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Shari Weiss - April 17, 1985

That was in Czechoslovakia?

This was, no, we came to Hungary. I, we just came home with the Czechoslovakian transport because they wanted to go home to see if their parents came back. And since they haven't found anyone they proceeded to go into the town where the eldest was married and her husband was already waiting for her. He came back. And then ahh...

Of your immediate family you lost...

Of my immediate family I lost my mother and my father, my two sisters, my brother, my uncles, my aunts, cousins. My uncle who brought me up never came back. I mean it's just too many people to even individually bring up. I mean I don't even know myself the extent of the loss, because being that I was so young and I came away from home at such a young age... I don't even remember. I didn't even remember some of my cousins. And uhh, I mean I know of my aunts and uncles because they were old enough, you know, but the children were too little so we didn't have, ahh... I don't remember them.

You eventually married and had two daughters of your own...

Yes. [Smiling]

The oldest of which has...

Two children. The loves of my life and I have two grandchildren, two boys, Jeremy is eleven and Kevin is eight and I absolutely, positively adore them and every time I look at them I see a miracle because this is really, truly a miracle that I reached the age where I am a grandmother.

Your daughters' names are what?

Judy and Michelle.

And they are how old?

Judy is thirty-six and Michelle is twenty-nine. They are wonderful girls. I mean they gave meaning to our lives, my husband's and mine and they surround us with a lot of love and respect and we in turn do the same for them, of course. And through the adversities of our lives after the war, I think the children are the ones that made it possible for us to get through those adversities and come out smiling, because every time you look at them you say, "see I made it." I created another life even though mine was almost destroyed. I mean I was given a chance to have a family and children and to build on the destruction.

I think that's a good place to...

End it.

To stop.

What makes the telling of my story bearable is the fact that I'm telling it to a young man whose mother, I don't know if I'm saying it correctly, I was together in concentration camp, and she is a dear friend and her son is a dearer friend yet because he is here to listen to our, our anxieties and to hold our hand when we are telling our stories in this trembling fashion and for that I am grateful. Thank you for your empathy and sympathy.

Thank you.