Malka Sternberg - January 31, 2008
Thanking Barazetti and Winton
Well, I've interviewed Vera Gissing...
Yes, Vera Gissing, she takes care of him a lot, yes.
...and she wrote a couple of books about it.
Yes, she's very close to him.
Um, she was in Washington and Gelman asked me to go to Washington and interview her and one other person. Um, I mean it's just amazing--what's amazing is that no one had heard of him.
Yes, nobody had heard that, that actually--that I know what--they heard of him first--how did I get to know him. Nobody got to know him like that. He was taken--brought here first time. The chil...the children, we're children, yes. We're children--we're octogenarians--the chil...children. They brought him over the first time and made big dinner for him and made a, a party for him and they showed his film--his film was already there--they showed his film and that was it. Then uh, I couldn't go because it was Shabbos and it was in Tel Aviv and I wouldn't have eaten the food in any case but not the food is the point, it was that I couldn't get there for all these things. So, I asked him, "Somebody surely will show him Jerusalem, would they let me know when he comes? Give me five minutes, I want to just thank him." With Barazetti, you see, he got the Chassidey Umot HaOlam Barazetti.
The Righteous Award?
Yes, yes, he got the Righteous Award so I was there with the other children--it was full of, of Kinder and I waited until everybody had gone and then I went up and I told him I wanted personally to, to thank him. So he asked me where I came from and all that so I told him. He said, "You know, I was in that town in Liberc--in Reichenberg at that time and I met my wife there, I married her there." Yes, Barazetti. So, him I talked to but Winton I've never seen so I said, "Let, let me just say thank you to him." So he said, "Okay." Really on the Friday afterwards somebody phoned me that there's going to be on, on Sunday at the--Sunday or Monday, whatever day it was--on the five to one I can come--at the one o'clock he has lunch at the King David and I can thank him. Fine, I went there. I took him with me and we came there five to, five to one and there he was with his son Nicky and I thanked him and I tried to find something symbolic that I can give him--it must be very small because I don't want them to schlep books and things to the air, air freight. So I couldn't fine--I had something at home about this size, a little tiny box that looked antique to me but since they had an antique place and I was--I remember from, from my mother-in-laws things that I had found it. It had a beautiful enamel lid and uh, gold--it looked gold to me. It was laid down but it looked gold to me. It was the nicest thing I possess, I give it to him. He can put it in his pocket, it's nothing much...
[interruption in interview]
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn