Dedication | Introduction | History | The Voices | The Correspondence | Conclusion

Conclusion

What must it have been like to live during the Holocaust? It is one thing to read a memoir. But memoirs are colored by the fact of survival. Actual contemporaneous documents show what people were thinking at the time. They are not distorted by hindsight.

This series of letters to Shep Zitler allows us to step into the shoes of a family which does not know what is in store for it. At first conditions are difficult, but they are not thought to be life threatening. The letters and postcards after June 1941 reflect despair but do demonstrate the courage to go on. If only they had the chance.

More stories about the people in these letters is available on our web site (www.holocaustsurvivors.org) under Survivors Stories: Shep Zitler. There you can read the story of how Doba was offered the chance to save her baby, and how she chose to keep her religion instead. In the Supplemental Texts section of the web site you can read the school essays of Tzerna Morgenstern, the precocious daughter of Micha and Sonia Morgenstern. You can read accounts of her tragic and sadistic murder and many more stories.