Deb, Graziella and Nicola
I came home sick from Europe this past November. It took from Thanksgiving to Christmas for the doctors to figure it all out. I'm happy to report they did and I now have the medication I need for my stomach. The holidays have come and gone and now January has almost gone and I still haven't blogged. Time to break the ice here and start my blogging again ...
I cannot believe it was a year ago already when I sat in a restaurant meeting a new friend who told us stories about the monks in Assisi Italy saving Jewish families. It just so happened our son Nicola (exchange student from Italy) was there with me and he was so drawn to the stories. Nic was a semester student so he was here for the fall semester of 2009/2010. When he went home at the end of January, he was determined to find a Jewish survivor from Assisi. Well, he accomplished it! He found Graziella Viterbi who now lives in Rome.
He made contact with her and she was thrilled as the prospect of his taking her story and writing it in a children's book format. First he needed to write a bio on her life so he interviewed her over the phone and ordered books from various places throughout Italy that shared bits and pieces of her story. When he finished the two page bio, he translated it into English and forwarded it to me to review.
Then he began the process of writing the children's book. Let me just say now ... most of the young authors are handed the bio so Nicola has gone above and beyond what any other young author has done in this program. I'm so proud of him. His book was great and once finished, we forwarded it to Patilynn Lowery of Bettendorf, Iowa to illustrate. Patilynn's family is involved in student exchange so this is how we met.
My work with student exchange just "happened" to take me to Rome in November of 2010 so I was able to see Nicola and together we took Graziella advanced copies of her book. She was so thrilled and thankful to both students who made this book possible. She has very young grandchildren and the book was a perfect way for her to tell them about her childhood of running from the Nazis. This was the first time I had met a Holocaust survivor on European soil and it was wonderful. She is a gracious woman who has a heart for education.
My husband was not able to travel with me on this trip so a friend went along as my traveling companion. We visited friends in Germany and one friend took us to a small village in France. As we crossed the border, I saw we were the Region called Lorraine - which my mother was named after. That was very special to me as my mother was my very best friend. Unfortunately, the shops were not open because it was their Memorial Day. We got to see a special service in their Cathedral and heard a young singer who had a voice like an angel. I couldn't tell if the singer was male or female and they sang in French but it was so beautiful. I've never heard anything like it before and I will never forget it.
My next stop was Cologne Germany where I met four of my former exchange students and two of them are young authors for the program. Sergiu from Romania and Barbara from Germany both wrote stories and accompanied me to Dokumentationszentrum - which is a former Gestapo prison in Cologne. The prison is preserved in its original state and it a terrifying reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. The Nazi in charge allowed torture and murder right there on the second floor. When I walked through looking at pictures of those who had perished there, I could almost hear their screams. It was a heart stopping moment for me. The area's gypsy population were also gathered there and murdered as well.
I've not yet gone to a concentration camp so this was the first experience I've had of being in a place where those thought inferior died at the hands of the Nazis. I'll never forget the rainy day in Cologne when we visited this place.
The projects moves on ... we have completed projects coming in, some being worked on now and some just starting. We should have over 50 stories collected in the A BOOK BY ME format by the end of the year. The young authors are excited and so am I.
I'm so happy because this project has become more than I could have ever dreamed. May 2011 be a year of great prosperity for you and GOOD HEALTH along with your dreams coming true!
Blessings,
Deb
