Nothing compared to seeing my own mother telling these stories, creating history in real time

ON

January 17, 1985, during a record-breaking arctic-cold day in Cleveland, my mother, Anna Felsen Moses, the sole survivor of her immediate family, spent three hours being interviewed. The interviewer, Dr. Leatrice Rabinsky, was a literature professor and a true pioneer in Holocaust education, as well as a family friend. This personal testimony was videotaped in the local television studios of Channel 5 WEWS, an ABC news affiliate.

One hundred thirty-five additional survivors and liberators agreed to be seen and heard, perhaps for the first time in over 40 years, as part of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.

Though I knew my mother had participated in this project, I just could not bring myself to watch it. Obviously, her courage did not get passed down to me. Last week, almost 30 years later, I finally watched it.

I recognized specific parts of the narrative from family lore, yet nothing compared to seeing my own mother telling these stories, creating history in real time.