Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Barbara Schechter Cohen - May 1, 2002

Yeah. Anything you want to add to this?

Um. [pause] I, I, I, I just find that being a survivor and chi...child of a survivor is sort of coming together. I mean I found--I have found the place for myself. I didn't know where I belonged. And I identify with um, my people, survivors. I feel very close to them uh, with the literature. Um, I feel um, a strong connection to the family that I have left. I have reestablished a, a connection to my aunt, who my uh, uh, mother kept us apart. My father had to sneak around to, to visit her, never really told her that he's going. Uh, and actually I did the same thing for a few years because it wasn't worth uh, fighting about it with her since we lived in different states. And now, my aunt has become like a mother to me. And I've got cousins.

So you have a whole new family.

I have a new family. Right. [crys]

What are your grandchildren's names?

Rachel and Max.

And they're how old?

Uh, Rachel is eight and Max is five.

And they live in Chicago.

Chicago, right. And I'm trying very carefully not to uh, be so aggressive with my grandchildren as far as the Holocaust stuff. I've already um, bought a book for Rachel, it's called The Nine Spoons. And um, of course, my daughter has, my, my son and daughter have the book that were, we have um, it's called Heroes of the Holocaust, by Arnold Greier, and so my um, uh, granddaughter took the book to school already and, uh. But I'm trying to step very softly about this.

Did she say my grandmother was a survivor? Did she...

Yeah.

She did say that.

Yeah, yeah.

So you've established that identify with your grandchildren.

I have, planted a little seed there.

Okay, um. Thank you.

And thank you.