We are all born into a story, each with its own plot, characters and settings. For the children of Holocaust survivors, that story is tinged by the fact that their mere existence is a miracle: after all, their parents weren't supposed to live much less procreate.Many second-generation survivors grew up with a stifled and mysterious background. Others grew up with an overflow of traumatic information. Some grew up emotionally and psychologically scarred. Others felt overwhelmed with and by their parents' stories. And yet others again developed coping skills not just from their parents' experiences but also from how those experiences were conveyed to them.Vera Freidin's daughters fall into the latter category. Never hiding the realities of her Holocaust experience, Kathy and Sue's mother conveyed her stories with sensitivity, dignity and, at times, with humour. She instilled in them her positive outlook, her passion for life and learning, and her determination not to just survive but to strive to thrive.In the year leading up to her eighty-fifth birthday, Vera Freidin sat down with her daughters to compile her memoir. Kathy and Sue carefully and lovingly transcribed her stories as she told them: the familiar stories with which they grew up and some new stories they had not previously heard. That exercise, frequently punctuated by awe, tears and laughter led to this book.Vera Freidin and her daughters hope that you will feel, as you read Zachor, I remember. Will you? that she is sitting with you, perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, as she personally tells you these stories.Zachor, I remember. Will you? is a collection of memories which describe a determined woman, a kind woman, a highly intelligent woman, an inspirational woman, a woman with a remarkable memory and a woman who, despite having good reason to hate and be bitter, does not know how to hate or be bitter. The woman who is Zachor, I remember. Will you? is a good person: you will like her.
About the Author: Vera Freidin, a Holocaust survivor, was born in Slovakia in 1929, the same year in which 1929 was the year in which Mother Teresa began her work in Calcutta, the year in which Popeye was created and when Vatican City became a sovereign state. Foam rubber and the Yo-Yo were also first developed in 1929 and that was the year when the first phone line was installed in the White House. 1929 was also the year when the German airship Graf Zeppelin flew around the world and when women were first considered 'Persons' under Canadian law. Vera's daughter, Kathy Kaplan OAM, ghost-wrote and edited this memoir. A four-time breast cancer survivor, Kathy is a passionate presenter for the Breast Cancer Network and specialises in supporting young single mums facing their breast cancer journey. Kathy is now an active participant in the school tour teams at Temple Beth Israel of which she is a past president, the Jewish Museum of Australia and with the Jewish Christian Muslim Association. Kathy also volunteers with her community's Burial Society to help prepare the dead for burial. On Australia Day 2011, Kathy was awarded an OAM with a double citation for what the Governor-General described as her pioneering work in the area of domestic violence and also for her work in the Jewish community. Kathy is the Founder and President of impact for women inc - a volunteer-led and driven charity working to make a difference to Victorian women and children living in crisis accommodation due to domestic violence.