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Fred Ferber - September 11, 2001

You would be considered a child survivor.

Well, yes, I, I would say so, because uh, definitely, definitely.

That group is hidden children and child survivors, but youdon't come.

I tell you, I started when, when they, when they. [laughs] Whenthe child survivors first started a group, it was not child survivors butthe children of the survivors I think was, okay. That's right. The childrenof the survivors. And I went to the first, the first few meetings. I did go.

Was it C.H.A.I.M?

It was before C.H.A.I.M. Maybe it started at that time. Anduh, I, I remember one day very well because during that meeting that was alreadytwenty, that was probably in the 70s, late 70s. Uh, and I went to one of thesemeetings, I was as one of the seniors, that they were mostly younger, and;well not much, today I'm much older, but they were younger than I. And theycomplained about the parents uh, ho...that, they complained that the parentsare too strict with them—I'm talking about the child survivors that theparents uh, uh, don't want them to uh, uh, to uh, they want them to studymore, they, they don't want them to uh, run around. That, that in a way theykind of have a, a tight, they have a little bit of a more grip of the familyuh, not allowing the children uh, what would you say, uh...

Freedom.

total freedom. That's a good word, you know. Not allowing thechildren many freedoms which they would like to uh, uh, which they would liketo experience. They were not, they were really freedoms which they possiblyshouldn't even experience. At that time I remember, after everyone complainedhow their parents were, also because they have an accent, they were ashameda little bit of the parents, they couldn't take 'em to school. There was eh,after that talk like that for awhile, everyone's through, I remember I stoodup and I said, "Look, Charlie, you're a doctor," the other one was going toschool eh, eh, most of them were going to colleges. I said eh, I said, "Look,look, everyone in the world's got something to complain about. What aboutthe poor people who don't have, have no bread or butter?" I said, "nothingto eat." Everybody's something, has got something to complain about theirparents. But look at yourself, how fortunate you are. You're dressed up. You'veeverything in the world going for you. Your parents want you to goto school. That's why they nag, nag you so much. Uh, uh, and you're becominguh, uh, well to do. Eh, eh, so, I, I expressed it quite well and I think theyrealized a little bit that all the bitching I use the word at this momentuh, that they really had no right to bitch as much, you know. I've done itover and over again in many different uh, places when I hear that, uh.

The other group is of survivors who were children, not childrenof survivors, like your wife. But you don't attend those meetings.

Sometimes. I go to all the major ones. I, I go in the countryor out of the country.

They meet once a month.

No, to that, to those meetings I don't go. I only went to one.I went to about two of them, yes. Twice, okay. Uh, one was in my home here,and I uh, in our house. Twice I, I was in these meetings. I work with thenational and international, I go with my wife. And uh, I'm not part of their—of,of, of the meeting of the ones who are truly the hidden children, they havetheir own groups. But the open forums I'm quite active and helpful.