Beyond Comprehension Dr. Norman N. Blumenthal It was hardly ever spoken but thoroughly known. It consumed our home but remained taboo. At 11 years old I went for the first time to sleepaway camp. I returned during my parents’ one-week summer vacation; they were staying in a hotel upstate. My father drove in and picked me up and we arrived one hour before dinner. After we had eaten my parents invited me out for a walk. They wanted to hear about camp. At camp we learned to chop down trees I told them. I spent a disproportionate amount of time detailing the process on our walk. Perhaps to break the monotony my mother who never spoke of her war years interrupted and said: “I know. I chopped down trees in a concentration camp.” I immediately said “I’m sorry ” and said not another word. Being attentive parents my mother and father urged me to keep talking. I refused. The three of us turned around and walked back. Until today I can hear the crackling of leaves and branches underfoot as the three of us silently walked back to the hotel.

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