Monthly Archives: January 2011

Occasionally I’m asked what is or was your favorite book? As a child, my favorite book, hands down, was my “Petit Larousse Illustré”(1905 edition?), a one-volume encyclopedic dictionary in three parts. Its pinkish cover showed a young woman, hair flowing … Continue reading →

Once American and British soldiers were in Brussels they became a common sight almost everywhere. However, both the Belgians and the refugees in my little crowd were often surprised at their behavior. No one could remember ever seeing drunken German … Continue reading →

If you read yesterday’s posting, you might have wondered about what a “cockchafer” might be, a human enough reaction, and might also have been too embarrassed to ask. That’s OK, as it has nothing to do with what you might … Continue reading →

It is difficult for me to say what the adults in my world were doing. They were probably getting their own lives together, working, loving, arguing, doing the thousand little things involved in living, and recovering from the experiences through … Continue reading →

The people who returned, in most cases, were not people I had known, but now that they were back, they reconstituted a small world. Among them were a couple of young men who had survived various camps and were now … Continue reading →

Shortly after the death of Roosevelt, the war ended, and soon thereafter I found myself in Rabbi Bamberger’s orphanage for Jewish boys. However, before that happened, I spent a great deal of time greeting and meeting the people who came … Continue reading →

The Germans having retreated to the Siegfried Line, it now felt like the war was really and finally over.  Various formerly unavailable foods were in stores again.  Some surviving “deportees,” were returning to Brussels, and the hope was that some … Continue reading →

I was in too great a hurry to get out of the Couvent St. Joseph.  Actually the war had not ended when I left the orphanage, although for the liberated areas of Europe and for me, life was indeed considerably … Continue reading →

After I don’t know how long at Rabbi Bamberger’s orphanage my mother showed up and took me home.   Now began a more or less normal life, a life punctuated by Jewish holiday parties organized by various Jewish social/charitable groups to … Continue reading →

Saturday mornings we walked to the largest synagogue in Brussels, which was quite distant and a really long walk, but we couldn’t ride there because riding in any sort of conveyance was forbidden to observant Jews on the Sabbath.  So … Continue reading →