We Shall Not Forget:
Memories of the Holocaust
second edition
Edited by Carole Garbuny Vogel
This book contains an essay written by
Carole Vogel's father,
describing his escape from Germany.
We Shall Not Forget: Memories of the Holocaust is the story of the impact of the Shoah within one American Jewish Congregation—Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Massachusetts. In its pages, written by Holocaust survivors and the sons and daughters of survivors, the reader meets the individuals who endured the nightmare of nightmares and lived to tell about it.
Many of those whose experiences are recorded in this book were reluctant to tell their stories to an audience beyond their kin. Some claim to be unworthy of being considered Holocaust survivors because they left before war broke out. Readers, however, will have no doubt that they are indeed survivors: survivors of shattered childhoods, devastated communities, confiscated property, interrupted educations; survivors of families and friends who didn’t survive; survivors of brief goodbyes, and no good byes, and goodbyes that never go away.
Each of the forty-two stories speaks for itself. The histories are edited to varying degrees, depending on the preference of the writer. They include the destruction of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Greece; histories of escape from the Nazis; life as a hidden child; survival in ghettos and concentration camps; as well as histories of growing up in genocide’s aftermath.
Praise for We Shall Not Forget: Memories of the Holocaust:
"I believe in testimony. It is important, maybe urgent, that those who survived the Kingdom of Night bear witness, for only they know the truth of what transpired there. I commend Temple Isaiah for its publication of these 42 eyewitness accounts" — Elie Wiesel
"We Shall Not Forget! is more than a book, it’s a treasure trove
that spans across Europe and covers Jewish life before, during, and after World
War II. A gamut of recorded memory beginning with survivors’ stories from
Austria and Germany, chronologically the earliest Nazis’ victims who escaped in
time to save their lives…The geographical scope widens by the inclusions of
histories of survival in hiding, ghettos, and concentration camps in Poland and
Lithuania, the roundups and deportations from France, Holland and Greece to the
death camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor and Bergen-Belsen.
"Most of the survivors or their children whose testimonies appear
in We Shall Not Forget! have listed the names of their family members killed in
the Holocaust, painstakingly noting their places and dates of birth…Carole Garbuny Vogel, the editor, accounts for at least 100 members of her Sadunischker
relatives in Germany and Lithuania, and her Lowy family of Austria, who perished
in the Holocaust.
"All told, the book records more than 1,000 names. Over 200
precious photographs of family members are reproduced in the book. Many were
diligently collected on visits to Europe and Israel. It is a beautiful
collection of good-looking family members from a vanished world—many of them
showing three generations of prosperous Jews whose lives were so brutally
destroyed...
"The 513-page volume is a remarkable achievement by it editor and
her dedicated team of assistants, sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors,
mostly members of Temple Isaiah’s Holocaust Discussion Group. Some of them are
professional writers and graphic designers. The high quality of the book
reflects the group's talent." — Together, a publication of the American
Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors