SHVESTERS
“WHOEVER LISTENS TO A WITNESS BECOMES A WITNESS.”
— ELIE WIESEL
Embedded in each is the Shema
An essential Jewish prayer - calling out to be seen…heard…and found.
RUTI
Born in 1932, Ruti was the eldest of the three girls. She had dark hair and dark eyes that danced when she smiled. She loved ruffles and ribbons and bows, and especially loved dressing up in her mother’s high heels and dresses. Often - she’d play in her grandmother's closets, donning her pearls. Someday - she thought - they’d be hers and she’d wear them.
She was smart. She was funny. She was the family’s first born and the light of their world.
She remembered walking into her father’s shoe shop and seeing that yellow star. She remembered walkingto school holding tight to her mother’s hand, while children shouted and pointed: ‘Shmutziger Juden’ and ‘Juden Kike’. She remembered the day she was told she could no longer to to school with her friends, but to one that was designated only for ‘Juden’. She remembered asking repeatedly why she couldn’t leave the house without her yellow star displaying brightly.
She didn’t remember the answer.
And - she remembered Kristallnacht. That night when all things as she knew them to be - changed. Her father’s shop was rampaged and burned. Their family was forced to flee.
AVA
Ava was born in 1934, the second of the Klein sisters. She too - had dark hair and eyes as big as saucers. She was the carefree dreamer.
She filled a room with her song and her dance and her laughter. She loved chasing butterflies and running barefoot and spinning herself round and round, imagining the universe was spinning with her.
She talked an endless stream of conversation. With her wild imagination she told stories of who someday she'd be free to be. She remembered the hushed voices…the quiet conversations…her parents and sister - afraid.
She remembered her first day of school. Too many Jewish children all crammed into one small little space. She asked too many questions as to why she couldn't go to the same schools that others did.
She remembered there was a long journey . Some days they walked, some days they sat in a cart that was pulled by her father. She remembered how tired he was. But - she wasn’t old enough to grasp the danger and enormity, or to understand why.
RAISEL
Although Lotte and Josef might have been hoping for a boy, they were gifted another girl. In 1937, Raisel was born. Like her parents and sisters - she too had dark hair and the biggest brownest soulful eyes. From day one - she was destined to be someone’s someday heartbreak.
She was strong-willed, stubborn, fiesty and independent. She was determined to do it her way. Always the third-in-line and the tag-along child, she wanted nothing other than to keep up with her older sisters.
It was that energy and bold grit that served her well. It's what kept them together and helped her survive.
She was only one year old when they fled Nazi Germany. She was three when her father was taken as a part of the Final Solution, and massacred in the concentration camps.
She had no memory, nor means to tell us her stories.
She - was my mother.
JAKOB
Jakob was born in 1928 in Brussels. Belgium. He was girls' cousin, and an important part and piece of their story.
Jakob was clever and smart. At a young age he learned that he could do tricks to earn friendship and favors..
When the Nazi's invaded he quickly befriended them. He provided information, they provided him with food and a promise of protection.
Ostracized by the Jewish community, and not at all German he did what he believed he needed to do - to save himself and his family.
It was due to those favors that the girls survived. When all others were transported directly to the camps, they were taken elsewhere.
He did not survive.
Three Jewish girls. Three Jewish sisters. Born in the1930’s in pre-WWII Berlin.
Their parents were taken from them, and perished in the Holocaust - Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ and master plan to eliminate the Jewish people.
It was only due to the kindness of strangers, and some not-so-small miracle of fate that these three girls survived.
These paper sculptures are my way of preserving their memory while honoring their uniqueness. Their individual stories are often lost in the grand scheme of the Holocaust.
This is about my mother and her two sisters. Without their resilience, determination and grit - I would not be here today.
In Hebrew - the word is Hineini.
In English - I Am.
Perhaps - I once felt it a burden. Now - I see it as a privilege and a gift.
To be here. To share these stories. To pass this history on.
WE MUST NEVER FORGET