Why have your Memoir Written?

I recently wrote an article for my Holocaust Legacies blog, which addresses this question well. I have included it here to provide a good starting point for this blog. As you read the examples I provide in it, the importance of leaving a written legacy should become clear to you, but don't think you must have a story as significant as Holocaust survival to make a difference. Each and every story adds to our collective history, enriching it for more substantial lessons for future generations.

The Legacy by Debbie J. Callahan

If you ever have the privilege of meeting a Holocaust survivor, you will probably hear one statement made, “I tell my story for those who can’t” or something to that effect. It is a sentiment echoed by many of these resilient souls. Telling their stories isn’t easy. Despite being emotionally painful and draining, survivors continue to speak at schools, churches, synagogues, and club meetings, reliving the same painful experiences day after day and year after year. Why would some expose themselves to these daily painful reminders? Wouldn’t it be far easier to put it all behind them and move on? Certainly it would be, but many do not take the easy route. “Speaking for those who cannot” becomes their mission. Imagine the worst experience you’ve ever had, the most tragic and painful event of your life, then intensify it. Could you retell and relive that event each and every day? They do, and for what purpose? They feel they have to retell their stories so that future generations will always know that the Shoah (Holocaust) did, in fact, happen, despite what the deniers say, and they retell it, so the next generation will never forget the lessons of the actions and attitudes that allowed it to happen in the first place. They commit to teaching about the tragedies of the past to prevent such attitudes now or in the future.

While so many survivors do tell their stories, there are others who do not or cannot share theirs. The reasons vary. Sometimes, their experiences were just too painful to relive and still allow them to function in today’s world. Yet many, when asked why they never told, will say, “No one ever asked?” or “No one wanted to hear it.” I can wholeheartedly understand if someone can’t share his or her story because of the difficulty of reliving the trauma, but to think that some held in all of their experiences because they thought no one cared enough to hear them breaks my heart.

Fortunately, some survivors have learned through younger generations that their stories are important, and that people not only want to, but need to, hear them. In many cases, it is the grandchildren who have gotten them to speak up for the first time. As in the case of writer Greg Dawson, who grew up without knowing of his mother’s Holocaust experiences, but when his daughter had an eighth grade project to do, she was able to get her grandmother to open up and share her Holocaust ordeal. Greg has since turned the story into a wonderful book called Hiding in the Spotlight, and together with his wife, has created a documentary that chronicles the story.

Why is it that one survivor can discuss and publically share his or her story, while a sibling, within the same family, sharing basically the same experiences,   won’t? That is the case in Greg Dawson’s family, as well as in my dear friend Helen Garfinkel Greenspun’s. Helen has been telling her survival story for over thirty years. She is one of five siblings to have survived the Shoah, and speaks for the girls who died in the concentration camps and death march that she had to endure. She thinks of the girls who were left lying beneath the trees of a forest, too weak, tired, or hungry to move on when ordered to march, and had to be left behind to perish. Those faces still haunt Helen, and the memory keeps her talking to audiences, even though she has officially retired from doing so at almost 87 years old. Yet, one of Helen’s sisters chooses not to speak about it. Perhaps, it has to do with what she experienced in the camps or on the march, or perhaps it is the memory of how their parents and younger brother and sister were immediately sent to Treblinka where they were gassed, but she has not been able to share her story as Helen and some of her other surviving siblings have. Helen’s story, and those of her siblings, is told in a book written by Suzan Hagstrom called Sara's Children; The Destruction of Chmielnik, and her individual story will soon be told in my book, For Those Left Behind.  Helen has gone on to receive many awards for her tireless efforts, including most recently the USA and Bright House Networks Characters Unite Award http://house2house.brighthouse.com/characters-unite-award-presented-to-helen-greenspun/.  I honestly believe that those Jews who survived as others around them did not, were spared for a reason. They were strong enough to come through one of the darkest periods of our history, and have lived to tell the horrifying facts. Facts many of us would never have believed could be true without their first-hand testimony.

There are so many stories left untold, though, and survivors are not the only ones who have them. So many others had World War II and Holocaust experiences. Many soldiers, rescuers, and family members have stories that should be heard by the younger generations. Today’s young people  need to see the atrocities of the Holocaust from all angles, and learn the attitudes that helped fuel the events that might have been avoided or stopped. In order for them to learn the harm of prejudice, hatred, racism, stereotyping, and the danger of being a bystander, the lessons of the past must be brought to life for them, made real, while there are still participants who can make that happen.

I urge you now to share your own stories if you have them. Encourage friends, neighbors, or family members to do the same if you know that they have experiences worthy of contributing for the greater good. Together, we can help future generations discover the truth from the real-life heroes, survivors, and victims, which will be far more meaningful than anything they can learn through a few paragraphs in a textbook. 

As a writer and a teacher, I have personally promised my friend Helen, that I will never let her story die, but that does not seem like enough. My goal is to share these stories in formats that will span future generations, making them timeless. I would be honored to write the story of your life with you or for you, but even if you choose another venue, please just share it. The world is ready to hear what you have to say, and needs the legacy that only you can leave. Let your story live on.