1

01:00:25,122 --> 01:00:28,759

[siren wailing]

 

2

01:00:28,893 --> 01:00:36,300

[telephone ringing]

 

3

01:00:36,434 --> 01:00:37,501

Hello?

 

4

01:00:37,635 --> 01:00:40,270

Are you Anny Stern

from Czechoslovakia?

 

5

01:00:40,404 --> 01:00:41,638

Yes.

 

6

01:00:41,773 --> 01:00:44,808

Then I have a parcel

from your mother for you.

 

7

01:00:44,943 --> 01:00:47,644

The call came in the 1970s.

 

8

01:00:47,779 --> 01:00:49,880

The parcel the stranger

gave Anny contained

 

9

01:00:50,014 --> 01:00:52,850

a notebook written by her

mother 30 years before

 

10

01:00:52,984 --> 01:01:13,603

in a concentration

camp in Czechoslovakia.

 

11

01:01:13,738 --> 01:01:17,208

My grandfather was

Adolf [inaudible]..

 

12

01:01:17,342 --> 01:01:22,613

He was an engineer, and

he married Mina Stein.

 

13

01:01:22,747 --> 01:01:24,748

And they had two children.

 

14

01:01:24,882 --> 01:01:28,519

First they had Heinz, I

think, it was 1903, and then

 

15

01:01:28,653 --> 01:01:31,155

my mother, Anja at 1906.

 

16

01:01:31,289 --> 01:01:36,894

And after my grandfather

died, my parents

 

17

01:01:37,028 --> 01:01:41,264

lived with a grandmother

in a house in Bodenbach.

 

18

01:01:41,398 --> 01:01:44,835

It was a very peaceful town.

 

19

01:01:44,969 --> 01:01:50,207

Food was good, and there

was always plenty of food.

 

20

01:01:50,341 --> 01:01:52,109

I loved my soup.

 

21

01:01:52,243 --> 01:01:58,682

I loved soup so much that

soup was always served last

 

22

01:01:58,816 --> 01:02:02,619

like dessert, because my

parents knew that if I

 

23

01:02:02,753 --> 01:02:05,089

got soup first that was it.

 

24

01:02:05,223 --> 01:02:10,094

And I had a little plate

with a Mickey Mouse

 

25

01:02:10,228 --> 01:02:13,030

on the bottom, which

said in German,

 

26

01:02:13,164 --> 01:02:43,860

[speaking german] which

means always a good kid.

 

27

01:02:43,995 --> 01:02:46,429

One soup, I remember,

for instance,

 

28

01:02:46,564 --> 01:02:53,036

was a egg dissolved with dill.

 

29

01:02:53,171 --> 01:02:57,007

I remember it because I used

to call it [non-english speech]

 

30

01:02:57,141 --> 01:03:04,982

Soup, which means literally

soup of the legs of flies.

 

31

01:03:05,116 --> 01:03:17,861

That's what dill, cut

up dill, looked like.

 

32

01:03:17,995 --> 01:03:22,633

I remember that, those candy

which my grandmother made,

 

33

01:03:22,767 --> 01:03:24,201

these Baden caramels.

 

34

01:03:24,335 --> 01:03:29,373

She made in the home, and she

cut them into little squares,

 

35

01:03:29,507 --> 01:03:31,475

and each of them was

individually wrapped

 

36

01:03:31,609 --> 01:03:33,344

in a piece of wax paper.

 

37

01:03:33,478 --> 01:03:41,018

That was a treat,

and they were good.

 

38

01:03:41,152 --> 01:04:35,739

[non-english speech]

 

39

01:04:35,873 --> 01:04:41,945

Until about 1937, it

was a wonderful life.

 

40

01:04:42,079 --> 01:04:45,882

Then Hitler started making

noises across the border.

 

41

01:04:46,017 --> 01:04:47,651

The Munich Pact

happened, and we all

 

42

01:04:47,786 --> 01:04:51,188

had to essentially leave

everything in the apartment

 

43

01:04:51,322 --> 01:04:55,225

and just run away to the

interior of the country, which

 

44

01:04:55,360 --> 01:04:58,895

at that time was still

Czech, not for long.

 

45

01:04:59,030 --> 01:05:06,736

The Germans

essentially invaded it.

 

46

01:05:06,871 --> 01:05:08,772

One thing stuck in

my mind, however,

 

47

01:05:08,906 --> 01:05:13,043

was coming to the

store and seeing--

 

48

01:05:13,177 --> 01:05:16,713

I could read-- and seeing

a Czech inscription

 

49

01:05:16,847 --> 01:05:20,918

in the window saying,

no Jews allowed.

 

50

01:05:21,052 --> 01:05:23,920

And that was new.

 

51

01:05:24,055 --> 01:05:29,059

That did not exist before.

 

52

01:05:29,193 --> 01:05:33,630

I didn't know what

to make of it.

 

53

01:05:33,765 --> 01:05:37,934

And then one day, I was told

we are going to Palestine,

 

54

01:05:38,069 --> 01:05:40,003

and we'll go on the train.

 

55

01:05:40,137 --> 01:05:45,375

And I think this was

the last transport which

 

56

01:05:45,509 --> 01:05:47,344

really left Prague.

 

57

01:05:47,478 --> 01:05:51,849

That was around, I don't

know, the 25th of November

 

58

01:05:51,982 --> 01:05:58,989

or so, 1939.

 

59

01:05:59,123 --> 01:06:00,624

My grandmother was there.

 

60

01:06:00,759 --> 01:06:04,461

She gave me a watch which

we still have, and she said,

 

61

01:06:04,596 --> 01:06:07,598

remember, [non-english speech]

remember grandmother.

 

62

01:06:07,732 --> 01:06:12,135

And I promised her, which

unfortunately, I did not keep,

 

63

01:06:12,270 --> 01:06:27,517

that I will not forget

the great Czech language.

 

64

01:06:27,651 --> 01:06:28,585

Everything goes away.

 

65

01:06:28,719 --> 01:06:30,053

Memories remain.

 

66

01:06:30,187 --> 01:06:32,622

You want the

memories to be there.

 

67

01:06:32,756 --> 01:06:35,125

All these things are treasures.

 

68

01:06:35,259 --> 01:06:38,461

I recall that in my

mother and my father.

 

69

01:06:38,595 --> 01:06:40,364

It started in New York.

 

70

01:06:40,498 --> 01:06:45,502

My mother was always

telling various stories.

 

71

01:06:45,637 --> 01:06:50,507

So at a certain point, you

want to put them all together

 

72

01:06:50,641 --> 01:06:59,316

into one continuum.

 

73

01:06:59,450 --> 01:07:02,419

Did your grandmother

try to get out?

 

74

01:07:02,552 --> 01:07:03,220

Never.

 

75

01:07:03,354 --> 01:07:05,255

She didn't want to get out.

 

76

01:07:05,389 --> 01:07:10,360

I pushed, pushed and

pushed and after pushed

 

77

01:07:10,495 --> 01:07:14,497

but the [non-english speech]

didn't want to go because you

 

78

01:07:14,631 --> 01:07:16,533

were out of the running.

 

79

01:07:16,667 --> 01:07:19,769

What harm could you do?

 

80

01:07:19,903 --> 01:07:24,407

So we came to Palestine.

 

81

01:07:24,542 --> 01:07:31,848

George was only about, I don't

know, maybe 10 or five pounds

 

82

01:07:31,982 --> 01:07:35,485

and we came to Qastina.

 

83

01:07:35,620 --> 01:07:42,192

And we bought a dunam

on a little hill.

 

84

01:07:42,326 --> 01:07:48,331

After we had brought it, George

turned around, I must say,

 

85

01:07:48,466 --> 01:07:53,436

decided to make a coffee

house, and said, can you cook?

 

86

01:07:53,570 --> 01:07:55,572

And I said no.

 

87

01:07:55,707 --> 01:08:24,801

He was a little bit perplexed,

but he said you will learn.

 

88

01:08:24,936 --> 01:08:34,010

All the Jews of Prague were sent

to Terezin around 1941 or so.

 

89

01:08:34,144 --> 01:08:36,279

Terezin was a fortress city.

 

90

01:08:36,414 --> 01:08:40,049

Originally, it was supposed

to be a place where

 

91

01:08:40,184 --> 01:08:42,619

the Jews of

Czechoslovakia would be

 

92

01:08:42,754 --> 01:08:46,222

but then it gradually, more and

more, became a transient camp.

 

93

01:08:46,357 --> 01:08:50,160

Jews from other countries in

Europe were sent to Terezin

 

94

01:08:50,294 --> 01:08:54,598

and Jews from Terezin

were sent to Auschwitz.

 

95

01:08:54,732 --> 01:08:58,569

My grandmother got

a piece of paper

 

96

01:08:58,703 --> 01:09:00,970

saying she should

go to the train,

 

97

01:09:01,105 --> 01:09:03,173

and go to the east

which was Auschwitz,

 

98

01:09:03,307 --> 01:09:07,310

but she got out of it

probably because she

 

99

01:09:07,445 --> 01:09:59,162

showed she served in the

Red Cross in World War I.

 

100

01:09:59,296 --> 01:11:22,145

[non-english speech]

 

101

01:11:22,279 --> 01:11:25,682

Germans put 60,000

Jews in Terezin

 

102

01:11:25,816 --> 01:11:28,518

and it was crowded,

completely crowded.

 

103

01:11:28,652 --> 01:11:32,989

There were 14 women in

my grandmother's room.

 

104

01:11:33,123 --> 01:11:34,490

They were hungry.

 

105

01:11:34,625 --> 01:11:38,328

There was too little food,

and to get their mind off it,

 

106

01:11:38,462 --> 01:11:43,500

they wrote the cookbook.

 

107

01:11:43,634 --> 01:11:48,939

One of the women in

the room survived.

 

108

01:11:49,073 --> 01:11:52,576

She remembered that she

went to my grandmother

 

109

01:11:52,710 --> 01:11:56,479

once to help her fix a dress.

 

110

01:11:56,614 --> 01:12:02,018

My grandmother was always,

regardless of conditions,

 

111

01:12:02,153 --> 01:12:06,856

she always took great care of

her hair and appearance, that's

 

112

01:12:06,990 --> 01:12:08,424

what she. said.

 

113

01:12:08,559 --> 01:12:11,594

And she fixed her dress

and in return, she

 

114

01:12:11,729 --> 01:12:16,966

got a piece of margarine

the size of a nut.

 

115

01:12:17,100 --> 01:12:18,267

That was her reward.

 

116

01:12:18,402 --> 01:12:39,622

I mean it was food, but

that's all they had.

 

117

01:12:39,757 --> 01:12:45,127

We built, as you will

remember, the coffee house

 

118

01:12:45,262 --> 01:12:48,264

in front of huge

camps full of soldiers

 

119

01:12:48,398 --> 01:12:52,936

and we go to

[inaudible],, come back

 

120

01:12:53,070 --> 01:13:00,944

And I was on a very clear

night, outside in the desert,

 

121

01:13:01,078 --> 01:13:05,315

in front of my kitchen,

and I saw these guardsmen

 

122

01:13:05,450 --> 01:13:13,957

in their hats, and said, you

must lonely, and I am lonely.

 

123

01:13:14,091 --> 01:13:22,365

Here is a coffee for the

guard and this made us.

 

124

01:13:22,499 --> 01:13:24,968

Well, she was a

good cook, and she

 

125

01:13:25,102 --> 01:13:31,007

had a talent of making great

things out of very little,

 

126

01:13:31,141 --> 01:13:33,910

substituting.

 

127

01:13:34,044 --> 01:13:37,914

And it tastes good.

 

128

01:13:38,049 --> 01:13:41,551

She made, of course,

dumplings and dill sauce.

 

129

01:13:41,685 --> 01:13:44,654

She also made dumplings

with Polish sauce,

 

130

01:13:44,788 --> 01:13:47,757

which was sweet and

made with raisins.

 

131

01:13:47,891 --> 01:13:50,527

I remember that.

 

132

01:13:50,661 --> 01:13:55,531

I liked the dill

sauce much more.

 

133

01:13:55,666 --> 01:13:59,102

I loved, of course,

Czech dumplings,

 

134

01:13:59,237 --> 01:14:06,776

made out of dough with

toasted croutons inside.

 

135

01:14:06,911 --> 01:14:11,781

And you put it in boiled

water, and you boil it.

 

136

01:14:11,916 --> 01:14:16,819

It comes out a big lump, and

then you cut it into slices.

 

137

01:14:16,954 --> 01:14:19,389

And if they are done well,

the slices are quite dry.

 

138

01:14:19,523 --> 01:14:21,791

The outside is wet

from the water,

 

139

01:14:21,926 --> 01:14:28,164

but inside is dry and the

Czech way of cutting it,

 

140

01:14:28,298 --> 01:14:29,865

you don't use a knife.

 

141

01:14:29,999 --> 01:14:31,601

You just a string.

 

142

01:14:31,735 --> 01:14:32,935

You saw it with a string.

 

143

01:14:33,069 --> 01:14:41,510

That's a treasure.

 

144

01:14:41,645 --> 01:14:46,082

Anny became a marvelous

cook and a marvelous baker,

 

145

01:14:46,217 --> 01:14:49,753

and with so much joy

and so much pride

 

146

01:14:49,887 --> 01:14:53,623

to introduce Czech dishes.

 

147

01:14:53,757 --> 01:14:55,058

I really miss her.

 

148

01:14:55,192 --> 01:14:59,295

You know, there was something

so warm and so loving.

 

149

01:14:59,429 --> 01:15:00,864

You would walk

into her house, you

 

150

01:15:00,998 --> 01:15:02,966

didn't have a chance

to take your coat off,

 

151

01:15:03,100 --> 01:15:04,601

and she would say,

you didn't eat.

 

152

01:15:04,735 --> 01:15:05,869

You know, come sit down.

 

153

01:15:06,003 --> 01:15:07,970

How about a bowl of soup

and a piece of bread?

 

154

01:15:08,104 --> 01:15:09,205

How about a sandwich?

 

155

01:15:09,340 --> 01:15:16,212

You know, there was her

need to give and to nourish.

 

156

01:15:16,346 --> 01:15:18,915

And she loved soups.

 

157

01:15:19,049 --> 01:15:21,584

Chicken soup is comfort food.

 

158

01:15:21,718 --> 01:15:26,089

Comfort food, it's

a hug of the mother.

 

159

01:15:26,223 --> 01:15:34,030

It's all-- you know,

it's warm, it's healing.

 

160

01:15:34,165 --> 01:15:35,965

Later on, when,

you know, when she

 

161

01:15:36,100 --> 01:15:41,204

was getting to be a

little sick and frail,

 

162

01:15:41,339 --> 01:15:44,740

if I would have a dinner

party, I would you know,

 

163

01:15:44,875 --> 01:15:48,044

bring her some soup, or I

would bring her, you know,

 

164

01:15:48,179 --> 01:16:19,008

some Middle Eastern salad

or something that I made.

 

165

01:16:19,143 --> 01:16:24,347

My dear Gordon

[inaudible],, every evening

 

166

01:16:24,482 --> 01:16:28,918

I kiss your picture and beg god

to let me embrace you again.

 

167

01:16:29,053 --> 01:16:33,890

Only please, [inaudible],,

do not forget me.

 

168

01:16:34,024 --> 01:16:39,062

I kiss you many, many times

and eat a lot to be strong.

 

169

01:16:39,196 --> 01:17:09,525

1,000 kisses sends

you, your Bobby.

 

170

01:17:09,659 --> 01:17:40,923

[non-english speech]

 

171

01:17:41,058 --> 01:17:45,128

I do remember women

talking about food

 

172

01:17:45,262 --> 01:17:48,631

because I think they

were naive enough

 

173

01:17:48,766 --> 01:17:56,872

to think we really didn't know

what's going to happen to us.

 

174

01:17:57,007 --> 01:18:01,244

Therefore, I think they

took their favorite recipes

 

175

01:18:01,378 --> 01:18:05,514

or something with

them because I guess,

 

176

01:18:05,649 --> 01:18:08,517

that's the way they

fed their families,

 

177

01:18:08,652 --> 01:18:12,222

and they didn't

want the families--

 

178

01:18:12,356 --> 01:18:14,790

so that when they

get together again

 

179

01:18:14,925 --> 01:18:20,596

that's what mother or

grandmother would cook.

 

180

01:18:20,730 --> 01:18:25,968

And I remember them, and

I remember them mostly

 

181

01:18:26,103 --> 01:18:30,673

when I had night shift, and

I came home in the morning

 

182

01:18:30,807 --> 01:18:32,241

and I tried to sleep.

 

183

01:18:32,376 --> 01:18:36,846

I mean, hungry I was, but

at least I wanted to sleep.

 

184

01:18:36,980 --> 01:18:42,085

And I remember that these women

talked to each other about

 

185

01:18:42,219 --> 01:18:44,820

the cake, the

[non-english speech] this one

 

186

01:18:44,955 --> 01:18:50,626

made with so much butter and

this one made with so much

 

187

01:18:50,760 --> 01:18:56,999

chocolate or whatever it

was, and I was furious.

 

188

01:18:57,134 --> 01:19:00,937

You know, so they lived in

their own kind of a fantasy,

 

189

01:19:01,071 --> 01:19:10,580

that I remember vividly.

 

190

01:19:10,715 --> 01:19:14,183

The situation was the food

was not enough for nobody,

 

191

01:19:14,318 --> 01:19:18,120

and there were some decisions

made by the Jewish leadership

 

192

01:19:18,255 --> 01:19:22,758

to add food to young

children and also for those

 

193

01:19:22,893 --> 01:19:26,329

that work in a very hard work.

 

194

01:19:26,463 --> 01:19:30,933

We know how miserable, how

humiliated all the people were.

 

195

01:19:31,068 --> 01:19:37,440

People that were before a Mr.

or Mrs. or doctor, and all

 

196

01:19:37,575 --> 01:19:42,979

of the sudden, they got really

looking for food desperately

 

197

01:19:43,113 --> 01:19:46,916

and very weak and

really hard to believe.

 

198

01:19:47,050 --> 01:19:50,486

Also, you can see

that in the drawings.

 

199

01:19:50,620 --> 01:19:54,056

The artist draw

a lot of drawings

 

200

01:19:54,191 --> 01:19:58,561

with all the people around

because really they were--

 

201

01:19:58,696 --> 01:20:04,467

the tragic of the situation

was painted in their faces.

 

202

01:20:04,602 --> 01:20:12,008

The lonely, the feeling of

how to finish life that way,

 

203

01:20:12,142 --> 01:20:17,813

and how terrible

is the desolation.

 

204

01:20:17,948 --> 01:20:36,932

[typewriter keys striking paper]

 

205

01:20:37,067 --> 01:20:43,739

And I remember the breads

were in piles on the wagons

 

206

01:20:43,873 --> 01:20:45,675

where you put the dead.

 

207

01:20:45,810 --> 01:20:52,181

And on the hearse, one day

there were piles of bread on it,

 

208

01:20:52,316 --> 01:20:55,418

and then they removed

the breads, which was--

 

209

01:20:55,552 --> 01:20:59,521

then the deads were

round up in sheets

 

210

01:20:59,656 --> 01:21:03,192

and piled up the same way.

 

211

01:21:03,327 --> 01:21:06,495

So one day was bread and

one dead-- the hearse

 

212

01:21:06,629 --> 01:21:12,301

was used for everything.

 

213

01:21:12,435 --> 01:22:22,071

[non-english speech]

 

214

01:22:22,205 --> 01:22:26,242

Old people were

not a main problem

 

215

01:22:26,376 --> 01:22:27,710

from the Nazi point of view.

 

216

01:22:27,845 --> 01:22:32,748

They thought they will die

anyway, little by little.

 

217

01:22:32,882 --> 01:22:38,087

36,000 died during

the ghetto time

 

218

01:22:38,221 --> 01:22:41,156

from sickness and

from desperation.

 

219

01:22:41,291 --> 01:22:46,795

And also, part of them, of the

old ones, they made suicide.

 

220

01:22:46,930 --> 01:22:48,597

We can see now what

[inaudible],, people

 

221

01:22:48,732 --> 01:22:54,637

that arrived to Terezin, and

then the day after, both capo,

 

222

01:22:54,771 --> 01:22:56,939

we found that they died.

 

223

01:22:57,073 --> 01:23:03,246

And we, our ideas,

or we think it's

 

224

01:23:03,380 --> 01:23:06,215

because they decided to suicide.

 

225

01:23:06,349 --> 01:23:09,485

Not-- you know, we know that

people, before they came, they

 

226

01:23:09,620 --> 01:23:13,289

had prepared, though

mainly old ones,

 

227

01:23:13,423 --> 01:23:19,862

had prepared the pills

with the possibility of not

 

228

01:23:19,997 --> 01:23:28,204

being able to overcome the

situation they were sent to.

 

229

01:23:28,338 --> 01:24:16,051

[non-english speech]

 

230

01:24:16,186 --> 01:24:20,222

I have about, probably

around 6,000 cookbooks,

 

231

01:24:20,357 --> 01:24:25,494

and Anny, one day,

she said to me,

 

232

01:24:25,629 --> 01:24:28,964

I know that you are

collecting recipes.

 

233

01:24:29,098 --> 01:24:30,899

Come, I want to

show you something.

 

234

01:24:31,034 --> 01:24:32,634

Anny, I don't collect recipes.

 

235

01:24:32,768 --> 01:24:34,604

I collect cookbooks.

 

236

01:24:34,738 --> 01:24:37,206

No, I know-- I know that

you collect recipes.

 

237

01:24:37,340 --> 01:24:40,509

So let me-- let me

show you something.

 

238

01:24:40,644 --> 01:24:44,713

And she goes to the library,

and in the back of the books,

 

239

01:24:44,847 --> 01:24:46,014

she goes--

 

240

01:24:46,149 --> 01:24:49,318

the back of, you know,

first or second shelf,

 

241

01:24:49,452 --> 01:24:58,427

she pulls out a notebook

covered with brown paper.

 

242

01:24:58,562 --> 01:25:02,864

And she shows it

to me, and she says

 

243

01:25:02,999 --> 01:25:07,336

that this was her

mother's cookbook

 

244

01:25:07,470 --> 01:25:11,007

that was written

in Theresienstadt

 

245

01:25:11,141 --> 01:25:16,812

and that got to her 25 years

later after her mother died.

 

246

01:25:16,946 --> 01:25:21,217

And it sort of--

 

247

01:25:21,351 --> 01:25:23,352

it sounded so unbelievable.

 

248

01:25:23,486 --> 01:25:28,857

So I opened the notebook,

and there in German

 

249

01:25:28,991 --> 01:25:31,761

and in Czech was

handwritten recipes

 

250

01:25:31,895 --> 01:25:36,899

in sort of very old style

handwriting and very

 

251

01:25:37,033 --> 01:25:41,704

European high society writing.

 

252

01:25:41,838 --> 01:25:48,611

And to think that women

in a concentration camp

 

253

01:25:48,745 --> 01:25:56,018

sat and wrote recipes,

I was beside myself.

 

254

01:25:56,152 --> 01:25:57,853

And I couldn't read

the handwriting.

 

255

01:25:57,988 --> 01:26:05,494

I could only read the titles,

and there was a chocolate torte

 

256

01:26:05,629 --> 01:26:08,130

and there was an onion

torte, and I was thinking,

 

257

01:26:08,264 --> 01:26:14,070

everything is so

aromatic, you know?

 

258

01:26:14,204 --> 01:26:20,543

Unbelievable that they would sit

in a camp and think of the food

 

259

01:26:20,677 --> 01:26:24,113

with its aromas,

because the aroma is

 

260

01:26:24,248 --> 01:26:30,586

what invites you first, you

know, to go to the dining room.

 

261

01:26:30,720 --> 01:26:32,922

And you know, I

kept looking at it,

 

262

01:26:33,056 --> 01:26:38,794

and I said to Anny, Anny,

you are not putting it back

 

263

01:26:38,928 --> 01:26:39,895

in the library.

 

264

01:26:40,029 --> 01:26:41,897

The world has to see this.

 

265

01:26:42,031 --> 01:26:42,965

No way.

 

266

01:26:43,099 --> 01:26:51,140

You're not hiding it.

 

267

01:26:51,274 --> 01:26:53,142

I really feel very

much moved when

 

268

01:26:53,276 --> 01:26:55,711

I see Terezin written here.

 

269

01:26:55,846 --> 01:27:00,415

I know it was a few days

after 5,007 people were

 

270

01:27:00,550 --> 01:27:04,753

sent from Terezin to

Auschwitz, and this is really

 

271

01:27:04,888 --> 01:27:08,657

the confrontation between being

in such a reality and still

 

272

01:27:08,792 --> 01:27:17,232

having the power to continue

writing here the recipe.

 

273

01:27:17,367 --> 01:27:22,971

I think it's the need to

also, to get the connection

 

274

01:27:23,105 --> 01:27:26,175

to your own personality.

 

275

01:27:26,309 --> 01:27:28,043

To say, you know, here I am.

 

276

01:27:28,177 --> 01:27:30,979

I can do things

like I used to be.

 

277

01:27:31,113 --> 01:27:32,414

They cannot kill that one.

 

278

01:27:32,549 --> 01:27:34,517

That thing, they

cannot kill on you.

 

279

01:27:34,651 --> 01:27:37,119

They can make you hungry.

 

280

01:27:37,253 --> 01:27:38,921

They can make you poor.

 

281

01:27:39,056 --> 01:27:45,961

They can make you miserable, but

they cannot take what you are.

 

282

01:27:46,095 --> 01:28:03,512

[non-english speech]

 

283

01:28:03,646 --> 01:28:06,415

Essentially she stopped.

 

284

01:28:06,549 --> 01:28:12,988

She was lucky because

a relative of her,

 

285

01:28:13,122 --> 01:28:17,193

Liesl Kaplan, now,

Liesl Lawford.

 

286

01:28:17,327 --> 01:28:21,664

She also got married in the

camp, was a nurse in Terezin,

 

287

01:28:21,798 --> 01:28:26,301

and Liesl's story

is a separate one.

 

288

01:28:26,436 --> 01:28:31,740

Mina was a third wife

of Adolf [inaudible]..

 

289

01:28:31,875 --> 01:28:36,879

Liesl was the daughter

from the second--

 

290

01:28:37,013 --> 01:28:40,315

was a granddaughter

of the second wife.

 

291

01:28:40,450 --> 01:28:43,485

And she became-- she

was about, I don't know,

 

292

01:28:43,620 --> 01:28:47,322

17, 18-- she became

a nurse in the camp.

 

293

01:28:47,457 --> 01:28:52,894

And she found that Mina

was there and decided to do

 

294

01:28:53,028 --> 01:29:32,701

for her whatever she could.

 

295

01:29:32,836 --> 01:29:36,338

When we made the cottage

cheese out of the milk

 

296

01:29:36,472 --> 01:29:39,374

that the children

couldn't consume.

 

297

01:29:39,509 --> 01:29:43,078

We let it sour, and

then we put it in a bag

 

298

01:29:43,213 --> 01:29:48,851

and let it drip until it was

so-called cottage cheese.

 

299

01:29:48,985 --> 01:29:52,454

And then we spread it

on the little breads

 

300

01:29:52,588 --> 01:29:55,958

that maybe the children

had a little bit more.

 

301

01:29:56,092 --> 01:30:01,129

I was always happy when a

child couldn't eat all of it,

 

302

01:30:01,263 --> 01:30:04,667

or by mistake, threw

it on the floor

 

303

01:30:04,801 --> 01:30:08,303

and it went into my mouth.

 

304

01:30:08,437 --> 01:30:13,141

I mean, it's unthinkable

today, but you don't

 

305

01:30:13,275 --> 01:31:24,146

know what hunger can do to you.

 

306

01:31:24,280 --> 01:31:47,302

[non-english speech]

 

307

01:31:47,436 --> 01:31:54,309

[telephone ringing]

 

308

01:31:54,443 --> 01:31:55,510

Hello?

 

309

01:31:55,645 --> 01:31:58,280

Are you Anny Stern

from Czechoslovakia?

 

310

01:31:58,414 --> 01:31:59,614

Yes.

 

311

01:31:59,749 --> 01:32:16,432

Then I have a parcel

from your mother for you.

 

312

01:32:16,566 --> 01:32:24,206

My mother, she had a friend who

was an antique dealer of whom

 

313

01:32:24,341 --> 01:32:29,945

she said he is the nicest

and best and decent guy you

 

314

01:32:30,078 --> 01:32:31,947

can imagine.

 

315

01:32:32,081 --> 01:32:34,817

This man was, name

was [? buchsbaum ?]

 

316

01:32:34,951 --> 01:32:38,187

and he was in Theresienstadt.

 

317

01:32:38,321 --> 01:32:46,227

And she gave him a whole

book of cooking recipes.

 

318

01:32:46,362 --> 01:32:50,332

And [? buchsbaum ?] survived.

 

319

01:32:50,466 --> 01:32:52,601

Many years later,

[? buchsbaum ?]

 

320

01:32:52,735 --> 01:32:56,872

was in communist Czechoslovakia.

 

321

01:32:57,006 --> 01:33:02,244

A visitor comes from America,

I think, from Cleveland,

 

322

01:33:02,378 --> 01:33:03,778

going to Israel.

 

323

01:33:03,913 --> 01:33:07,749

Stops with [? buchsbaum, ?]

and [? buchsbaum ?] tells him,

 

324

01:33:07,884 --> 01:33:12,221

well, I have this package for

Mina Stern, Mina [inaudible]..

 

325

01:33:12,355 --> 01:33:19,762

And she has a daughter, Anny

Stern, living in Israel.

 

326

01:33:19,896 --> 01:33:20,562

Could you take it?

 

327

01:33:20,696 --> 01:33:22,698

I have no way of--

 

328

01:33:22,832 --> 01:33:24,366

I don't know where she is.

 

329

01:33:24,501 --> 01:33:29,738

Could you take it to Israel

and maybe give it to her?

 

330

01:33:29,872 --> 01:33:32,241

And the man says, fine.

 

331

01:33:32,375 --> 01:33:36,644

So this man comes to

Tel Aviv, and says,

 

332

01:33:36,779 --> 01:33:39,981

I have here a package from

the concentration camp

 

333

01:33:40,116 --> 01:33:46,421

and I should look for a Dr.

John Stern and his wife, Anny.

 

334

01:33:46,555 --> 01:33:48,590

So somebody said,

they lived in Haifa,

 

335

01:33:48,724 --> 01:33:53,595

but they live now in America.

 

336

01:33:53,729 --> 01:33:57,666

So he takes the package,

goes back to America,

 

337

01:33:57,800 --> 01:33:59,234

and stops in New York.

 

338

01:33:59,369 --> 01:34:04,306

Again, he is with a group

of Czechs, and he asked,

 

339

01:34:04,441 --> 01:34:08,476

does anybody know somebody

here named Anny Stern?

 

340

01:34:08,611 --> 01:34:11,513

And somebody says, oh, yes.

 

341

01:34:11,647 --> 01:34:14,549

I do, and here's her telephone.

 

342

01:34:14,683 --> 01:34:20,021

And if this is not

destiny, if this is not

 

343

01:34:20,156 --> 01:34:24,960

a hand reaching out and holding

you, I don't know what it is.

 

344

01:34:25,094 --> 01:34:30,499

Because I still didn't

come home with this loss.

 

345

01:34:30,634 --> 01:34:36,038

I was surprised what it was

because I thought it was--

 

346

01:34:36,172 --> 01:34:38,173

I think that's what

my mother said--

 

347

01:34:38,308 --> 01:34:43,011

was like a copy

book of a school.

 

348

01:34:43,146 --> 01:34:45,413

You know, students

have these copy books

 

349

01:34:45,547 --> 01:34:47,716

and you write in them.

 

350

01:34:47,850 --> 01:34:49,051

It wasn't.

 

351

01:34:49,185 --> 01:34:52,020

It was pieced together

with a needle and thread

 

352

01:34:52,154 --> 01:34:54,322

out of sheets.

 

353

01:34:54,456 --> 01:34:59,127

And I didn't expect it.

 

354

01:34:59,262 --> 01:35:02,497

That shows really, how

pressed the people were.

 

355

01:35:02,631 --> 01:35:07,235

It had a message of

how hard life was.

 

356

01:35:07,369 --> 01:35:26,487

[non-english speech]

 

357

01:35:26,622 --> 01:35:31,326

I belong to the

Culinary Historians,

 

358

01:35:31,461 --> 01:35:35,897

and Daria Carmel came to

me one day, and she said,

 

359

01:35:36,032 --> 01:35:37,833

you speak other languages, no?

 

360

01:35:37,967 --> 01:35:38,433

I said, yeah.

 

361

01:35:38,567 --> 01:35:40,001

Why?

 

362

01:35:40,136 --> 01:35:44,673

And she started telling me about

that she has an acquaintance

 

363

01:35:44,807 --> 01:35:47,843

or a friend who--

 

364

01:35:47,977 --> 01:35:50,712

about the manuscript.

 

365

01:35:50,846 --> 01:35:53,482

And I said, so what

do you want from me?

 

366

01:35:53,616 --> 01:35:57,719

And she said, well, would

you like to look at it?

 

367

01:35:57,853 --> 01:36:03,091

And I said, well, I can

look at it, but I can't.

 

368

01:36:03,226 --> 01:36:08,330

So she said she will make

me Xerox copies from that.

 

369

01:36:08,464 --> 01:36:12,000

Well, they were hardly--

you could hardly read them.

 

370

01:36:12,134 --> 01:36:17,606

They were in different--

in Czech or in German.

 

371

01:36:17,741 --> 01:36:21,576

And I said, well, I haven't

ever done that, but maybe.

 

372

01:36:21,710 --> 01:36:23,278

We'll see.

 

373

01:36:23,413 --> 01:36:30,652

So I started with one and

you know, translated it,

 

374

01:36:30,786 --> 01:36:32,454

until I really--

 

375

01:36:32,589 --> 01:36:38,059

it was very unbelievable

hard to work to do this.

 

376

01:36:38,194 --> 01:36:44,999

Not only because it

touched me an awful lot.

 

377

01:36:45,134 --> 01:36:50,672

These were people that maybe I

was during the war in the bunk

 

378

01:36:50,806 --> 01:36:54,509

because I did hear

them speak about it.

 

379

01:36:54,644 --> 01:37:00,515

But also, it was emotional,

very upsetting for me.

 

380

01:37:00,650 --> 01:37:04,719

When I spoke to Bianca at

the coffee urn, she didn't--

 

381

01:37:04,853 --> 01:37:06,922

there was no inkling.

 

382

01:37:07,056 --> 01:37:09,224

Maybe, you know, if I knew her--

 

383

01:37:09,358 --> 01:37:13,595

her voice was a little

squeaky when she answered,

 

384

01:37:13,729 --> 01:37:16,531

squeakier than usual.

 

385

01:37:16,666 --> 01:37:22,170

But there was nothing in

the body language, nothing

 

386

01:37:22,305 --> 01:37:30,545

that would tell you that she's

a survivor of Theresienstadt.

 

387

01:37:30,680 --> 01:37:35,484

Cooking was always--

that interested me a lot.

 

388

01:37:35,618 --> 01:37:39,287

The only thing is I regret

because at that time,

 

389

01:37:39,422 --> 01:37:43,992

I suggested that I

would develop recipes.

 

390

01:37:44,126 --> 01:37:49,631

Not all of them but some of

them, maybe 20 or something,

 

391

01:37:49,766 --> 01:37:52,767

and do it the way I have

done it through the years

 

392

01:37:52,901 --> 01:37:56,971

because there is

a certain style.

 

393

01:37:57,106 --> 01:38:01,943

And it was rejected

that one can't do this

 

394

01:38:02,077 --> 01:38:05,180

in honor of the dead, and I--

 

395

01:38:05,314 --> 01:38:10,485

well, I thought

this was rather--

 

396

01:38:10,619 --> 01:38:13,154

this statement I didn't like.

 

397

01:38:13,289 --> 01:38:19,060

Because I figured by doing

it, by developing it,

 

398

01:38:19,195 --> 01:38:23,498

it's much more to

honor these people.

 

399

01:38:23,632 --> 01:38:26,935

But Anny didn't hold on.

 

400

01:38:27,069 --> 01:38:31,639

She passed away when

the book got published.

 

401

01:38:31,773 --> 01:38:33,174

But she knew it was coming.

 

402

01:38:33,309 --> 01:38:38,746

She knew it was coming, but

she wanted so badly to see it.

 

403

01:38:38,881 --> 01:38:40,448

And you know, every

time I saw her

 

404

01:38:40,583 --> 01:38:43,885

or, like, I would talk to her

on the phone, she would say,

 

405

01:38:44,019 --> 01:38:46,821

you know, aren't you

impatient to see?

 

406

01:38:46,955 --> 01:38:48,423

You know, we'll get there.

 

407

01:38:48,558 --> 01:38:52,360

You know, I promise you, it'll

get there, because you know,

 

408

01:38:52,495 --> 01:38:56,665

she remembered when I said

the world has to see it.

 

409

01:38:56,799 --> 01:39:02,470

I decided to give the cookbook

to the Holocaust Museum

 

410

01:39:02,605 --> 01:39:06,374

together with a contribution,

which some friend of the family

 

411

01:39:06,509 --> 01:39:12,447

gave to preserve it so that

the paper doesn't fall apart.

 

412

01:39:12,582 --> 01:39:15,417

And also with it went all

kinds of other things,

 

413

01:39:15,551 --> 01:39:18,119

like the letters

of my grandmother,

 

414

01:39:18,254 --> 01:39:21,723

like a recipe written on

a piece of a calendar.

 

415

01:39:21,858 --> 01:39:31,666

And all these things are

now in the Holocaust Museum.

 

416

01:39:31,800 --> 01:40:00,194

[non-english speech]

 

417

01:40:00,329 --> 01:40:05,834

There is a candy, Baden caramel

in the book, and I thought,

 

418

01:40:05,968 --> 01:40:08,236

I will try it.

 

419

01:40:08,370 --> 01:40:13,541

And it was very hard

work to do and to develop

 

420

01:40:13,676 --> 01:40:20,248

because some of these recipes

that were written by the women

 

421

01:40:20,382 --> 01:40:22,484

came from their memory.

 

422

01:40:22,618 --> 01:40:27,355

Like, for instance, and

they did put a lot of sugar.

 

423

01:40:27,490 --> 01:40:33,061

Sugar, for our consumption

today, it's too much.

 

424

01:40:33,195 --> 01:40:36,331

But anyhow these

caramels exist, and I

 

425

01:40:36,465 --> 01:40:39,500

know with Baden is

a [inaudible] that's

 

426

01:40:39,635 --> 01:40:46,074

not far away out of Vienna,

and they do come in pink paper.

 

427

01:40:46,208 --> 01:40:49,444

So lo and behold,

I developed it.

 

428

01:40:49,578 --> 01:40:53,381

And I bought pink

paper, and I wrapped it

 

429

01:40:53,516 --> 01:40:56,718

the way it's supposed to be.

 

430

01:40:56,853 --> 01:41:03,325

And one day, I thought

I make Anny a surprise,

 

431

01:41:03,459 --> 01:41:09,931

and she was in seventh heaven.

 

432

01:41:10,065 --> 01:41:13,301

The sense of giving and

nourishing somebody,

 

433

01:41:13,435 --> 01:41:16,671

there is a tremendous

joy in seeing people

 

434

01:41:16,805 --> 01:41:19,974

sharing bread and conversation.

 

435

01:41:20,108 --> 01:41:23,444

And the desserts

in middle Europe

 

436

01:41:23,579 --> 01:41:28,883

are really comfort foods, and

I think the Baden bon bons fall

 

437

01:41:29,017 --> 01:41:31,986

under the same

category, especially

 

438

01:41:32,120 --> 01:41:34,456

if you're familiar

with them, you

 

439

01:41:34,590 --> 01:41:37,526

know, from your parents

or grandparents.

 

440

01:41:37,660 --> 01:41:39,828

And it reminds me

that when Bianca

 

441

01:41:39,962 --> 01:41:46,701

brought the Baden bon bons to

Anny, she was beyond delighted.

 

442

01:41:46,836 --> 01:41:50,104

She said, Baden bon bons, you

don't know what it-- you know,

 

443

01:41:50,239 --> 01:41:53,274

you don't know what it means.

 

444

01:41:53,409 --> 01:42:08,556

Bianca bought her a

piece of childhood.

 

445

01:42:08,690 --> 01:42:10,658

Can you say Mina?

 

446

01:42:10,792 --> 01:42:12,627

Grandma Mina.

 

447

01:42:12,761 --> 01:42:15,029

But these are caramel.

 

448

01:42:15,163 --> 01:42:17,765

These are caramel, yes.

 

449

01:42:17,900 --> 01:42:21,936

And your grandmother-- you know,

you can buy these in a store,

 

450

01:42:22,070 --> 01:42:24,572

but she liked to

make them at home.

 

451

01:42:24,707 --> 01:42:28,876

And I was about as big

as you, little guy,

 

452

01:42:29,010 --> 01:42:30,578

and I remember eating them.

 

453

01:42:30,712 --> 01:42:34,849

Will you have one?

 

454

01:42:34,983 --> 01:42:38,586

They are good.

 

455

01:42:38,720 --> 01:42:41,256

Can we share it?

 

456

01:42:41,390 --> 01:42:43,925

I guess not.

 

457

01:42:44,059 --> 01:42:46,594

This is Grandma's caramel

 

458

01:42:46,729 --> 01:42:52,800

Yes, it's

great-great-grandma's caramel.

 

459

01:42:52,934 --> 01:42:57,972

OK.

 

460

01:42:58,106 --> 01:42:58,873

That's for you.

 

461

01:42:59,007 --> 01:43:02,143

That's for me.

 

462

01:43:02,277 --> 01:43:04,912

Mm.

 

463

01:43:05,046 --> 01:43:07,082

They are good.

 

464

01:43:07,215 --> 01:43:12,420

Aha.

 

465

01:43:12,554 --> 01:43:15,156

And it was far away.

 

466

01:43:15,290 --> 01:43:18,592

It was on the other

side of the ocean.

 

467

01:43:18,726 --> 01:43:20,128

Different country.

 

468

01:43:20,263 --> 01:43:32,841

They didn't speak English, but

they knew how to make candy.

 

469

01:43:32,975 --> 01:43:37,378

Do you know the rule

of how to eat goodies?

 

470

01:43:37,513 --> 01:43:40,615

Don't eat it all at once.

 

471

01:43:40,749 --> 01:43:47,789

Eat half, and keep the rest for

your friends, for the next day.

 

472

01:43:47,923 --> 01:43:52,727

Next day you come, eat

half of what's left.

 

473

01:43:52,862 --> 01:43:57,131

You still want a

little to remain.

 

474

01:43:57,265 --> 01:43:58,900

And then half of that.

 

475

01:43:59,035 --> 01:44:02,703

And maybe something

will remain, who knows?

 

476

01:44:02,837 --> 01:44:11,012

[non-english speech]

 

477

01:44:11,146 --> 01:44:13,848

[music playing]