Funnel 40/2, Inhalt - Fulbright-Kommission

36
FROM OUR FULBRIGHTERS
Devora (center) with mother Deena Stein and
uncle Amir Mansbacher at the Weissensee cemetery.
THE FUNNEL • VOLUME 40 • NUMBER 2 • SUMMER 2004
direction of what I assumed was his grave, I said, wir haben dich
nicht vergessen, wie schön so nah zu dir zu sein nach so viel Zeit. In
Hebrew, I said both a prayer of mourning and of renewal. And
then I knew, we had to get a gravestone for Selmar—that is, to
honor his life and dignify his death.
This spring, over a half century later, a life that once breathed
and loved was dignified with a small stone and a few words to say
that we have not forgotten him. In March my family traveled to
Berlin and we paid our respects to a man whose life enabled ours.
It is my hope that while my family was here in Germany, they saw
what I have seen here: a country that is far from what it was when
Selmar last saw it. I hope they will see the land that Selmar loved,
and that I, over half a century later, have also come to love.
A report by Boyes Fellow Karen Radziner and Devora Rogers
chronicling Devora’s experience getting a gravestone set for her
great-grandfather, Selmar, aired in March on the English Program’s
Living in Germany and Inside Europe. To listen to the
report visit the Fulbright Website: www.fulbright.de/funnel/index.
shtml.
Selmar’s gravestone, written in three languages, reflects the complexity of
the life and story of his family.