Last Thursday, the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies welcomed author Michelle Weinfeld to speak about her 2022 book, “From Generation to Generation: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Identity in the Aftermath of the Shoah.” A central part of the book is the story of how Weinfeld’s grandfather escaped from one of the most infamous concentration camps.
Dr. Jacob Ari Labendz, the director of the Gross Center, introduced Weinfeld and her work. Weinfeld then took the stage to discuss some background about her book. She began telling the story of how her grandfather, who she called Poppy, was able to survive Auschwitz.
“The survivors are real people, not characters in a movie. Their lives did not end at liberation, their stories continued on.”
– Michelle Weinfeld
She shared how her grandfather escaped by hiding in a room inside Auschwitz while the rest of the people who had been imprisoned were being transferred. She emphasized that this experience lived inside him for the rest of his life and colored his relationship with her. The past continued to play a role in their family.
“Every time I saw my grandfather, it was right there,” she said.
When he escaped, he was taken to a church and given bacon as one of his first meals. It was the first time he broke kosher. After eating the bacon, it became one of his favorite foods because he associated it with his liberation. For years, Poppy used a specific pan only for cooking bacon, and one corner of the table was dedicated to non-kosher items.
As he was about to return to his hometown of Munkács, Czechoslovakia, he was told by Russian soldiers to return the way he came because if he kept going, he would be walking straight into German territory.
“They can be saved by a small piece of fate pushing them in the right direction,” Weinfeld said. In this case, literal directions saved his life.
At the end of “From Generation to Generation,” Weinfeld had included recipes for traditional foods from the region of Munkács.
After sharing her grandfather’s courageous story, Weinfeld ended the talk by reiterating a critical point. “The survivors are real people, not characters in a movie. Their lives did not end at liberation, their stories continued on,” she said.
cgriffi5@ramapo.edu
Featured photo submitted by Michelle Weinfeld
