K. Heidi Fishman's Blog, page 3

IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards 2018

The alarm woke us up at 4AM and Dave and I sleepily made our way to the Manchester Airport in 23 degree weather. It was colder than expected for an April morning in NH, but not entirely surprising. After a full day of travel we arrived in Austin, TX to a hot and humid 80 degrees and were happy to say good-bye to winter for the moment.

We met my friend, Devorah Winegarten at Stubbs for some real [image error]Texas Bar-B-Q. It was nice to catch up with the Debster. I had met her at a writing workshop in 2016 at the Highlights Foundation before Tutti’s Promise was complete. That was before my manuscript had found a home and before I met Margie Blumberg of MB Publishing.

[image error]Dave and I strolled back to the hotel and both had a much needed nap before that evening’s Independent Book Publishers Association 2018 Benjamin Franklin Awards dinner. The Awards dinner was honoring books in over 50 categories of which Tutti’s Promise was a finalist for two. I met several other authors who were also finalists and had many conversations about writing, publishing, the importance of diversity, education and more. I even ran into a middle school history teacher who was excited to be able to tell her colleagues that there is a new book to use for Holocaust education.

As the emcee took the podium and the awards portion of the evening started I was more nervous than I had anticipated. As each of my categories was announced Dave held my hand. In both Tutti’s Promise won silver! I am so honored to have been recognized by the IBPA as a silver Benjamin Franklin Award winner for Young Reader: Fiction (8-12 Years) and Best New Voice: Children’s/Young Adult.[image error]

I would like to take a moment to thank those who helped me get to this milestone:

Margie Blumberg of MB Publishing and her team — Jim Catler, Anne Himmelfarb, and Joseph Gisini and crew at PageWave Graphics.
My husband, Dave, who[image error] pushed me to make every chapter better
My mother, Tutti, who grew from an ambivalent mother to a dedicated partner in this project
All those who helped me with research, including those who offered more information through this blog, archivists and librarians, and all the Holocaust survivors who took the time to talk to me and answer my many questions.
And all the new friends I have made along this unexpected journey.

I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Gold winners, especially Angela Dalton and Ruth Ballard, who won gold in Best New Voice: Children’s/Young Adult and Young Reader: Fiction (8-12 Years) respectively.

Noting what’s Notable

Last Tuesday afternoon the phone rang. It was my publisher, Margie Blumberg. Our conversation went something like this:

Margie: Hi. What are you doing? (I noticed an unusual lilt to her voice).

Me: Not much.

Margie: Is Dave there?

Me: Yes. Should I put the phone on speaker?

Margie: Yes. I want him to hear this too.

Me: OK. It’s on speaker.

Margie: I want to read you an e-mail I just received: Dear Margie, Congratulations! The NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Committee is pleased to inform you that …[Tutti’s Promise] has been selected for Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2018, a cooperative project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council.

Margie went on to read the whole email while I tried to take it in. I wasn’t sure what NCSS, CBC, and a Notable book even were. What did this mean in the publishing world? Was it an award? Something else?

She read on and then stopped to ask me questions. Did I want the cover of the book redesigned to include the seal? Did I want to order seals for the books I have in hand now? Was I free Nov 30-Dec 2? Did I want to be nominated to be a speaker at the annual convention in Chicago?

I couldn’t really answer any of the questions. I needed her to read me the e-mail again. I asked her to forward it to me so I could understand what was happening. I looked up NCSS and CBC and Notable Social Studies books while we talked and I tried to catch up with her excitement.

The NCSS (National Council on the Social Studies) and the CBC (Children’s Book Council) put together a list of what they call Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People every year. Here is what I found on the NCSS website:

Books selected for this bibliography are written [image error]primarily for children in grades K-8. The selection committee looks for books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme or a fresh slant on a traditional topic, are easily readable and of high literary quality, and have a pleasing format and, when appropriate, illustrations that enrich the text. Each book is read by several reviewers, and books are included on the list by committee assent; annotations do not necessarily reflect the judgment of the entire committee.

This list is what teachers and librarians look at when they are planning curriculum and choosing which books to order. This is a great honor and I am amazingly excited about it. Social studies teachers all over the country will have a chance to find out more about Tutti’s Promise and this greatly increases the chance it starts being used regularly in classrooms. I emailed Margie that I would appreciate a nomination to speak at the national conference.

I finally closed my computer to make dinner. It was just warmed up leftovers, but Dave and I enjoyed our meal with a nice glass of wine in celebration of the good news.

#WeRemember

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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This past year has been full of the Holocaust for me. Since publishing “Tutti’s Promise” 11 months ago I have been speaking about the Holocaust and sharing what my mother experienced during those dreadful years. I have spoken at high schools and middle schools, public schools and private schools, Jewish day schools and religious schools. I have spoken at churches and synagogues. I have shared the story at libraries, Jewish community centers, and author events. I have presented at universities, community centers and was interviewed on the radio twice.

I have sold books at many planned events but also unexpectedly at a restaurant while eating dinner, on a cruise ship while on vacation, at a wedding reception, and after a memorial service.

Just before New Years I received a package that was full of letters from one of the schools that my mother and I visited. There were about 50 letters and cards addressed to both my mother and myself from students and staff.

One of the students wrote:

This story has brought to light the true meaning of perseverance, courage, compassion and hope. It shows us the ugliness of hatred and the consequences of it. For the truth behind your story, I too promise to speak out against the bad in the world to ensure I work towards making it a better place. (Marangelis)

And another:

. . . it is now up to us the youth to keep spreading the message of peace and equality. You have my word that I will do whatever possible to keep hate and prejudice out of my life and the lives of others around me. (Yael)

And another:

. . . this book has opened my mind on how we should treat another person. (Anthony)

And another:

I somehow want to make this world a more peacefull [sic] place so we can not forget, but look at how far we have come since the Holocaust. (Sheyenne)

Every student had something incredibly meaningful to say. These letters brought tears to my eyes. To see my work have this kind of impact on readers is amazing. THIS is why I wrote “Tutti’s Promise.”

For all that you experienced mom, I want to say, #WeRemember.

For all the survivors, #WeRemember.

For all those that perished, #WeRemember.

For all those doing the work today to stem hatred and prejudice, #WeRemember.

Now I ask all my readers and followers –

please share your own #weremember sign

and pledge how you will remember

and make the world a better place.

Training Ground of Hate

On a cold gray day in October I stood alone on Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field and looked up at the high podium where Adolf Hitler spat his words of hate. A short distance away our tour guide told us how Albert Speer designed this area to be built with white stone so it would gleam in the September sun. Now the stone is crumbling, gray, and sprinkled with weeds. The area on which I stood was paved over and marked for bus parking. Across the way — past a soccer field, a chain link fence, and a sand pit — I could barely see the stone bleachers that were once filled with Nazi supporters. They were also covered in weeds and showed their age and neglect.

As I stood in that cold place the tears started to flow. I shed tears for the way this place was designed and used to teach hate. I shed tears for the way people listened to Adolf Hitler and believed his awful rhetoric and thought their personal growth and the economic well-being of his “glorious” Third Reich were more important than humanity, compassion, and decency. And I shed tears for all the people who still today put themselves above others whom they see as different and “less than” and therefore not deserving of a peaceful and secure life.

When I couldn’t handle these emotions any longer I turned to leave. At that point a German man asked me to take his picture in front of the bleachers.  I motioned “1, 2, 3” with my fingers. Without warning he smiled and gave a thumbs up sign with both hands as I clicked the photo. I handed him the phone and went back to the tour bus at a total loss for words. What had just happened? I wish I had had the composure to have him snap a picture of me. I would have pointed a different finger towards the sky.

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Filed under: Holocaust, Memory, Nazi, Prejudice Tagged: Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, compassion, decency, Hate, Humanity, Nuremberg, Tears, Zeppelin Field

An American Jew in Paris

My husband and I planned a vacation which happened to fall over Yom Kippur this year. I realized we would be in Paris over the holiday and looked into the possibility of attending Kol Nidre services. By looking at MavenSearch.com I was able to identify every synagogue in Paris and picked a reformed congregation that claimed to do services in French and English. Voila! That looked perfect.

I emailed to ask about the possibility of attending and was told we would be most welcome. I needed to give them identifying information about us for security reasons, pay a fee of 250€ per person, and then they would tell me where the service would be held. My first reaction was sticker shock. $300 per person for services! I replied that I only wished to attend one evening as the following day I would not be able to attend due to our travel schedule and they lowered the price to $180 per person.

I thought of our small congregation at home in Vermont and how there are no dues, no [image error]tickets, and all are welcome. Our congregation relies completely on donations from the heart and a couple of annual fund raisers. Why the difference? I also thought about security and the need for a secret location. Paris has had more than its fair share of anti-Semitic violence in the last few years. It is so sad. The location of services on the most holy day of the year for observant Jews must be kept secret because of fear of attack.

Due to a combination of factors I decided not to finalize the arrangement to go to services. To tell you truth I wasn’t sure if the price, the fact that I would be jet lagged, or the idea of the difficulty of finding the location contributed the most to my decision.

[image error]The day before Yom Kippur we were touring Paris and made a stop at Notre Dame. We went through a cursory security screen as we entered the cathedral and I noted the difference in my mind. A secret location with vetting of my identity versus thousands of tourists entering daily with a quick glance into their handbags.

During my visit to Notre Dame I sat for a few minutes in the sanctuary and bowed my head. I silently said the Shema and thought about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, some things I am sorry for, and how I hope to be a better person this coming year. Maybe it is strange to silently utter the most essential prayer of Judaism in one of the most famous Catholic cathedrals of the world, but my belief is that if there is only one God then that God must be present in all places and accept prayers in all ways at all times.

[image error]We spent the rest of our day being tourists — a break at a sidewalk café, the Musée d’Orsay and Musée Rodin, the Tuileries Garden, the Arc de Triomphe, and of course a delicious dinner. Upon returning to our hotel there was a sign in the lobby — “Yom Yippur Reception.” The secret location for services was in the banquet room of our hotel! It was late and I assumed that services were well under way or possibly finished. I approached a security guard and asked if I could enter. His English was sparse and my French was non-existent. However, I persisted and explained I would like to attend the service. He asked if I wanted to pray and I assured him, yes, I would. He looked through my handbag and was going to let me in when a second security guard approached. He questioned who I was and I explained I was with a tour group staying at the hotel and would like to attend the service. He quickly turned me away. No, the service was not for tourists. I was disappointed but not surprised. My small prayer offered in the massive Cathedral of Notre Dame would have to suffice.

Filed under: Prejudice, Senseless violence Tagged: anti-semitism, Antisemitism, Kol Nidre, Musee d'Orsay, Musee Rodin, Notre Dame, Paris, Prayer, security, Shema, Yom Kippur

The Student Becomes the Teacher

A high school classmate, enthused about Tutti’s Promise, introduced me to a current teacher at our former school, Eric LaForest. Eric is the Director of the Norton Center for the Common Good at Loomis Chaffee School and he invited me to spend a day teaching. We spoke on the phone, exchanged emails, and came up with a schedule for the day. I would lead a discussion in a Freshman Seminar, my mother would present to the entire Freshman class, and I would guest teach a block of the history seminar elective, “Germany and the Holocaust.”

No problem, I thought. I know this.

So, just like in high school, I procrastinated. I had many other things to attend to in the weeks leading up to my day at Loomis Chaffee. I was preparing my daughter for a semester abroad, helping my parents with insurance claims, making personal travel plans, bringing a car in for service, and attending to general household chores. Eventually, though, I got to work. The hardest part of my preparation was to coordinate a slide show to match my mother’s story as she likes to tell it. Once she shared her outline I gathered pictures and documents onto a PowerPoint that would go in roughly the right order. For the Freshman seminar I took the lesson plan on moral courage which Eric had shared and adapted it to include some specific ideas from the Holocaust and Tutti’s Promise. And I thought long and hard about the best approach for a high school history seminar.

[image error]Still, when the day came for me to present I was a bit nervous. I no longer fear public speaking and I didn’t worry about the technology working, too much. This time my fear was new — and yet completely old — I would be presenting to some of my former teachers.

As 150 freshman assembled in the large auditorium several people came up to me to say hello — one of my English teachers, my history teacher and swim coach, another of my history teachers, a classmate (the one responsible for this day), and a friend who had worked with me at Dartmouth and is now at Loomis Chafee. Whoa! Lots of memories came flooding back. I remembered swim meets, papers I had to write, feeling unprepared for class, and my first official history term paper — the one that received two grades, one from the teacher and another from the librarian who checked all citations and research.

That paper was the cause of much anxiety during my junior year of high school. How on earth would I find enough to say about one thing to fill 20 or more pages? Would I be able to cite everything correctly? And how could I discuss an event that many other people had already written about without accidentally plagiarizing and coming up with new observations and thoughts. Writing, especially writing about history, was never my forté much less one of my interests. I was drawn to numbers and science, subjects where there were final answers and no ambiguity (or so I thought at the time). What would my former English and history teachers think of my book? Would they be proud of my accomplishment? Or would they find errors in my research or presentation.

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As usual, once we started everything went very well. The audience was interested and attentive. When mom and I were done, they asked wonderful questions and we were able to address them all.

Anxiety is a strange beast. It can stop me from succeeding or it can push me to do my best. The trick is to not let it get the better of me. I have learned to thank it for making me cautious and reminding me to prepare. But it is hard to remember that, once everything is prepared, I need to just let it go and do whatever it is I came to do as best I can at that moment.

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After my teaching day I received a note from one of my teachers, now retired. He said, “Thank you for coming to Loomis Chaffee….Your mother radiates a self-assertive dignity that we are, I am afraid, losing. Both of  you  convey a very clear and compassionate message which we need, so badly, to convey to young people. They want and they need this message. I also loved our discussion at lunch. I so realized how much I missed these young people…” Not only did my lesson come across well, I gave my teacher a positive experience reliving his own days of teaching. It was a good day!

 

Filed under: Education, Holocaust Education, Memory, public speaking Tagged: Germany and the Holocaust, History, Loomis-Chaffee, Memory, Procrastination, public speaking, Research, Term paper

Thoughts after Charlottesville

This is very hard to watch. (I suggest an “R” rating and that it not be shown to children.) But if you want to really understand the face of racism and white supremacy, please watch – to the very end.

This is raw and it is real and it is shocking. This is what is happening in the United States. We – every single person – have the duty to stand against this hatred.

Vice News — Charlottesville: Race and Terror

If you tend to surround yourself with people that are like you, please reach out to someone who is different than you and get to know them.

If you are a parent, please teach your children what kind of violence can come from such hatred.

If you are a politician, please reach across the aisle and work together.

If you are human, p lease do everything in your power to save common decency and help return peace and civility to the world.

*photo from https://www.fandm.edu/news/latest-news/2017/04/17/potential-growth-in-targets-of-racial-discrimination
Filed under: Holocaust Education, Nazi, Prejudice, Senseless violence Tagged: Charlottesville, civility, Common decency, Hatred, Peace, racism, stand against hatred, Vice News, white supremacy

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

When I arrived at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on July 19, 2017 I took a minute to wander. I said ‘hello’ to the Holocaust survivor who was sitting at a desk greeting visitors and I noted the sign on the information kiosk which advertised a book signing that afternoon. Then I headed up to the library where I had spent weeks on the research for Tutti’s Promise. I reintroduced myself to the librarian, thanked him for the help he had given me four years previously, and let him know that his assistance had contributed to my arriving here on this day.

From the library I headed into the permanent exhibit. I had already spent hours and hours there in the past and didn’t want to take it all in again. I just wanted to remind myself of the atmosphere and feelings it gives the average visitor, so I moved at a deliberate pace. When I approached the cattle car, however, I had to stop. I stood for a long time envisioning my mother as a young girl, cramped in the corner, scared and confused. Being in that car is beyond sobering.

Then on to the bookshop. As I entered I saw the six foot table with piles of Tutti’s Promise and another announcement about the book signing – my book signing. The staff was friendly and let me settle in, noting that if I needed anything I should just ask.

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Over the course of the afternoon I smiled, I greeted people, and I talked about Tutti’s Promise, my research, and how the book came to be. The cast of characters that I met was wonderfully diverse. I talked with:

the woman who wanted to hug me
the eighth grader who wants to be a writer and kept saying ‘thank you’
the Ukrainian immigrants who left their homeland to escape anti-Semitism
people who thanked me for sharing my family story
the Belgian Orthodox Jew who was looking for books written in Hebrew
the group of ten young African-American boys from Florida who were brought on this trip by their church
the tallit weaver on a road trip from Arizona
the teachers looking for classroom resources
the young sisters who asked me several questions about writing
the two deaf women who I was able to communicate with in my very limited ASL
the young lady who had just returned from a Birthright trip through Israel
and the Australian woman who stood before me and burst into tears.

These were Jews and Christians, Europeans and Americans, Asians, Blacks and Whites, children and adults, teens and tweens, Southerners, Westerners and Mid-westerners. All these people had shared a special experience that day. They came to the museum voluntarily even though they knew it would be upsetting. They developed a better understanding of prejudice and genocide and what happens when a group of people is dehumanized and eventually hated. They all came to learn. They were all changed by the day. And I was honored to be a part of that experience.

Filed under: Connections, Education, Giving Thanks, Holocaust, Holocaust Education, Prejudice, Research Tagged: anti-semitism, ASL, Birthright, Book Signing, Cattle car, dehuminization, Holocaust survivor, tallit, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, USHMM

If Not Now, When?*

Last week I presented to a crowd of over 60 people at the The Center at Eastman, in Grantham, NH. The talk was after dinner and I worried a little about keeping the audience’s attention. In public speaking class I was told to always avoid the “after dinner talk” as people tend to be tired and have trouble staying focused. I purposely didn’t structure my words ahead of time. I had slides ready to cue me to different stories and I told them off the top of my head without notes in order to keep the discussion on a lighter and hopefully more engaged level. After about 45 minutes I wrapped up and asked for questions. As usual, the first few were very factually based — “Did you find your mother’s star?” “Is your mother still alive and where does she live?” “Are you going to write any more books?” And then the youngest person in the audience (a high-school-aged young woman) asked me a question. “Has writing this book changed how you think about the Holocaust?” It was a good question. And an unexpected one. I had to stop and think and formulate my thoughts. I hope my answer was coherent. I’ve been thinking about my answer for a few days now and, while I still agree with what I initially said, I would like to expand it a bit. My answer is this — I used to think that the Holocaust was history, something from the past, something that had happened and then was over. But since working on Tutti’s Promise and simultaneously being aware of current world events and the global political climate, I realize I was wrong. The Holocaust is not over, because the human race hasn’t learned. We are still labeling people and singling out different groups. We still tend to classify people as one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them.’ We are willing to assume, judge, blame, and punish. The prejudice of the Holocaust isn’t finished. It has just shifted and humans are still willing to restrict, ignore, hurt, and kill people who we see as less deserving than or less human than ourselves. While there are no mass extermination centers in the world right now, there is mass prejudice and division. Be it liberal vs. conservative, rich vs. poor, black vs. white, straight vs. LGBTQA, corporations vs. Native Americans, Christian vs. Muslim, or Nazi vs. Jew, the world is still dealing with us vs. them, and as long as that continues there will always be the potential of another genocide. We murdered six million in central Europe, 800,000 in Rwanda, 200,000 in Guatemala, over 500,000 in Darfur, two million in Cambodia, and over 5,000 along the Trail of Tears in the USA. When will we learn? When will we stop?

To learn more about genocide see:

http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide
http://www.history.com/topics/what-is-genocide
https://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide
http://combatgenocide.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#Indian_Removal_and_the_Trail_of_Tears

*“If I am not for myself who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”

-Hillel the Elder, 1st Century, BCE

Filed under: Holocaust, Nazi, Prejudice, public speaking Tagged: Cambodia, Darfur, genocide, Guatamala, If not now when?, LGBTQA, liberal vs conservative, Native American, Rwanda, The Center at Eastman, Trail of tears, us vs them

This Is a Plan I Can Live With

Last Wednesday I spoke with 130 seventh and eighth graders in St. Albans, Vermont. They had recently been studying the Holocaust and had already both read and watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and read The Diary of a Young Girl. I told them my mother’s story, using a PowerPoint presentation with a timeline and a few pictures. I was impressed with how carefully they listened, particularly given the size of the group and the fact that the eighth graders would be having their last day of school in two days.

I came to St. Albans somewhat randomly. I was corresponding with someone in the area via email and she asked about my automatic signature line, which encourages people to look at my website and Tutti’s Promise. Since her child was studying the Holocaust, she suggested I call the school. After a bit of arranging with the teacher leading the unit, and a two-hour drive, there I was.

I left plenty of time for questions and was glad I had, as they had many. Some were the ones my mother reports always getting asked, such as what happened to the money inside the doll. Others were a bit surprising to me, such as the student that asked if the US naturalization process was the same now as it was when my mom was naturalized in the 1950s, although with some reflection I can see that in the current political climate that this might be highly relevant.

One teacher asked what my grandparents would have thought about the book. That made me think. I stalled for time by saying that my grandmother wouldn’t have liked the pictures of herself (she was known for cutting herself out of photos). Then I added that my grandfather might have preferred to keep a low profile and might have been worried that he would have been viewed as a collaborator. We can soundly reject this notion — anyone who is a prisoner, and whose family is also being held prisoner, cannot be considered a collaborator because any cooperation would not be done willingly, but due to the circumstances. My grandfather never profited off of those who were targeted. He did what he had to in order to save himself, his family, and many others. But my grandfather was a worrier.

I worry as well, mostly that stories like my mom’s will be forgotten with time. I am glad that states like Pennsylvania and Connecticut (see correction at bottom of page) have mandated Holocaust education in public schools. Driving home, my husband noted that St. Albans was the first Vermont school I had spoken at, and he suggested not only that I set an informal goal of speaking in all of Vermont’s middle schools (there are over 100), but that I contact our local legislators about Vermont adopting mandatory Holocaust education. To quote one of my characters in Tutti’s Promise, “This is a plan I can live with.” I emailed my legislators earlier today. Now I need to go make a list of all the middle schools in Vermont.

Correction: Connecticut does not have a mandate yet. The currently mandated states are — California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island.

Filed under: Education, Holocaust, Holocaust Education, public speaking, Testimony Tagged: Collaboration, Collaborator, Mandated Holocaust Education, Middle school, St. Albans, St. Albans City School, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Diary of a Young Girl, Tutti's Promise, US Naturalization