Barbara Schechter Cohen - May 1, 2002
Reaction to Schindler's List
It's a good museum, actually, um. What did you think of Schindler's List? When the movies--did...
Well...
Was your mother still alive when Schindler's List came out?
Uh. I think...
'93.
Yeah, she died in '98. And uh, I--she didn't seeSchindler's List.
She didn't? Oh.
No. But um, I, my, my, my philosophy is that if it weren't for the Ri...Righteous Gentiles [crys] helping the Jews I'd lose all faith in, in human beings. But because of people like Schindler--I don't care if he, what he did in his private life.
Right.
Who cares. It's what his actions were. And um, pe...Polish people that risked their lives to help my, my parents, uh. I, I've got to have, that's the hope in humanity for me.
Did you look for the Polish couple when you went back? The people that hid you under the floor?
Uh, no.
Have you been to the museum in Washington?
Yeah, yeah. I went with my son uh, there and I took my son to a conference. Yeah, that was, that was the same trip, um. He's in--he's thirty-three now. And I asked him if he wanted to join me in at conference in Washington, D.C., to do about the DP camps. I thought that would be a very interesting subject. 'Cause I didn't know that much about it really. And he said yes, he would really he--want to go with me [crys] was interested.
Is this a new--was that a new reaction?
Um, yeah. [laughs]
So you went together.
We went together and uh, it was uh, very rewarding, I felt, because he was able to talk to the survivors and their children and their grandchildren. And it was uh, this whole thing was presented by the second generation actually. And they did a marvelous job.
And it was at the museum?
It was at--the main thrust was at the hotel in Washington.
So there were sessions on the different camps...
Yeah.
Um, did you find out about the one in Stuttgart? Was there anything on that?
Uh, no. They had um, they had about uh, seven or eight uh, DP camps uh, that, like on the second floor and people who were in those camps went there to meet each other but, but, but the one that I was at was not represented uh, there. Some of the real big ones I guess.
W...was it called Stuttgart, the camp, or was there a name to it besides the city?
Um, just a minute. Uh, I, I just blanked out. Yeah, there was a name to it. Um, I have, I have it in--I documented it.
We can find it, easy to find. How did your son, your son reacted well then.
He reacted very well, very well.
And did that prompt him and/or you to do more reading?
More reading and that's why I bought more books of, from your course.
Oh I see, so you can give them to your son.
Yeah. So I'm going to give it to my son. Uh, you know, The Destruction of uh, European Jewry, the Revised Edition. I'm going to give him um, Primo Levi, because that one really affected me.
You, you have other children.
Yes. I have a daughter. I haven't talked about her too much. Um, and, and my two grandchildren.
From which child? One from each?
Uh, my, my son isn't married yet. So it's from my daughter. She lives in Chicago and he lives in New York.
He lives in New York.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know that feeling. [laughs]
I do a lot of traveling. [laughs]
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