20 Aug
Latest

Memoir | A Jewish Heart Divided

The traffic noise on Arlozorov Street, in the heart of Tel Aviv, seemed unusually loud that October evening. Leaning over the railing of my friend Shoshana’s balcony, I watched with concern as a flood of cars and trucks rushed past below. It was Yom Kippur Eve, 1973. We had expected the street to be deserted since virtually everything in the country was closed. But with rising alarm, we realized that the drivers were almost all men, and many were dressed in army fatigues. They were clearly reservists in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on their way to an unknown battlefront. Even before we heard the announcement on the radio several hours later, we knew that war was imminent, and we were tense and anxious.  By the next morning, Shoshana and I had learned the awful news:...

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16 Jun
Arts & Culture, Latest

I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: An Interview with Esther Safran Foer

I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir By Esther Safran Foer Tim Duggan Book $27.00, 226 pp. Though her parents didn’t talk about it, Esther Safran Foer knew she had lost family members, even close relatives, in the Holocaust—she just didn’t know how close. “My childhood was filled with silences,” she writes, “that were punctuated by occasional shocking disclosures.” Born to survivors in a displaced persons’ camp, brought to the U.S. as a small child with false papers, she was already in her forties when her mother casually mentioned that her father had had a previous wife and daughter who were murdered by the Nazis. Foer, astounded, realized that the victims of the Holocaust included her own half-sister.  Her father by then was long dead, a victim of suicide—another fact never discussed in the family. The...

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06 Apr
History

The Lost Diary of Margot Frank

By Kayla Green Every day, countless tourists flock to the Anne Frank House to visit the hiding place of young Anne, her family and acquaintances. The widespread popularity of her diary, which is one of the world's most widely read books and the basis for several plays and films, has made Anne Frank one of the most well-known Jewish victims of the Holocaust. While the Diary of Anne Frank is an undeniable historical gem, as well as an extraordinary source of first hand emotion, one story remains relatively overlooked: that of her sister Margot, The Other Frank. Though a temporary exhibit running at the Anne Frank House is dedicated to shining some light on Margot, its title, “Anne’s Sister,” still casts her as a secondary character. Notwithstanding, Margot is referenced many times in the diary. Through Anne’s...

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