Children of Holocaust Survivors

The interview with Rachel Korazim took place in four sessions, each covering different aspects of her life as the daughter of Holocaust survivors. ; Session 1: Rachel was born in October 1946 a few months after her Hungarian born parents arrived in Palestine. Her mother, Eva (Hava) was brought up in a cultured, religiously Orthodox Budapest family. Much of the interview focuses on: their life before World War II ;her biological father's family background ; the Holocaust experiences of her mother and aunt who were both sent to forced labor, and of her grandmother who was deported to the Gunskirchen concentration camp; early years in Israel in Kvutzat Geva; her mother's insistence on speaking to her in Hungarian. After her parents' divorce a few years later, her father emigrated to Argentina, playing no further part in her life. She describes how her mother met and married Ephraim - also a Hungarian survivor - whom she relates to as her real father; his family background and story is also described. The family moves to Tivon, later to Haifa, where her mother eventually establishes her own catering business. Rachel brings a number of stories to illustrate her mother's resilience, determination to build a new life, and readiness for hard work, while preserving and cherishing the values and happy memories of the one she had lost. Her mother spoke freely about the past and Rachel's expresses pride in the way these values were transmitted to her and influenced her. ; Session 2: Rachel imparts her memories as a child of survivors; observations on the social milieu of Holocaust survivors, their need to be among the familiar, which showed in their attitude towards North African immigrants, and suspicion of non-Jewish spouses; arguments surrounding the Kastner trial are recalled. Vivid recollection of having to listen to the radio program “Searching for Relatives” holding a list of names, exactly as depicted in David Grossman's Momik. Poignant memory of the memorial prayer for the dead (Yizkor) in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. Food was never lacking, but there had to be bread in the house at all times. She gives examples of how she was affected: not to cause her parents anxiety, always to excel in school, and in later years attempted to make up for the loss in some way, by acquiring fine linens, glassware, etc., that had been part of her mother's life before the war. The effect of the Eichmann trial at home and in school is described. She mentions her sister's very different attitude to her origins. At the end of the 1970s, already married with children, Rachel decides to write her M.A. thesis on the literature of the Holocaust, but encounters difficulty in finding a supervisor who will agree. ; 3rd session: Focuses on impact of these background experiences on her professional work in the field of Holocaust history and education. Describes transformational experiences that lead to a confrontational stand on several issues, such as challenging the convention of trying to teach the whole Holocaust story, rather than focusing on specific aspects. Her M.A. thesis is on Holocaust literature, as opposed to historiography: literary treatment can transfer something of the experience of the Holocaust to people for whom it is completely foreign, connecting with her mother's imparted view that one who was not there cannot comprehend it. She gives an analysis of a Dan Pagis poem to demonstrate how this can be achieved. 1987-1988: serves as Jewish Agency education emissary in Montreal. She recalls her experiences in preparing materials for the first March of the Living and her participation in it. Development of her rejection of the use of the Holocaust to justify the establishment of the State of Israel, and examines Holocaust stories unconnected with the Zionist narrative. Interview with Marek Eidelman . 1990: Call from the Jewish Agency Diaspora Education Dept, to help establish a new Jewish school in Budapest, her dilemma in the face of her mother's initial opposition to reviving Jewish life there, and once there, dealing with the utter lack of any Jewish knowledge on the part of the staff. ; 4th session: Deals with the religious identity of her mother and as passed down to herself and her children: moral behavior for her no longer has the religious underpinnings as it did for her mother, since she is not observant herself, but derived from the stories she heard : for example of the manner in which her grandparents gave charity . Impact of her mother's unambiguous message of the importance of Jewish knowledge in order to have a common language with Jews of all levels of observance. Rachel has passed this on to her own children. Close relationship between her mother and grandchildren. Role of her step-father in her life; his refusal to speak of his experiences until many years later, specifically until after she returned from seeing the concentration camps. Rachel is the mother of Uri and Talya, and has several grandchildren. Today she lives in Jaffa with her second husband Yossi. (She was divorced from her first husband shortly after returning from Canada).