Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Sala

Last night Husband took me to San Francisco to attend an event at the Jewish Community Center there. Ann Kirschner spoke about her book, Sala's Gift (which I mentioned a few weeks ago), and the Center had the accompanying traveling exhibit on display.

The book details the story of how Ann discovered her mother's hidden Holocaust past, but it also tells her mother's story through the over 300 letters and postcards she hid during the war.

This book piqued my interest, in particular, because it is the story of a 'silent' survivor. We hear about the survivors who share their stories, but so many more kept them hidden for years, even from their own children. In my novel I write about a silent survivor and the effect of that silence on her relationship with her daughter; I also explore how the revelation of her secret affects her daughter. It was great to discover a real life equivalent with such a hopeful ending.

For more about Sala's story, see the page for Sala's Gift here.

On a related note, when we arrived at the Center it saddened me to discover that they must search the trunk of every car entering the parking garage, because anti-semitism is still a very real threat, even in cosmopolitan San Francisco. I cannot understand how there are still people in the world who hate others just because they were born different than them. We've come a long way, but we still have so far to go.

3 comments:

Kristen @ frostingandfroth.com said...

I'm so glad you got to attend the event. It sounds like you got a lot out of it. So sad to read that they had to search all the vehicles, and even more sad that it didn't really surprise me. Maybe your book can bring us one step closer to real awareness and compassion.

Ann said...

Angie, thanks for coming last night to hear me talk about SALA'S GIFT. The audience was so very warm; this was my first visit to the SF JCC and it was fabulous.

Your novel sounds wonderful and I wish you best of luck with it and your writing career.

Ann Kirschner

Angie said...

Kristen, me too! I wasn't sure it was going to work, but he left work early to take me up there.
Isn't it sad that it's not completely surprising? Thanks for that. :)

Ann, thanks for visiting my blog (and for your kind words)! I enjoyed your talk immensely, and it was neat to see the facsimiles of all the letters. It's a touching story, so I was glad to see the good turnout.
Thanks again.