Essays & Stories on the Holocaust

This tree trunk stood in the backyard of Jana Sudova, a Czech Righteous Among the Nations, who in early 1945 hid four Jewish escapees of the death marches...

On those rare occasions when we could coax my mother to speak about her war experiences, she would always begin with a wistful, nostalgic depiction of her very typical, very normal childhood. "The world was different when I was little," she would croon.

When one enters this place, through the still intact train tracks under that tower-like structure, one can simply not see how long and far it goes, for it is so incredibly massive. And all this for what?

Using every means at his disposal, the 32-year-old succeeded in rescuing over 100,000 Jews within a six-month period. While Oskar Schindler is a household name, due largely to the acclaimed film “Schindler’s List,” Wallenberg—who saved many more people—is virtually unknown. And that’s a tragedy . . .

I understand that in the seven weeks between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot we observe a period of mourning for the death of over 20,000 sages who died during this period. But for the 6 million Jews brutally murdered in the Holocaust we have only one day dedicated to mourning.

My grandfather, Dovid Henoch Zaklikowski, or “Reb Henoch” as he was affectionately dubbed, was known in the community for his kind smile and generous heart. This is what I heard from everyone I asked about my namesake, my grandfather.

My teenage daughter would like to honor my mother by getting a tattoo of her Auschwitz number. We are quite divided on this issue. Can you please help?