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.