The Takeaway Men
Page 25
Students in public schools in the fifties participated in “duck and cover” drills. They also sang religious Christmas carols.
In 1939, Hitler gassed German psychiatric patients.
In the fifties and sixties, mental illness in the United States was still stigmatized and rarely discussed in public. Chlorprozamine, discovered in 1950, was the first anti-psychotic drug. In 1960, Creedmoor had seven thousand patients. The names of the other hospitals in the book are fictitious.
Until 1979, the question of who was a Jew was determined by the mother’s religion and conversion. If your mother was Jewish, you were Jewish. But that year, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association declared that a child would be considered Jewish if his father alone was Jewish and the child was raised as a Jew. In 1983, Reform rabbis adopted the same position.
In all movements, a rabbi must perform conversion, which requires a course of study and, depending on the rabbi, immersion in a mikveh. Judy Lubinski was, therefore, not a Jew according to Jewish Law. Because this story took place in the forties, fifties, and sixties, neither were her daughters. In Orthodox and Conservative congregations, women were not counted as part of a prayer service; that is why they needed ten men to conduct a prayer service at the shiva for Lenore’s father.
The deodorant business grew and thrived in the fifties and sixties, but there was no company named SpringPearl.
Most married women with children did not work outside the home.
In 1962 Yad Vashem called for nominations for Righteous Among the Nations.
I have been researching this topic for most of my life, so the resources I found helpful constitute a book themselves. I would like to give special mention to: Menachem Rosensaft’s, God, Faith, and Identity from the Ashes; Jan T. Gross’s, Fear; Helen Epstein’s, Children of the Holocaust; Raul Hilberg’s, The Destruction of the European Jews; Keith Lowe’s, Savage Continent; Irene Gut Opdyke’s, In My Hands; and Michał Jaskulski and Lawrence Loewinger’s film about Kielce, Bogdan’s Journey.
I would like to also express my appreciation to Boris Chartan, a founder of the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center (HMTC) in Glen Cove, New York, and to Robert Meeropol, a son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Both offered their recollections for my previous book, The Living Memories Project: Legacies That Last, which proved invaluable in writing this book. Thanks also go to Robert Meeropol and his brother, Michael, for their book, We Are Your Sons: The Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Thanks also to Ivy Meeropol for her documentary, Heir to an Execution; to Sam Roberts for his book about David Greenglass, The Brother; and to Miriam Moskowitz for her book, Phantom Spies, Phantom Justice.
While my husband Stewart, an identical twin, has been my live-in expert on the subject, Abigail Pogrebin’s book, One and the Same, helped me better understand female twins. And Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush’s Sisters First, gave me valuable insight into fraternal twin girls.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE TAKEAWAY MEN IS THE result of my lifetime thirst to learn more about the Holocaust, first as a sixth-grade student after I read The Diary of Anne Frank for the first time, then as a history teacher, and later as a reader and researcher. I would like to thank all those from whom I have personally learned, especially the survivors and children of survivors.
I am deeply grateful to Brooke Warner, Lauren Wise, Crystal Patriarche, and everyone at SparkPress for believing in my book and for making my dream of publishing a novel come true.
I truly appreciate everyone who supported me in the endeavor that resulted in this work of historical fiction. Thank you especially to my cherished friends, family, and beta readers, who encouraged me from the very beginning and made valuable suggestions: Audrey Atlas, Jennifer Feingold, Arthur Fischman, and Rabbi Jonathan Waxman. I am sorry that Howard Sorgen, who enthusiastically and perceptively read the manuscript in the last months of his life, did not live to see its publication.
Thank you to my daughter-in-law, Beth Ain, who enthusiastically supported my undertaking and put me in touch with her writing instructor, Rachel Sherman. Rachel edited my first draft, and her edits and recommendations helped me craft a better book. Beth also connected me with the kind and generous Amy Blumenfeld, who led me to SparkPress. I also appreciate the input of my daughters-in-law, Alana Joblin Ain and Halie Geller, who supported me and shared their thoughts throughout the process. And of course, my three sons—Jonathan, Daniel (Rabbi Dan), and Michael (Morty)—empowered me with hope, strength, and support, as always, and spurred me on to complete the project.
My chief cheerleader, my husband Stewart, was a dynamic and consistent presence from the very beginning. His helpful suggestions, praise, and criticism—not to mention his correction of my comma usage—helped make this a better read.
I wish that my parents, Helen and Herbert Fischman, could have lived to savor this milestone, but I know they would be proud that their legacy—not only of love and kindness, but also of critical thinking, writing, and speaking—lives on. My mother would also be delighted that I found yet another “project.”
Finally, I hope that when they are old enough, my grandchildren will read The Takeaway Men, and ponder the questions and issues raised. May they understand that history is today’s current events, and that no matter how dire a situation seems, individuals still have the power and responsibility to make a difference.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© Diana Berrent
MERYL AIN’S ARTICLES AND ESSAYS HAVE appeared in Huffington Post, MariaShriver.com, The Jewish Week, The New York Times, Newsday, and other publications. In 2014, she coauthored the award-winning book, The Living Memories Project: Legacies That Last, and in 2016, wrote a companion workbook, My Living Memories Project Journal. She is a former history teacher and school administrator. She holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an EdD from Hofstra University. She and her husband, Stewart, live in New York; they have three sons, three daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren. This is her first novel.
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