what truly happened, be brave and share it with the world. If you have a story to tell, or have been privileged to hear a survivor's story, "Walk Forward," and please share it for the historical record and humanity!

Kindness, knowledge, and truth are first steps in healing our deepest wounds.