March 16, 2026
1 Comment
A Gathering Space
A quiet, meaningful space where readers, educators, historians, and families connect through shared reflection, remembrance, and hope.
Was it difficult to revisit these memories while writing the book?
Roderick Wheeler
One Response
Dear Roderick,
When I first arrived in the US as a young boy, I tried not to think about those horrible times and shuttered the memories in a corner of my mind. I tried to look forward and not dwell in the past.
Even as my own family was growing, I was reluctant to talk about that period in my life.
My interaction with the far-flung Jewish communities made me realize that my story needed to be told just as theirs had been told for hundreds of years.
It is still painful, especially thinking about a mother that I never knew. It still brought shudders thinking about the vicious Nazis in my village.