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Mes Esame Čia
Tai neįtikėtina vienos moters, panūdusios ne tik sugrįžti prie savo protėvių ištakų, bet ir perprasti visos tautos tragediją, istorija. Noras kalbėti gimtąja jidiš kalba, kurią pamiršo mirus motinai, atvedė Ellen Cassedy į Lietuvą, kadaise vadintą Šiaurės Jeruzale. Kol Ellen ruošėsi kelionei, jos dėdė, prieš šešiasdešimt metų išvykęs iš Lietuvos, atskleidė šokiruojančią savąją karo patirtį, o galiausiai nepažįstamas pagyvenęs žmogus, kilęs iš autorės protėvių miestelio Rokiškio, pateikė keistą prašymą...
Palaipsniui tai, kas prasidėjo kaip asmeninė kelionė, išsiplėtė į didesnį tyrimą, kaip Lietuvos žmonės, žydai ir ne žydai, priima savo praeitį, kad judėtų ateities link. Kaip tauta stengiasi įveikti kruviną praeitį? Kaip mes patys, lietuviai, vertiname stebėtojus, kolaborantus, nusikaltėlius, gelbėtojus ir save? Tai klausimai, į kuriuos atsakymus E. Cassedy pateikia šioje knygoje – šokiruojančiame vieno žmogaus bandyme tyrinėti Lietuvos žydų istoriją per asmeninę prizmę.
Pasitelkdama daugybę archyvinės medžiagos, padedama vietos žmonių, kurių motyvacija taip ir lieka mįslė, kalbėdamasi su gimtojo miestelio gyventojais, tarp jų ir senoliu, trokštančiu „pasikalbėti su žydu“, kol dar tebėra gyvas, atrasdama daugybę painių dalykų mūsų šalyje, kuri išgyveno ir nacių, ir sovietų okupacijas, E. Cassedy išsiaiškina, jog svarbiausia yra ne istorijos faktai, o tai, ką mes su jais nusprendžiame veikti...
Palaipsniui tai, kas prasidėjo kaip asmeninė kelionė, išsiplėtė į didesnį tyrimą, kaip Lietuvos žmonės, žydai ir ne žydai, priima savo praeitį, kad judėtų ateities link. Kaip tauta stengiasi įveikti kruviną praeitį? Kaip mes patys, lietuviai, vertiname stebėtojus, kolaborantus, nusikaltėlius, gelbėtojus ir save? Tai klausimai, į kuriuos atsakymus E. Cassedy pateikia šioje knygoje – šokiruojančiame vieno žmogaus bandyme tyrinėti Lietuvos žydų istoriją per asmeninę prizmę.
Pasitelkdama daugybę archyvinės medžiagos, padedama vietos žmonių, kurių motyvacija taip ir lieka mįslė, kalbėdamasi su gimtojo miestelio gyventojais, tarp jų ir senoliu, trokštančiu „pasikalbėti su žydu“, kol dar tebėra gyvas, atrasdama daugybę painių dalykų mūsų šalyje, kuri išgyveno ir nacių, ir sovietų okupacijas, E. Cassedy išsiaiškina, jog svarbiausia yra ne istorijos faktai, o tai, ką mes su jais nusprendžiame veikti...
335 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2012
About the author
Ellen Cassedy
12 books26 followersEllen Cassedy was a founder of 9 to 5, the movement of working women that mobilized for rights and respect on the job. "Working 9 to 5" is a first-person account of how a racially diverse group of women took on the corporate titans, organized a union, won victories from coast to coast – and inspired Jane Fonda’s hit movie and Dolly Parton’s enduring anthem.
In "We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust," Ellen Cassedy’s journey to connect with her Jewish family roots expands into a wider quest, offering hope for a more tolerant future. Winner of the Grub Street National Book Prize for Nonfiction, shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
Ellen Cassedy is a translator from Yiddish. "Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories by Blume Lempel" (with Yermiyahu Ahron Taub) blends the realistic and the fantastic, the lyrical and the philosophical. Winner of the Leviant Memorial Prize from the Modern Language Association. "On the Landing: Stories by Yenta Mash" makes a major contribution to the literature of immigration and resilience.
In "We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust," Ellen Cassedy’s journey to connect with her Jewish family roots expands into a wider quest, offering hope for a more tolerant future. Winner of the Grub Street National Book Prize for Nonfiction, shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
Ellen Cassedy is a translator from Yiddish. "Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories by Blume Lempel" (with Yermiyahu Ahron Taub) blends the realistic and the fantastic, the lyrical and the philosophical. Winner of the Leviant Memorial Prize from the Modern Language Association. "On the Landing: Stories by Yenta Mash" makes a major contribution to the literature of immigration and resilience.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
August 19, 2021
3.5 stars
As this is an obscure memoir/historical exploration published by a university press, I went in with fairly low expectations, and the book exceeded them. Cassedy, a Jewish American woman and great-niece of Holocaust survivors from Lithuania, travels back to her ancestors’ home country to study Yiddish and to learn more about what happened there during World War II. She’s particularly preoccupied by questions of moral culpability for bystanders and collaborators, and about the ways people relate to others’ tragedies. And she seems to grow along the way, starting out defensive about the idea that ethnic Lithuanians also suffered (more under the Communists than the Nazis, which only inflamed tensions with the Jewish population), before ultimately realizing that as an American she too is living on the bones of someone else’s genocide without thinking much about it.
Much of the book is spent on Cassedy’s journey in learning about Lithuania’s Jewish past: its capital city, Vilnius, was once a center of Jewish culture, and its cities and villages were typically a third to a half Jewish before WWII, but only about 10% of these people survived the Holocaust and most of those later left the country. She also spends time grappling with the horrors of the Holocaust, trying to understand how locals learn about and remember it, and researching her own family history. Shortly before her trip, her elderly great-uncle reveals that he was a policeman in the ghetto, responsible for enforcing Nazi rules and demands against his own people; meanwhile, an old Lithuanian man who was a bystander to a roundup in his village reaches out to her, wanting to speak to a Jew. Along the way she learns that not all rescuers had high-minded motives—that the ghetto police could be brutal, though it’s fair to say Jewish authorities at this point were backed into a corner—that the treatment of the Holocaust and Jewish culture during the Soviet period was surprisingly contradictory and uneven—that there are ethnic Lithuanians working hard to educate people about the Holocaust, though uniformly they seem to prefer encouraging such education rather than mandating it.
Lots of food for thought here (personally I think we should be talking more about bystander responsibility before things get to the point of mass killings), and it’s a thoughtful, interesting and accessible book. While Cassedy might not be the world’s most gripping storyteller, I don’t think this is the sort of book that could only be published by a university press, and I did find her story engaging, given her willingness to dig into difficult issues and confront her own preconceptions. Perhaps I didn’t need quite so much detail about her Yiddish classes (which she found surprisingly difficult, in my view, for someone who had published translations of Yiddish short stories beforehand!), but that is not the primary focus, and overall I found this book worth the read. For those also interested in non-Jewish explorations of Baltic heritage, Among the Living and the Dead, about Latvia, is along the same lines and really lovely.
As this is an obscure memoir/historical exploration published by a university press, I went in with fairly low expectations, and the book exceeded them. Cassedy, a Jewish American woman and great-niece of Holocaust survivors from Lithuania, travels back to her ancestors’ home country to study Yiddish and to learn more about what happened there during World War II. She’s particularly preoccupied by questions of moral culpability for bystanders and collaborators, and about the ways people relate to others’ tragedies. And she seems to grow along the way, starting out defensive about the idea that ethnic Lithuanians also suffered (more under the Communists than the Nazis, which only inflamed tensions with the Jewish population), before ultimately realizing that as an American she too is living on the bones of someone else’s genocide without thinking much about it.
Much of the book is spent on Cassedy’s journey in learning about Lithuania’s Jewish past: its capital city, Vilnius, was once a center of Jewish culture, and its cities and villages were typically a third to a half Jewish before WWII, but only about 10% of these people survived the Holocaust and most of those later left the country. She also spends time grappling with the horrors of the Holocaust, trying to understand how locals learn about and remember it, and researching her own family history. Shortly before her trip, her elderly great-uncle reveals that he was a policeman in the ghetto, responsible for enforcing Nazi rules and demands against his own people; meanwhile, an old Lithuanian man who was a bystander to a roundup in his village reaches out to her, wanting to speak to a Jew. Along the way she learns that not all rescuers had high-minded motives—that the ghetto police could be brutal, though it’s fair to say Jewish authorities at this point were backed into a corner—that the treatment of the Holocaust and Jewish culture during the Soviet period was surprisingly contradictory and uneven—that there are ethnic Lithuanians working hard to educate people about the Holocaust, though uniformly they seem to prefer encouraging such education rather than mandating it.
Lots of food for thought here (personally I think we should be talking more about bystander responsibility before things get to the point of mass killings), and it’s a thoughtful, interesting and accessible book. While Cassedy might not be the world’s most gripping storyteller, I don’t think this is the sort of book that could only be published by a university press, and I did find her story engaging, given her willingness to dig into difficult issues and confront her own preconceptions. Perhaps I didn’t need quite so much detail about her Yiddish classes (which she found surprisingly difficult, in my view, for someone who had published translations of Yiddish short stories beforehand!), but that is not the primary focus, and overall I found this book worth the read. For those also interested in non-Jewish explorations of Baltic heritage, Among the Living and the Dead, about Latvia, is along the same lines and really lovely.
January 15, 2019
Kaip užknisa, kai anglišką apgalvotą recenziją "nuknisa" užstrigęs kompiuteris (RRRRR.....)
Bus lietuviškai ir trumpai.
Gerai. Pradžiai - autorė yra puiki pasakotoja ir net apie tokią sudėtingą temą, įterpdama daug sudėtingos istorinės medžiagos iš archyvų, pasakojimų ar ner jidiš kalbos (nors šitai man nepatiko), tekstą sugeba išlaikyti įdomų, lengvai skaitomą.
Dėl pačios istorijos - nežinau, čia rašo, kad Lietuvoje yra kažkokių antisemitinių nuotaikų. Na, aš - ir tikiu, visi mano pažįstami - net nepagalvotume tiesiog iš idėjos nemėgti ko nors, nes jis ar ji žydas. Aš tikiu, kad apraiškų pasitaiko, bet ar tai nebus kokie nors buki keistuoliai, kartas nuo karto iškišantys galvas, vien tik dėl to, kad jie šiaip visų iš idėjos nemėgsta, o čia tiesiog per daug hiperbolizuota... Šitoje vietoje aš likau pasimetusi - aš tikiu, kad čia ne susireikšminimas, na, bet nežinau, kiek tai realiai atspindi situaciją Lietuvoje dėl antisemitizmo. (Tikriausiai, jei būčiau tokią nuomonę išsakiusi autorei, ji imtų piktintis "Kaip tu nežinai?", "Kaip tu gali nesuprasti?" :) ) Juolab, tas pats Leonidas Donskis, kurį ji cituoja, buvo vienas populiariausių ir įtakingiausių šalies intelektualų (nors irgi kėlė žydų-lietuvių problemas) ir, kai jis mirė, pamatėme masinį gedulą)
Gerai, pasiduodu, nesidomėjau giliai šia tema, tai tik išsakau abejonę ir suku toliau.
Iš pradžių noriu užtikrinti, kad tikrai gerbiu autorės pastangas žiūrėti metodiškai, bandymą nepasiduoti emocijoms (nors žydų tema Lietuvoje jai asmeniškai svarbi), bandymus į viską žiūrėti atviru protu ir neteisti (daugmaž). Vis tik ši knyga - ne akademinis darbas, o asmeninė kelionė siekiant suprasti, taigi, kartais jau man tekdavo "stengtis būti atvira širdimi ir neteisti". Vis tik nesmagu, kai kaltina didžiąją dalį lietuvių, nes jie stebėjo, o ne padėjo, ir kaipgi jie taip galėjo. Aš tikrai nesiimu istorinių vertinimų, nesakau, kad ji nebuvo teisi piktindamasi ir pan., bet mane nervino situacijos supraprastinimas ir pamokslavimas apie moralę be galo sudėtingomis ir pavojingomis aplinkybėmis, kai pati gyveno saugioje, patogioje šalyje (juolab, kad apie JAV moralę irgi galima daug ką pasakyti XX amžiuje...). Esmė ta, kad, manau, viskas priklauso nuo perspektyvos. Jei jau teisiam vienus, gal netaikom dvigubų standartų ir pažiūrim, kas pačios autorės "kieme" darosi.
Vis tik, kaip minėjau, tai buvo asmeninė Cassedy kelionė, bandymas geriau suvokti savo kilmę, tapatybę (ji ne pati ne kartą tai pripažino), taigi, priekaištauti jai dėl gal kiek per emocingų reakcijų ar galbūt klišinių veritinimų tragedijos akivaizduoje - tam tikrose knygos vietose, - būtų irgi neteisinga. Aišku, man pačiai irgi reikėjo stebėti savo reakcijas ir nepasiduoti įprastam savigynos mechanizmui, kad, ėmus kaltinti, viskas atmetama, nors galbūt turinys yra teisingas :) Tam tikra prasme autorė mane irgi pakvietė į kelionę ir metė iššūkį pasitikrinti savo tolerancijos ir empatijos ribas.
Vis tik, kaip rašė pabaigoje, ji priėjo prie tų pačių išvadų, kurios sukosi ir mano galvoje - ne teisti, o bandyti suprasti. Niekas nežinome, kaip būtume patys elgęsi pavojaus akivaizdoje.
Melavau - visai čia ne trumpai išėjo :) Šiaip paskaitykite. Dažnai nervinanti, bet vertinga knyga.
Bus lietuviškai ir trumpai.
Gerai. Pradžiai - autorė yra puiki pasakotoja ir net apie tokią sudėtingą temą, įterpdama daug sudėtingos istorinės medžiagos iš archyvų, pasakojimų ar ner jidiš kalbos (nors šitai man nepatiko), tekstą sugeba išlaikyti įdomų, lengvai skaitomą.
Dėl pačios istorijos - nežinau, čia rašo, kad Lietuvoje yra kažkokių antisemitinių nuotaikų. Na, aš - ir tikiu, visi mano pažįstami - net nepagalvotume tiesiog iš idėjos nemėgti ko nors, nes jis ar ji žydas. Aš tikiu, kad apraiškų pasitaiko, bet ar tai nebus kokie nors buki keistuoliai, kartas nuo karto iškišantys galvas, vien tik dėl to, kad jie šiaip visų iš idėjos nemėgsta, o čia tiesiog per daug hiperbolizuota... Šitoje vietoje aš likau pasimetusi - aš tikiu, kad čia ne susireikšminimas, na, bet nežinau, kiek tai realiai atspindi situaciją Lietuvoje dėl antisemitizmo. (Tikriausiai, jei būčiau tokią nuomonę išsakiusi autorei, ji imtų piktintis "Kaip tu nežinai?", "Kaip tu gali nesuprasti?" :) ) Juolab, tas pats Leonidas Donskis, kurį ji cituoja, buvo vienas populiariausių ir įtakingiausių šalies intelektualų (nors irgi kėlė žydų-lietuvių problemas) ir, kai jis mirė, pamatėme masinį gedulą)
Gerai, pasiduodu, nesidomėjau giliai šia tema, tai tik išsakau abejonę ir suku toliau.
Iš pradžių noriu užtikrinti, kad tikrai gerbiu autorės pastangas žiūrėti metodiškai, bandymą nepasiduoti emocijoms (nors žydų tema Lietuvoje jai asmeniškai svarbi), bandymus į viską žiūrėti atviru protu ir neteisti (daugmaž). Vis tik ši knyga - ne akademinis darbas, o asmeninė kelionė siekiant suprasti, taigi, kartais jau man tekdavo "stengtis būti atvira širdimi ir neteisti". Vis tik nesmagu, kai kaltina didžiąją dalį lietuvių, nes jie stebėjo, o ne padėjo, ir kaipgi jie taip galėjo. Aš tikrai nesiimu istorinių vertinimų, nesakau, kad ji nebuvo teisi piktindamasi ir pan., bet mane nervino situacijos supraprastinimas ir pamokslavimas apie moralę be galo sudėtingomis ir pavojingomis aplinkybėmis, kai pati gyveno saugioje, patogioje šalyje (juolab, kad apie JAV moralę irgi galima daug ką pasakyti XX amžiuje...). Esmė ta, kad, manau, viskas priklauso nuo perspektyvos. Jei jau teisiam vienus, gal netaikom dvigubų standartų ir pažiūrim, kas pačios autorės "kieme" darosi.
Vis tik, kaip minėjau, tai buvo asmeninė Cassedy kelionė, bandymas geriau suvokti savo kilmę, tapatybę (ji ne pati ne kartą tai pripažino), taigi, priekaištauti jai dėl gal kiek per emocingų reakcijų ar galbūt klišinių veritinimų tragedijos akivaizduoje - tam tikrose knygos vietose, - būtų irgi neteisinga. Aišku, man pačiai irgi reikėjo stebėti savo reakcijas ir nepasiduoti įprastam savigynos mechanizmui, kad, ėmus kaltinti, viskas atmetama, nors galbūt turinys yra teisingas :) Tam tikra prasme autorė mane irgi pakvietė į kelionę ir metė iššūkį pasitikrinti savo tolerancijos ir empatijos ribas.
Vis tik, kaip rašė pabaigoje, ji priėjo prie tų pačių išvadų, kurios sukosi ir mano galvoje - ne teisti, o bandyti suprasti. Niekas nežinome, kaip būtume patys elgęsi pavojaus akivaizdoje.
Melavau - visai čia ne trumpai išėjo :) Šiaip paskaitykite. Dažnai nervinanti, bet vertinga knyga.
October 7, 2018
Those who Stand at the Gate
We are Here is a historical look at the complex situation in Lithuania during the Holocaust. Ellen Cassedy chose to learn Yiddish after her Mother’s death to experience that part of her Mother’s life, as an act of remembering her. In doing so, she ended up looking back at her own Jewish family’s history. It was an insightful journey to Lithuania that revealed to her things she hadn’t known about even close family members.
Though there is not really new information contained in her book, it is information that is not widely and fully understood. The Balkan states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, had been annexed by the Soviets after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement in 1939. So, when Hitler soon abrogated his agreement with Stalin and invaded the then Russian controlled Lithuania, many of the non-Jewish Lithuanians viewed the Germans as liberators, for a time. They hoped to have independence restored. It was not to be, as they too late realized. They had exchanged one threat for another.
Nazi rule was clearly the greatest threat facing the Lithuanian Jews. They had expected to be dealt with as they were by the Germans. What they didn’t expect was for their own countrymen to be the ones who fired the shots. Unlike in other countries, local urban Ghettos and slaughter pits was Hitler’s choice for Lithuania, rather than deportation. He had the Jews placed in the Ghettos, where fellow Jews were appointed policemen to stand watch at the gate. Soon countless numbers were marched into the forests, shot, and buried in pits, which remain today. A tiny fraction of the Jewish population survived. The Non-Jewish population largely allowed it to happen and assisted the Germans. Very little resistance was offered.
About 3 years later, of course, the Soviets returned, as the Nazis were driven out. And, the Soviets began a systematic campaign of murdering any and all Lithuanians who were perceived as resistors to the Soviet regime. Many of the Lithuanian non-Jews saw the Jews as responsible for the death of their people, because they thought of the Jews as having welcomed the Soviets back to Lithuania. When the Soviets returned, they also tried the Jewish police from the ghettos and sent them to Siberian camps. Everything we know, of course, since the Soviets released their documents in 89, reveals that Lithuania was basically under occupation all those years. So, needless to say, there are a lot of complex feelings between the Jews and non-Jews in Lithuania. But, it is the result of a divided people. Some were Nazi sympathizers and others were Soviet sympathizers.
In looking back, we stand at the gates dividing the past from the future, because the present is where we choose what will remain of all that has come before us. Using the collective pronoun ‘we’ may seem for some a bit of an assumed responsibility. It is not assumed or misplaced, however, to recognize the fact that we are all human.
Perhaps, it would be easier to understand my point if inhabitants on one planet… Earth… were to commit a crime against an alien race on another planet. If that happened, it would undoubtedly be a crime committed by our leaders acting in our agency. (When we choose our leaders, we choose those who will act for us.) In such a fictitious scenario it would be easy for us to see that ‘we’ attacked the other planet, for we would all see ourselves as part of the planet Earth. It would do no good to argue about our own personal responsibility when our planet is targeted in retribution.
When governments act in ways that we do not commission them to function, we soon have a new layer or level of responsibility beyond simply voting. When wrong is being committed by those in authority, and even by those around us who are not in authority, it is important to bring ourselves to the realization that we are not innocent onlookers, but actors in the event. And, this is what Ellen Cassedy grapples with in writing this book.
Asking moral questions about the past is an important act of moral behavior. Evaluating the right and wrong of the deeds that have happened in the past, or those happening right now, is an integral part of ethics. We will all find ourselves in situations where we either ‘stand up or standby.’ I learned this idea from Christian and secular writers in my youth. It is pretty obvious that having any religion at all does not bequeath us morality, which is why some non-religious people are moral, and sometimes seemingly religious people behave quite immorally. We all have the capacity to do good and evil. Each day we choose between the two. Religious faith comes by hearing a religious leader preach or teach a doctrine. But, morality comes from a personal evaluation of right and wrong. Faith and morality are mutually exclusive character traits. Morality asks something of us. It requires action on our part, just like love and faith. They will lead us to morality if we will follow our conscience.
It is easy enough for me to see myself as part of the ‘we’ who burned the Jews. My ancestry includes a part German and part Cherokee heritage. But, when I say ‘we’ I am referring to my human heritage. That means, I am speaking of all humankind. We burned the Jews. Again, that is not a big jump, because I am a Christian and have been taught a similar precept that “we’ crucified Jesus. We human beings did that, and that is what I find so shocking about the Holocaust.
This does not mean that I feel guilt. It is not about guilt. It has great bearing on our everyday future lives. We each face the same questions the author dealt with in this book. What are our moral choices? Can we see ourselves as actors rather than onlookers? Being transformed from an onlooker to an active citizen is the lesson to learn from the Holocaust.
I read this book as my stop in Lithuania on my Journey Around the World in 80 Books for 2018. I chose the Audible narrated in excellent quality by Suzanne Toren. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested in this time period of History. It is very well written in an almost memoir style, rather than academic. It is the type of book that is probably read in Book Clubs. My next stop will be Belarus.
We are Here is a historical look at the complex situation in Lithuania during the Holocaust. Ellen Cassedy chose to learn Yiddish after her Mother’s death to experience that part of her Mother’s life, as an act of remembering her. In doing so, she ended up looking back at her own Jewish family’s history. It was an insightful journey to Lithuania that revealed to her things she hadn’t known about even close family members.
Though there is not really new information contained in her book, it is information that is not widely and fully understood. The Balkan states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, had been annexed by the Soviets after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement in 1939. So, when Hitler soon abrogated his agreement with Stalin and invaded the then Russian controlled Lithuania, many of the non-Jewish Lithuanians viewed the Germans as liberators, for a time. They hoped to have independence restored. It was not to be, as they too late realized. They had exchanged one threat for another.
Nazi rule was clearly the greatest threat facing the Lithuanian Jews. They had expected to be dealt with as they were by the Germans. What they didn’t expect was for their own countrymen to be the ones who fired the shots. Unlike in other countries, local urban Ghettos and slaughter pits was Hitler’s choice for Lithuania, rather than deportation. He had the Jews placed in the Ghettos, where fellow Jews were appointed policemen to stand watch at the gate. Soon countless numbers were marched into the forests, shot, and buried in pits, which remain today. A tiny fraction of the Jewish population survived. The Non-Jewish population largely allowed it to happen and assisted the Germans. Very little resistance was offered.
About 3 years later, of course, the Soviets returned, as the Nazis were driven out. And, the Soviets began a systematic campaign of murdering any and all Lithuanians who were perceived as resistors to the Soviet regime. Many of the Lithuanian non-Jews saw the Jews as responsible for the death of their people, because they thought of the Jews as having welcomed the Soviets back to Lithuania. When the Soviets returned, they also tried the Jewish police from the ghettos and sent them to Siberian camps. Everything we know, of course, since the Soviets released their documents in 89, reveals that Lithuania was basically under occupation all those years. So, needless to say, there are a lot of complex feelings between the Jews and non-Jews in Lithuania. But, it is the result of a divided people. Some were Nazi sympathizers and others were Soviet sympathizers.
In looking back, we stand at the gates dividing the past from the future, because the present is where we choose what will remain of all that has come before us. Using the collective pronoun ‘we’ may seem for some a bit of an assumed responsibility. It is not assumed or misplaced, however, to recognize the fact that we are all human.
Perhaps, it would be easier to understand my point if inhabitants on one planet… Earth… were to commit a crime against an alien race on another planet. If that happened, it would undoubtedly be a crime committed by our leaders acting in our agency. (When we choose our leaders, we choose those who will act for us.) In such a fictitious scenario it would be easy for us to see that ‘we’ attacked the other planet, for we would all see ourselves as part of the planet Earth. It would do no good to argue about our own personal responsibility when our planet is targeted in retribution.
When governments act in ways that we do not commission them to function, we soon have a new layer or level of responsibility beyond simply voting. When wrong is being committed by those in authority, and even by those around us who are not in authority, it is important to bring ourselves to the realization that we are not innocent onlookers, but actors in the event. And, this is what Ellen Cassedy grapples with in writing this book.
“You must listen to the silences as well as the sounds.”
Asking moral questions about the past is an important act of moral behavior. Evaluating the right and wrong of the deeds that have happened in the past, or those happening right now, is an integral part of ethics. We will all find ourselves in situations where we either ‘stand up or standby.’ I learned this idea from Christian and secular writers in my youth. It is pretty obvious that having any religion at all does not bequeath us morality, which is why some non-religious people are moral, and sometimes seemingly religious people behave quite immorally. We all have the capacity to do good and evil. Each day we choose between the two. Religious faith comes by hearing a religious leader preach or teach a doctrine. But, morality comes from a personal evaluation of right and wrong. Faith and morality are mutually exclusive character traits. Morality asks something of us. It requires action on our part, just like love and faith. They will lead us to morality if we will follow our conscience.
“Coming to terms with the truth is not collective guilt.”
“We must wrestle with what is right, and what is wrong, what is better, and what is worse.”
It is easy enough for me to see myself as part of the ‘we’ who burned the Jews. My ancestry includes a part German and part Cherokee heritage. But, when I say ‘we’ I am referring to my human heritage. That means, I am speaking of all humankind. We burned the Jews. Again, that is not a big jump, because I am a Christian and have been taught a similar precept that “we’ crucified Jesus. We human beings did that, and that is what I find so shocking about the Holocaust.
This does not mean that I feel guilt. It is not about guilt. It has great bearing on our everyday future lives. We each face the same questions the author dealt with in this book. What are our moral choices? Can we see ourselves as actors rather than onlookers? Being transformed from an onlooker to an active citizen is the lesson to learn from the Holocaust.
I read this book as my stop in Lithuania on my Journey Around the World in 80 Books for 2018. I chose the Audible narrated in excellent quality by Suzanne Toren. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested in this time period of History. It is very well written in an almost memoir style, rather than academic. It is the type of book that is probably read in Book Clubs. My next stop will be Belarus.
April 14, 2013
The book was written by a good friends of ours. It is a story about how the country is dealing with the extermination of the Jews by the Nazi and collaborators during World War II. Ellen discovers that her uncle was a ghetto policeman, a Jew designated by the Nazis to be police the Jewish ghetto. Was his role that of a collaborator or someone who in an impossible situation tried to do what he could do to help people. What about the non-Jewish Lithuanians? How did they feel about the extermination of the Jews? Were they happy to participate in the killings or did they do what they could about helping the Jews. How is the country dealing with this discussion? How do they equate the Nazi period with the soviet period? It is a fascinating book where Ellen goes back to Lithuania to study Yiddish and interview people about the period and how they are dealing with the period.
December 29, 2024
This is an excellent book that delves into the history of the Holocaust in Lithuania as well as the author’s investigation of her family history during that period. Cassedy travels to Lithuania to study Yiddish and to explore her ancestral homeland. I appreciate the clear history of the war years and the explanation between the Nazi occupation of Lithuania vs. the Soviet occupation. This is a well written and poignant exploration of Lithuania’s past and present.
March 6, 2021
While not riveting storytelling, I learned so much from this author’s experience of going back to Lithuania to study Yiddish in the old country whilst simultaneously investigating her family’s history during the Nazi AND Soviet occupation in Lithuania during WW2. It’s a thought provoking memoir that leads one to contemplate the meaning of hero and who’s responsible for the devastation in times of war and genocide. Cassidy also personally touched me when she gave name to a feeling I, a 9-11 survivor, have struggled to define...something she calls “competitive martyrology”—the illogical resentment and competitiveness with those who have suffered, but have not suffered as greatly from an event/tragedy as yourself. Witnessing someone else experiencing this feeling made me realize how normal it is for people suffering with the pain of trauma and PTSD.
With the current state of the world as it is, this book was a valuable read that led to the poignant examination of what complicity in evil means. Who is allowed to judge the failures of others to act bravely? Who can judge the fear of others? Who can judge the logic of betrayal in desperate times? If you want to understand how some humans keep living their lives while babies are in cages or ovens, this book gives a non-judgmental perspective of the human condition in crisis, war, and fear while understanding that the only escape from this repetitive cycle is to leave blame behind and keep our eyes toward a tolerant, sympathetic, educated future. 🤞🏻
With the current state of the world as it is, this book was a valuable read that led to the poignant examination of what complicity in evil means. Who is allowed to judge the failures of others to act bravely? Who can judge the fear of others? Who can judge the logic of betrayal in desperate times? If you want to understand how some humans keep living their lives while babies are in cages or ovens, this book gives a non-judgmental perspective of the human condition in crisis, war, and fear while understanding that the only escape from this repetitive cycle is to leave blame behind and keep our eyes toward a tolerant, sympathetic, educated future. 🤞🏻
August 29, 2013
A very complicated memoir that attempts to examine the limits of morality through the tragedy of the Lithuanian Holocaust. Unlike other countries, many of the Jews killed in Lithuania were slain by the neighbor's hands in the forests surrounding the towns instead of being sent to camps, away from sight. Compounded by the subsequent Soviet occupation following the war, which both denied the German atrocities Jewish connection AND further oppressed the remaining non-Jewish Lithuanian population, the relationship of Lithuanians to their doubly tragic history is complex. Cassedy attacks this problem by trying to understand a relative's experience as a Jewish Policeman in one of the Lithuanian ghettos. Beautifully written, this memoir will leave you with more questions than answers, especially about yourself.
April 13, 2012
Read in just a few days. Easy to read, but leaves you with much to think about. My maternal grandmother was from Kovno. My guess is that many of her relatives were killed there during WWII. I've been doing some family history searches, but it's slow going due to multiple spellings of names. The author goes to Lithuania to learn and perfect her Yiddish language skills and also to understand further her grandfather's role as a Jewish policeman in the Vilna ghetto. She begins to understand the average Lithuanian's role during the Holocaust, and questions her own beliefs in good and evil. Should be read by anyone interested in the Holocaust and the War. What would you do under those conditions: fight back, hide,run away,help, do nothing, etc.?
July 5, 2013
We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust By Ellen Cassedy I won this book through Goodreads. What a wonderful opportunity this author had to go back to the country of her forefathers. To learn the language(Yiddish)and connect with the local people. Not everyone saw the Holocaust in Lithuania in the same way. The personal stories, so hard for them to recount things they wanted to hide in the back of their mind. The author gained knowledge and a new insight of the Lithuanian people, she fulfilled her dream.
March 10, 2012
This is a brave, honest, insightful, and beautiful written memoir. If you are Lithuanian or of Lithuanian descent, you must read this. To the end. If you are Jewish, you must read this. We Are Here is as much about the Lithuanian Holocaust as it is about doing historical and personal research, of rethinking what you know, of being human. This is deeply moving and, ultimately, hopeful book.
August 10, 2021
Knyga „Mes esame čia“ apie gluminančią istorijos dalį, Antrąjį pasaulinį karą, šalį, Lietuvą, beveik visų žydų žudynes. Ellen Cassedy sužino apie savo šeimos istoriją, jų vaidmenį šiuo istoriniu laiku ir vietoje, todėl jos misija yra vykti į Lietuvą, išmokti jidiš kalbą, apklausti žydus ir lietuvius ir suprasti, kas atsitiko, kodėl taip atsitiko, kas tai padarė kas kam ir kas vyksta tiesos suradimui. Ieškodama ji neranda lengvo atsakymo į bet kurį savo klausimą. Jos ryžtas išmokti jidiš kalbą ir įnešti šiek tiek supratimo apie to meto siaubą atveda ją į ilgą, sudėtingą kelionę.
Jei reikia pažvelgti į knygos pavadinimą ir turinį, galima kaltinti vieną pusę dėl žiaurumų, galima įeiti ir kaltinti kitą pusę. Viskas turi dvi puses, bet, manau, Ellen Cassedy mums parodė, kad šioje istorijoje yra ir trečioji pusė. Pirma, reikia apeiti daug kaltės, išlieti daug neapykantos. Teisingai, abi pusės ir kiekviena pusė yra kaltos dėl tos pusės veiksmų, kurioje yra.
Perskaičius jos interviu išryškėja trečioji pusė. Lietuva Taip, yra kaltė, ten yra siaubo istorija, tačiau yra būdas prisiminti tai, kas nutiko, pažvelgti atviromis akimis ir protu ir suprasti, kas įvyko, išmokti iš to, kas įvyko, ir išmokyti to, kas įvyko taigi tai daugiau nepasikartos.
Tai knyga, kuri skatina skaitytoją domėtis, nes turi daug sluoksnių. Autorius rašo gerai, o knyga nenusileidžia. Tai atsakė į klausimą, kuris mane vargina jau seniai. Kodėl, kai Holokaustas iškeliamas į viešą kontekstą, kitos etninės grupės ima reikalauti, kad jų kančios būtų lygios. Tai puikus skaitymas visiems, besidomintiems istorija, Lietuva, holokaustu ar žmogaus prigimtimi
Buvęs Lietuvos prezidentas Valdas Adamkus parašė ištrauką šiai nuostabiai knygai, teigdamas, kad ji „gali padėti mums pasiekti, atverti širdis ir atrasti vienas kitą iš naujo abipusio supratimo dvasia“. Jis teisus. Tai drąsus, sąžiningas, įžvalgus ir gražus parašytas prisiminimas. Jei esate lietuvių pagonis ar kilęs iš lietuvių, tai privalote perskaityti iki galo, kad ir kokia skaudi būtų patirtis. Tai ypač svarbi knyga anglakalbiams lietuviams, gyvenantiems Vakaruose ir nežinantiems apie lėtą, bet nuolatinę Lietuvoje padarytą pažangą susitaikyti su tuo, kas įvyko Holokausto metu, įskaitant lietuvių dalyvavimą žydų žudynėse. gyventojų nacių okupacijos metais. Kaip lietuvių pagonių dukra, atvykusi į Jungtines Valstijas po Antrojo pasaulinio karo, manau, kad jau seniai praėjo tai, kad ištyrėme šį tamsų savo istorijos laikotarpį. Cassedy knyga yra puikus atspirties taškas.
Man labiausiai patinka šioje knygoje tai, kaip ji parašyta. „Mes esame čia“ yra tiek apie Lietuvos holokaustą, kiek apie istorinių ir asmeninių tyrimų atlikimą, permąstymą to, ką žinote, buvimą žmogumi. Nors skaityti knygą nebuvo lengva, Cassedy yra tokia nuostabi prozos stilistė, kad sunku knygą nuleisti. Juokiausi per dalis, kuriose Cassedy rašo apie jidiš kalbos mokymąsi-tai man priminė mano, kaip jaunos mergaitės, šeštadienio mokyklos kovas su sunkia lietuvių kalba.
Buvau įsiurbęs į detektyvinę istorijos dalį; Cassedy, gimęs ir užaugęs Jungtinėse Valstijose, ieško galimai žalojančių šeimos paslapčių, kurios mena karo laikų Lietuvą.
Žinoma, yra tokių, kurie nesutiks su tuo, ką parašė Ellen, tačiau tai, ką ji parašė, ir iš žmonių, kurie stengiasi suprasti, žodžių, gali būti kažkas gero. Tikimasi geresnio supratimo, geresnio išsilavinimo ir geresnio bendradarbiavimo, kad to nepamirštume, bet judėtume toliau, kad tai nepasikartotų.
Peržiūrėkite kitus mano atsiliepimus čia
Jei reikia pažvelgti į knygos pavadinimą ir turinį, galima kaltinti vieną pusę dėl žiaurumų, galima įeiti ir kaltinti kitą pusę. Viskas turi dvi puses, bet, manau, Ellen Cassedy mums parodė, kad šioje istorijoje yra ir trečioji pusė. Pirma, reikia apeiti daug kaltės, išlieti daug neapykantos. Teisingai, abi pusės ir kiekviena pusė yra kaltos dėl tos pusės veiksmų, kurioje yra.
Perskaičius jos interviu išryškėja trečioji pusė. Lietuva Taip, yra kaltė, ten yra siaubo istorija, tačiau yra būdas prisiminti tai, kas nutiko, pažvelgti atviromis akimis ir protu ir suprasti, kas įvyko, išmokti iš to, kas įvyko, ir išmokyti to, kas įvyko taigi tai daugiau nepasikartos.
Tai knyga, kuri skatina skaitytoją domėtis, nes turi daug sluoksnių. Autorius rašo gerai, o knyga nenusileidžia. Tai atsakė į klausimą, kuris mane vargina jau seniai. Kodėl, kai Holokaustas iškeliamas į viešą kontekstą, kitos etninės grupės ima reikalauti, kad jų kančios būtų lygios. Tai puikus skaitymas visiems, besidomintiems istorija, Lietuva, holokaustu ar žmogaus prigimtimi
Buvęs Lietuvos prezidentas Valdas Adamkus parašė ištrauką šiai nuostabiai knygai, teigdamas, kad ji „gali padėti mums pasiekti, atverti širdis ir atrasti vienas kitą iš naujo abipusio supratimo dvasia“. Jis teisus. Tai drąsus, sąžiningas, įžvalgus ir gražus parašytas prisiminimas. Jei esate lietuvių pagonis ar kilęs iš lietuvių, tai privalote perskaityti iki galo, kad ir kokia skaudi būtų patirtis. Tai ypač svarbi knyga anglakalbiams lietuviams, gyvenantiems Vakaruose ir nežinantiems apie lėtą, bet nuolatinę Lietuvoje padarytą pažangą susitaikyti su tuo, kas įvyko Holokausto metu, įskaitant lietuvių dalyvavimą žydų žudynėse. gyventojų nacių okupacijos metais. Kaip lietuvių pagonių dukra, atvykusi į Jungtines Valstijas po Antrojo pasaulinio karo, manau, kad jau seniai praėjo tai, kad ištyrėme šį tamsų savo istorijos laikotarpį. Cassedy knyga yra puikus atspirties taškas.
Man labiausiai patinka šioje knygoje tai, kaip ji parašyta. „Mes esame čia“ yra tiek apie Lietuvos holokaustą, kiek apie istorinių ir asmeninių tyrimų atlikimą, permąstymą to, ką žinote, buvimą žmogumi. Nors skaityti knygą nebuvo lengva, Cassedy yra tokia nuostabi prozos stilistė, kad sunku knygą nuleisti. Juokiausi per dalis, kuriose Cassedy rašo apie jidiš kalbos mokymąsi-tai man priminė mano, kaip jaunos mergaitės, šeštadienio mokyklos kovas su sunkia lietuvių kalba.
Buvau įsiurbęs į detektyvinę istorijos dalį; Cassedy, gimęs ir užaugęs Jungtinėse Valstijose, ieško galimai žalojančių šeimos paslapčių, kurios mena karo laikų Lietuvą.
Žinoma, yra tokių, kurie nesutiks su tuo, ką parašė Ellen, tačiau tai, ką ji parašė, ir iš žmonių, kurie stengiasi suprasti, žodžių, gali būti kažkas gero. Tikimasi geresnio supratimo, geresnio išsilavinimo ir geresnio bendradarbiavimo, kad to nepamirštume, bet judėtume toliau, kad tai nepasikartotų.
Peržiūrėkite kitus mano atsiliepimus čia
June 23, 2020
This is such a beautiful book. I wish it was more widely known and more widely disseminated because I think it’s relevant everywhere, in every time. I have been trying to find books about what happened in the Baltic States and in Eastern Europe during World War II and under communism, and this goes into that a bit but for the most part it focuses on the Holocaust because the author is Jewish herself and connects with her Jewish heritage. It was striking to learn about a country that I don’t know much about and how it is recovering from a war that happened over sixty years ago. It is also interesting to see how open the author is about how her opinions about the people she meets and the country’s history itself the longer she spends in Lithuania and the more people of diverse backgrounds that she talks to. I really had to be conscious of my own perspective while reading this book, as an American Gentile who did not lose family in World War II and has connections with Gentiles in Eastern Europe. But perspective is something we all have to struggle with, especially now in the US with the rise of movements for racial justice. This book is just as relevant now as it is when it was written and it should be required reading in all Holocaust classes.
August 8, 2018
This book has been inside my head since I started reading it...and I was on vacation when I read it, so it was a longer read given we had other things going on. I had to re-read and really try to understand what went on. I have been going to Lithuania as a missionary member of a partner church since 2012, and Lithuania has also gotten inside my head. As my church has taken people there, I have become the 'history and culture' teacher, or preparer, for the new people. I LOVE history. I LOVE culture. I could never understand the divide between the Jews and the Lithuanians! I knew it was there; but I just had a blockage when it came to Lithuanians helping to destroy their neighbors. I am still not entirely sure of my feelings, but this book has been the most helpful--and hopeful--thing that I have read. I want to thank Ellen Cassedy for this. Her own struggles and difficulties in following her heart have made my understanding easier. I am hoping to gain more understanding, and yet, like Ellen, am willing to accept that this may be the best that we get. Maybe more is not expected or needed. Thank you, Ellen.
April 6, 2023
Having heard and read about various nationalities who were subjected to the Holocaust prior and during WWII, this book caught my attention as I didn’t know much about the Lithuanian Jewish history during those times. This book is a captivating account of the author’s longing to recover the Yiddish she’d lost with her mother’s death and led her to Lithuania, that was once known as the “Jerusalem of the North.” Her personal journey and exploration and of her own family’s place in it.
Digging thru archives with the help of a local whose motives are puzzling to her; interviewing natives, including an old man who wants to “speak to a Jew” before he dies; discovering the complications encountered by a country that endured both Nazi and Soviet occupation—she finds that it’s not just the facts of history that matter, but what we choose to do with them.
This is a very interesting story of how the people of this country, Jews and non-Jews alike, are confronting their past in order to move forward into the future!
Digging thru archives with the help of a local whose motives are puzzling to her; interviewing natives, including an old man who wants to “speak to a Jew” before he dies; discovering the complications encountered by a country that endured both Nazi and Soviet occupation—she finds that it’s not just the facts of history that matter, but what we choose to do with them.
This is a very interesting story of how the people of this country, Jews and non-Jews alike, are confronting their past in order to move forward into the future!
November 25, 2019
Who are the "We" in this book? The title is completely misleading, unless Cassedy means Lithuanians and accepts the Lithuanian dual narrative version of history that the Jewish Communists were as genocidal in persecuting Lithuanians under Soviet rule as the Nazis and local Lithuanian collaborators were in annihilating the Jews. However, the number of Jews in Lithuania is rapidly approaching zero, while at last count there were nearly 3 million Lithuanians living in Lithuania. Cassedy is not a Holocaust scholar. She should have stuck to reporting about her participation in the Vilnius summer Yiddish program. Instead she let herself be successfully seduced by the government proponents of the vile dual narrative story.
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June 2, 2019This book helped me sort out the news I only recently learned about my Lithuanian heritage being connected to so many murders in the country. 95% of Lithuanian Jews were executed during the Holocaust, often by Lithuanians themselves. The book is by a Jewish woman who spends the summer learning Yiddish in Lithuania ... and interviewing many people about the Holocaust while she was there. She manages to find a way to absorb all this information and recognize how complex human beings are, how our species has repeatedly committed genocide and traumas in the lives of our "enemies".
July 18, 2017
Author does a nice job depicting some very emotional and complex chapters in Lithuania's history.
April 21, 2024
So cool to read this after traveling to Lithuania.
June 8, 2014
The way that Cassedy's train of thought skips around from past to present can be jarring at times, but this book is worth reading. Cassedy takes us on a very personal journey as she grapples with issues in post-Soviet Lithuania spanning back to WWII era and prior relating to Jewish - Lithuanian relations in Lithuania. Cassedy's book contains numerous interesting personal memoirs of Lithuanian Holocaust survivors -- both Jews and Lithuanians -- that move the heart. Although this is not an academic work, it is still of great interest to anyone who themselves is grappling with issues of morality in trying to gain a better understanding of this time period. However, for those looking for an entry point to understand the broader terms of the Jewish Lithuanian Holocaust, I would recommend reading both of these two memoirs first: William Mishell's "Kaddish for Kovno" and Solly Ganor's "Light One Candle," and then afterward a reading Cassedy's book for additional thought provoking material. After reading Mishell's and Ganor's memoirs, you, like Cassedy, will be left grappling with the moral questions which Cassedy herself sets out to answer.
May 30, 2016
I devoured this book after meeting the author at a conference. I am so impressed at how the author managed to weave together so much research, historical documents (with their critical evaluation), real people's voices, objective rationality, sensitivity, and empathy. Following this personal and suspenseful investigation, I could but admire the author's ability to voice the confusion, disappointment, hurt, hope all going through ups and downs, dead-ends and surprising revelations, all leading, despite all odds, to a profoundly cathartic experience.
A must read! I am so grateful that this book has been published! It educates. It shares the story of a challenging self search. It finds and loses family. It will make you think. It will move your soul. It will definitely make you question not only the painfully ambiguous WWII history in Lithuania, but also the universal themes of morality, decency, and human responsibility.
A must read! I am so grateful that this book has been published! It educates. It shares the story of a challenging self search. It finds and loses family. It will make you think. It will move your soul. It will definitely make you question not only the painfully ambiguous WWII history in Lithuania, but also the universal themes of morality, decency, and human responsibility.
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August 31, 2016Ellen Cassedy, X'72
Author
From our pages (July–Aug/12): "In 2004 journalist Ellen Cassedy decided to learn Yiddish in an intensive program in Lithuania, to get in touch with her heritage. When she told her plan to her 89-year-old uncle, who had been confined in a Lithuanian ghetto during the Holocaust and then transported to Dachau, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket with a story he'd kept secret from his family. The story led Cassedy to change course. When she got to Lithuania, she researched beyond her own heritage and learned how Jews and non-Jews in the country are engaging with and confronting their Nazi and Soviet past."
Author
From our pages (July–Aug/12): "In 2004 journalist Ellen Cassedy decided to learn Yiddish in an intensive program in Lithuania, to get in touch with her heritage. When she told her plan to her 89-year-old uncle, who had been confined in a Lithuanian ghetto during the Holocaust and then transported to Dachau, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket with a story he'd kept secret from his family. The story led Cassedy to change course. When she got to Lithuania, she researched beyond her own heritage and learned how Jews and non-Jews in the country are engaging with and confronting their Nazi and Soviet past."
January 13, 2013
I have to disclose that my rating is highly personal. As a descendant of Litvaks who has returned to Lithuania for answers and only found more questions I could relate to this book in a way that others may not.
But for those who cannot relate so closely there is still much more to this book than a woman's search for her family. It is filled with difficult questions and the harsh realities. How do you honor your own family's tragedy without minimizing the tragedies of others? Where are the lines between co-conspirator, bystander and resister? And how do you get a group of people who have themselves suffered greatly to talk about their own participation in genocide?
But for those who cannot relate so closely there is still much more to this book than a woman's search for her family. It is filled with difficult questions and the harsh realities. How do you honor your own family's tragedy without minimizing the tragedies of others? Where are the lines between co-conspirator, bystander and resister? And how do you get a group of people who have themselves suffered greatly to talk about their own participation in genocide?
March 17, 2012
A thoughtful, thought-provoking, and highly readable account of a journey into the past and the present--and into the intersection of the personal and the political. While those with an interest in Lithuania and/or the Holocaust will greedily eat this book up, its resonances extend far beyond those topics. This is a book that will appeal to anyone interested in man's inhumanity--and humanity--to man, and in the connections between history and what transpires in today's world. Or anyone just looking for a terrific read!
April 26, 2014
"But why did they not fight back?"
"They killed the young men first, to make sure there would be no resistance." page 106
That makes perfect sense to me as I recall the stories of the war in Holland recounted at my Tante Nellie van der Meide's funeral. Uncle Piete and the other Dutch soldiers were ordered to report immediately for service. The Nazis were waiting, rounded all of them up and transported them. Uncle Piete only survived because he was late enough to see what was happening and able to escape.
"They killed the young men first, to make sure there would be no resistance." page 106
That makes perfect sense to me as I recall the stories of the war in Holland recounted at my Tante Nellie van der Meide's funeral. Uncle Piete and the other Dutch soldiers were ordered to report immediately for service. The Nazis were waiting, rounded all of them up and transported them. Uncle Piete only survived because he was late enough to see what was happening and able to escape.
November 15, 2015
This is an outstanding book. It's essential reading for anyone with even a vague interest in 20th century European history. Anyone who identifies as Lithuanian, and particularly those people who, like me, were raised in the diaspora following World War II, should read this book. It's compelling, compassionate and delves deeply into questions of ethnic and cultural identity, at once trying to understand who or what a "perpetrator" might be while it considers questions about how one might "affirm" one's cultural identity.
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
August 11, 2016
We Are Here more than met my expectations. Engaged by the detective work Ellen did to discover the family secrets which she refused to accept as obstacles, and interested as a linguist in her pursuit of learning Yiddish, I was most of all moved by her struggle to reconcile her need to learn the truth of her family’s history with her resolve to honor their dignity and their memories
See my complete review and blogpost at http://www.barbarastarknemon.com
See my complete review and blogpost at http://www.barbarastarknemon.com
November 27, 2013
I have just started reading books about the Holocaust and the Soviet Occupation of Lithuania, and that may be because Lithuania didn't gain independence from the Soviet Union until 1990, and it was forbidden to discuss the Holocaust. This book is a great addition to the Holocaust Canon. The author asked some interesting soul-searching questions.
December 20, 2013
Written by a woman who goes back to the country of her origin Lithuania to explore the stories of her family and people. It is a book about self discovery and about cultural discovery. Very much worth the time spent.
June 2, 2016
Starts out rather slow. The author is searching in the old country for family history. But, by the end, you appreciate that the author has brought up serious questions that are not easy to answer. She thinks deeply. You don't get just the usual with her.
April 21, 2012
This was not a book I would normally read. I did however find it facinating and actually enjoyable. I even learned a few things!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews