I Have My Mother's Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations

126 Pages·2009·3.04 MB·English

by  Bluman

I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES

I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES
A HOLOCAUST MEMOIR ACROSS GENERATIONS
Barbara Ruth Bluman
RONSDALE PRESS &
VANCOUVER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION SOCIETY
I HAVE MY MOTHER’S EYES
Copyright © 2009 Barbara Ruth Bluman
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher,
or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access
Copyright (the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency).
RONSDALE PRESS
3350 West 21st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6S 1G7
www.ronsdalepress.com
Typesetting: Julie Cochrane, in Granjon 11.5 pt on 16
Cover Design: Shawna Romain & Kazuko Kusumoto
Paper: Ancient Forest Friendly “Silva” (FSC) — 100% post-consumer waste, totally chlorine-free
and acid-free
Ronsdale Press wishes to thank the following for their support of its publishing program: the
Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the Province of British Columbia through the British
Columbia Book Publishing Tax Credit Program.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bluman, Barbara R
I have my mother’s eyes: a holocaust memoir across generations / Barbara Ruth Bluman.
Co-published by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.
ISBN: 978-1-55380-070-5 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-55380-289-1 (ebook) / ISBN: 978-1-55380-288-4 (pdf)
1. Bluman, Susan. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) — Poland. 3. World War, 1939–1945 —
Jews — Poland — Biography. 4. Jews — Poland — Biography. 5. Bluman, Barbara R. — Health.
6. Cancer — Patients — Canada — Biography. 7. Mothers and daughters — Biography. i.
Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre ii. Title.
DS134.72.B58 B58 2009 940.53′18092 C2009-900660-X
At Ronsdale Press we are committed to protecting the environment. To this end we are working
with Markets Initiative (www.oldgrowthfree.com) and printers to phase out our use of paper
produced from ancient forests. This book is one step towards that goal.
Printed in Canada by Marquis Printing, Quebec
Table of Contents
Foreword
1 Pieces of a Tea Set
2 The Shadows
3 Chocolates and Ice Cream
4 Fire
5 A Shared Sofa Bed
6 Snow
7 A Maze Made of Paper
8 Suffocation and Breath
9 A Ride in the Dark
10 Shades of Green
11 Swamper
12 A Birth and a Letter
13 My Jewish Body
First Generation Afterword
Third Generation Afterword
About the Author
Foreword
MY MOTHER, BARBARA RUTH BLUMAN, began the task of recounting her
mother’s escape during the Holocaust from Nazi-occupied Poland. This
was no small assignment and made all the more challenging by her
cancer diagnosis. When she died in 2001, the narrative was not yet
complete; she asked me to finish it for her. As the initial pain of my
mother’s death began to settle, I undertook the process of completing her
legacy.
The inspiration to publish this book began with the realization that my
grandmother and mother’s stories needed to be shared beyond our
family circle. The Wosk Publishing Program of the Vancouver Holocaust
Education Centre (VHEC) provided the opportunity to do so. I am
grateful to the VHEC for seeing the value in this book and for their
ongoing commitment to Holocaust education and understanding.
To complete my mother’s work, I relied on the assistance of many. My
cousin Adam Lewis Schroeder bravely tackled the first editing phase of
the manuscript. In the midst of his own busy writing career and raising a
family, Adam took the time to reorganize the memoir and even managed
to interview my grandmother not long before she died in order to obtain
a few last details.
I want to acknowledge the whole publishing team at Ronsdale Press
for all the work they have done to bring this book to fruition. In
particular, I want to thank Colin Thomas, who edited my grandmother’s
story and invested countless hours in helping me reshape the existing
material in my mother’s story. Through interviews with various family
members and friends we were able to piece together the hidden layers of
my mother’s experience and bring them to life. Thank you.
I would also like to acknowledge all of the people who shared their
memories in order to bring our family’s history to life in the most
truthful way possible. Specifically, I would like to thank my Uncle
George for being such an important resource, and my father Drew
Schroeder, my uncle Bob Bluman and my friend Jim Henning for being
willing to be interviewed.
I am grateful to my brothers, Michael and Sam, and my husband Marc,
who supported me throughout this process and who were always willing
to ease my insecurities and celebrate my accomplishments.
One final and important acknowledgement: I thank my mother
Barbara Ruth Bluman, who trusted me far more than I have ever trusted
myself to complete this book for her. Without her faith in me, I would
never have had the courage to go deeper into our family story and truly
learn what it means to have my mother’s eyes.
Danielle Bluman Low (Schroeder)
January 2009