My Nesse...

Hi Stephen,

I don't know if I ever told you about my friend Nesse Godin or not, but she was just in a bad car accident last week.  She's in her late 80's, and still driving.  She was on her way to synagogue, ready to turn left into the driveway, when suddenly a large van came speeding towards her, and hit her in the passenger side of her car.  It's totalled.  She is covered in bruises, and was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, but that's the only injury she had.  Miraculous.  She's one feisty woman, lemme tell ya.  I love her dearly, and she called me today---I had sent her a card and letter with my phone number in it---and it was wonderful to hear her voice again after so long.  I miss her terribly, along with all the other Holocaust Survivors I knew at the Museum.  She volunteers there every Wednesday.

Nesse is an amazing person...she survived 4 concentration camps and a death march.  She was 12 when the Nazis broke into her home, and shot her father right in front of her, then took her and her brothers and mother away.  They were sent off to different camps, and she was all alone.  Typically, any children sent to a camp who were 12 or under, were immediately sent to the gas chamber.  But Nesse stood on her tiptoes, pinched her cheeks to make herself look healthier and older, and lied about her age.  She told the Nazis she was 16.  Some women in the camp took her under their wing, and helped her while she was there.  They gave her some extra food, too.  She had many jobs while in the camps, one of which was to sort through all the shoes.  She told me, "I wondered always, "is this my mother's shoe? my brothers' shoe? my uncle?"

She was liberated from a death march at the age of 16, with a head of all-white hair.  She was, also miraculously, able to reunite with her mother and brothers after the war ended.  She quickly got married and had a family, putting off her own education until her early 70's...she got her GED at the age of 73.  She's one awesome woman.

I just wanted to tell you her story.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend. Gotta go make some chili for dinner. (and cornbread too, mmmm).

Love, Rebecca