VOLUME 5 NO. 4
Welcome to the CSH ‘A Point in Time’ Anthology Launch edition of Connections. We had a truly wonderful afternoon on Sunday 5 November. All our contributors were present and honoured for their support in this our third Anthology. Julia Reichman, JHC Librarian and Editor of the anthology was joined on stage by Danielle Burns who was the main writer for the anthology. We have included photos from the event taken by our official CSH Photographer Margarita Riaikkenen, daughter of CSH Roza Riaikkenen. We are very grateful to Margarita for her support. We were delighted to have the company of CSH Eva Marks
DECEMBER 2017
who made a great effort to be with us. Eva has suffered illness for the past years and has been assisting me in the back ground, I really appreciate her support and that of her husband Stan Marks. Marietta Elliot was not able to be with us but sent her warm regards to all child survivors. Dr Paul Valent our founding President was our keynote speaker, a transcript of his words are included for everyone to appreciate. Floris Kalman a contributor to the anthology, and a past CSH President joined the others on stage. Copies of ‘A Point in Time’ are on sale at the JHC for $30.00. To all Child Survivors of the Holocaust or their family members who may not be well at this time, we are thinking of you and send our best wishes for your well being. Happy Chanukah! Warm regards. Viv Parry, Chairperson, CSH
Launch of Anthology - A Point in Time Thank you for the honour of allowing me to speak at the launch of A Point in Time, the third anthology of our Melbourne child survivor group. I believe that we are unique among child survivor groups around the world to have produced three anthologies.
Keynote speaker, Dr Paul Valent.
I believe that our anthologies also demonstrate a unique progression, and together they tell a story. Each anthology speaks differently to the world. Look at our first anthology, Silent No More, edited by Nina Stone published in 1999, updated by Floris Kalman in 2012. The book is stark, black and white. In large black fonts we tell our stories, fragments of our hearts. We published Silent No More at the turn of the century. A time of peace, when people were hungry to hear our
stories. They wanted to learn from the catastrophes of the 20th century in order to not repeat them in the new millennium. And we, in 1999, having recognised ourselves for only a decade, we wanted to reach out, to be recognized, to speak, in fact to be silent no more. Our second anthology was Heirloom, edited by Marietta Elliot-Kleerkoper, Helen Gershoni, and Floris Kalman. It was published in 2006. The book is larger, finer, more organized, more colourful, with pictures and poems. The stories, still speaking from the heart are longer. The title Heirloom suggests that we had gone beyond just not being silent. We had something to bequeath to our descendants and to the world, which by now wasn’t quite as peaceful as everyone had hoped. Which brings me back to A Point in Time compiled by Vivian Parry and Julia Reichstein, and edited by Julia. It is impressive, you’ll agree. It is larger than the previous books. It is tactile, colourful, pleasing to the eyes. But I must confess that when I first saw the book I was taken aback. What were those maps doing there? What about the historical contexts? And those coloured pictures of normal smiling children, pictures of poignant fulfilling times, and of children having grown into heads of families with children and grandchildren? Where were the pictures of children with hands raised under machine guns, in clothes in ghettoes, in striped pyjamas against barbed