Great Expectasia: April 2023

The Shoah Foundation interviewed many survivors to tell their stories through testimony. They interviewed both my grandparents about their experiences in the Holocaust.

My grandpa had shared parts of his story with us - some through Coochie Boy, a created persona who was the main character in some awfully creepy bedtime stories, and others through sketches he did of the evacuation of the ghetto and other pivotal moments during the war. If you asked, grandpa had stories for hours.

My grandpa, my dad and my brother on a trip where we went back to Eastern Europe see where my grandparents were from

Growing up, we always knew not to ask grandma anything. She didn't want to talk about it. So we never did.

In 1997, when I was a sophomore in college, my family went to visit my grandparents in Florida over some winter break. They said, "we did interviews. The tapes are in the living room. We don't really want you to watch them. We're going to bed."

So of course, we stayed up all night watching them. My grandpa had five tapes and my grandma had four. Of course my grandpa's city, Czestochowa, Poland entered the war in 1939 and my grandma's city Munkach in Czechoslovakia, then Hungary, now Ukraine, entered in 1944. Some of my grandpa's stories were familiar. This was the first time anyone in my family heard my grandma's stories. And it was the first time even my dad heard the story of how they got engaged!

Earlier this year I wrote to the Shoah Foundation to request their stories, as I figured they must be available digitally, not just these VHS cassettes that float amongst family members. Within two minutes I had them all in my inbox. I watched them again. And now that my grandpa is gone, it's so nice to see him again and hear his voice. I'm posting his story here for others to hear - in his words - though it is long.

from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation

Interviews of Joseph Birnholtz, 1996 are from the archive of the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. For more information: https://sfi.usc.edu

After Jer left, we had a busy weekend (I read torah, soccer, birthday party, Hamilton, playdates, Matt left for a week in Boston) and another week or so including Matt and Sam and Koby going to see Lion King, me working a lot, and then we left for MI.

Our flight there had a strong headwind, so it was something like 8.5 hours. Endless. But my kids are so old and independent, it's amazing. I watched three movies (Till, The Fabelmans and A Man Called Otto) and did a bunch of work. We arrived in Michigan on Thursday afternoon and missed the first seder and we didn't have a second seder, but we did have dinner with both of our sets of parents, which was lovely. Fran and Tom had their seder on Friday night and my parents always have it on Saturday night. Don't tell god.

We ran errands, chilled, visited with cousins, helped get ready for the seders and just relaxed for days. We had cousins in town from LA, Denver, Chicago, New York, Boynton Beach (FLA), Boston, plus the few that live in MI. We really enjoyed both seders. Matt's family's was much smaller, so you could have real conversations. Our kids were the only kids, so it was quieter and less hectic. My parents' had nearly 40 people, and it was loud and hectic, but also so wonderful to see everyone and extra special to be together, obviously after the shit last few years. They were all amazing successes.

Shana came in from Toronto and joined for the seder, and then we got a half a day to chat and catch up. We stayed up later than I do these days, and it was so wonderful. We could talk for weeks. I love it and am so grateful for our 33 year friendship.

After seders we had more time with cousins, a few more errands, visited grandma, played pickelball with my dad and got to see Jill and Ben and fam in Ann Arbor and Adina. I also did a bit of work and really enjoyed the few hours I had on my own to do yoga and go for walks in my parents' neighborhood. My inlaws took the kids one day and my parents took them another, so I was happily irrelevant.

Matt left Tuesday to go to DC for the IMF spring meetings. The kids and I took off on Thursday around 6:30. The flight back was SUPER short. The kids were so good. They watched a bit. They ate a (very little) bit. I asked them to try to sleep after dinner (though it was still early for their body time), and they all tried. Elie slept from about 2 hours into the flight for the rest of it. Koby got in about an hour and a half. I slept on and off for about 2 hours when Koby wasn't trying to tell me or show me something. Sam didn't sleep. We all survived. We got our bag and took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station. We were not in a hurry, so we visited the Paddington Bear Statue that I learned about when Susie was here. We took the tube back (they were floppy), walked back in the rain and headed straight to a CHAMETZ brunch at a place I have wanted to try. Totally pleasant. Nice walk home with a stop at the toy store. We had agreed to chill, unpack, receive a grocery delivery and then go for another walk just to keep us awake. They were all perfectly pleasant. We went to Primrose, played with a dog (mom is from Gross Point and went to U of M!), saw our London view, walked home and chilled and ate until 8. Sam is still up, and I am barely able to keep my eyes open. I think we made it, in terms of surviving the hardest part of jet lag. Should be good tomorrow. And all filled up from our awesome trip.

Pics in reverse order, apparently.

Floppy on the tube after a long night of not sleeping

With Paddington bear in Paddington Station

Floppy waiting for the Heathrow Express. I could look at young families with sympathy, but I was TRULY fine on my own with all three kids. I was not sure that would be the case.

Ok, we ended Passover on London time with pinkberry at the detroit airport. We always used to get it on our Boston trips - something had to make me happy on those flights with three LITTLE kids (can you tell I have flight PTSD?). YUM

Elie was really into pool with Papa, Jer, or really anyone who would play with him

Pokemon cards with Savta

Too big for one shot!

So many happy faces including special appearances by my grandma, Shana, and a cousin's boyfriend's first time.

All shelves on both ovens full. Lists and timelines. She has it down. Started months ago (not really but almost), and it all worked out perfectly.

They found the afikomen!!

Engineering - what's inside the droid? With cousin David

Jess driving the other droid

Bubbie's chicken soup

So much maror. I remember it being much spicier. Even I can have loads of it now. Why?

Hildebrandt seder

All the plagues on Sam's head

Walking to school. Cute Matt and Koby and the rest of us in shadows

Can't get enough of those cherry blossoms

The other two kids went to see Lion King with Matt, and I told Elie he had me to himself for about 4-5 hours and I would basically do whatever he wanted with him. He wanted to play chess online with papa for an hour, then watch a star wars movie, then we went for a sushi extravaganza. He was so so happy and ate nearly everything on the plate below. Then gelato and a walk home. He said it was his best day ever.

We have a mailbox topper in our neighborhood, and it changes with the seasons. This is the latest. My dad sent me an article about how they're going missing around the UK. Random!!