My mother’s interview: Against the Odds: Ruth Neray, Holocaust Survivor
This is a seven minute interview with my mother, Ruth Bindefeld Neray. As you watch the video, and see the wisdom that comes with years of living, picture a younger woman not even 20 years old, caught up in horrific world events she cannot understand. You may have friends of that age, or friends with kids of that age. Picture them — or yourself — at that age.
My mother told me that of all the photos of herself as a younger woman, the one that haunts her the most is the one shown here. She is 19 years old in this picture, and she has just returned to France after a year in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. When she looks at this picture of herself, she sees a young woman who, behind her eyes, still holds the horrifying images witnessed in the camps. In her mind’s eye, she’s still there.
Everyone may read their own ‘Essential’ message into the picture above and from the video below. What message do you read into it?
Special thanks to Amram Shapiro for the interview. It was published on his website, Book of Odds.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE THAT REFLECTS A BEAUTIFUL INNOCENT YOUNG WOMANS’ TIRED FACE,THAT EXPRESSES RELIEF (I HAVE MADE IT, IT IS OVER)PUZZLED IN WONDER AND HOPE (WHAT NOW) – TO FACE THE UNKNOWN…THAT CAN BE ONLY BETTER.
IN THIS INTERVIEW,OUT OF THE ASHES, HER DEFIANT, VITAL ,SPARKLING EYES ,
SPEAKING HER SPIRIT,RESONATING OUR NATIONS LONG LASTING SECRET OF SURVIVAL.
MAY GOD BLESS HER WITH MANY MORE HAPPY YEARS
CARMELA,ISRAEL
Hi Michel,
I just now finished watching the interview with your mom. It is always very strong and moving to see and hear the story told by the survivors. It reminds me the story that was told yesterday evening in our community by a man who was 16 years old at Auschwitz and decided to pretend himself being dead and that what saved his life.
He was lying fife months on wooden bed, weight 29 kg covered by wounds everywhere. Amazing.
The essential message I draw from these stories are presenting by three major values: Life, Health and Belief
Moved, stirred and wowed at the beautiful way Ruth expresses herself and tells this poignant story. Thank you for sharing. It is 7 minutes everyone should spend viewing.
Grace.
AN ISRAELI JOURNALIST REVEALED HE WAS SENT IN A SECRETIVE MISSION TO POLAND AT THE END OF MARCH OF 1943.
AS HE WAS SAYING GOODBYS AT MIDNIGHT, TO SOME FRIENDS AND POLISH OFFICIALS, AT WARSAWS’ TRAIN STATION,HE WAS APPROACHED BY A WOMAN ASKING HIM TO SHARE HIS CABIN WITH HER ELDERLY HOLOCOUST SURVIVOR FATHER,ON HIS WAY TO HER SISTER IN JERUSALEM,SO HE WOULD BE IN THE COMPANY OF A JEW.
THE YELLOW WAXY SKIN FACED MAN,WHITE BEARD,SAD EYES AND NERVOUS BODY LANGUAGE,HAD NOT ANSWERED ANY OF THE JOURNALISTS QUESTIONS,ONLY ASKED FOR HELP OPENING HIS SUITCASE.HE HAD THERE A FEW SHIRTS,A TALIT,TEFILIN,HAVDALA CANDLE,SHOFAR AND A HOLY SCRIPT BOOK WHICH HE READ.
HE WAS WILLING TO TAKE SOME WATER TO DRINK AND HAD BEGUN ON HIS OWN TO TELL ABOUT HIS LIFE UNDER HITLER,THE WIFE AND CHILDREN HE LOST, AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING…
AS HE STARTED TALKING ABRUPTLY,SO HE STOPPED.
EARLY MORNING THE JOURNALIST GOT UP TO PREY BEFORE NON JEWS CAME ON BOARD.THE MAN WAS AWAKE,DIDN’T MOVE,DIDN’T TALK.
HIS LONG HOURS OF SILENCE WERE HEAVY AND DEPRESSING TO THE JOURNALIST.
SUDDENLY,LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, THE MAN SAID:AFTER ALL THAT HAPPENED TO ME AND WHAT MY EYES HAD SEEN,AND GOD HAD NO MERCY,
I WILL NOT PREY TO HIM,I WILL MAKE HIM ANGRY TOO…
A BIG SIGHT CAME FROM THE JOURNALISTS CHEST,AND THEN BOTH WERE IN SILENCE.
NIGHT WAS ABOUT TO FALL,THE JOURNALIST WAS PREPARING TO GET OFF IN PRAGUE (THE MAN CONTINUED TO PARIS).THE OLD MAN ASKED AGAIN FOR HELP WITH HIS RUGGED SUITCASE,AND TO THE AMAZMENT OF THE JOURNALIST,ENVELOPED HIMSELF WITH THE TALIT,HAD PUT THE TEFILIN ON HIS HAND AND FOREHEAD,AND PREYED.AFTER HE WAS DONE HE SAID:BY JUSTICE I SHOULD HAVE NOT PREYED TO HIM NOW,
BECAUSE GOD DOESN’T NEED AND IS NOT WORTHY OF COMPETION,BUT
WHAT DOES HE HAVE NOW? WHO IS LEFT FOR HIM IN THIS WORLD?BUT
SINCE HE HAD PITTY ON ME AND SPEARED ME,HE DESERVES MY PITTY
AND THIS IS THE REASON I HAVE DECIEDED TO PREY.TEARS WERE RUNNING DOWN HIS CHICKS AND HE WEPT LOUDLY LIKE A CHILD, CRYING:WHAT A PITTY ON GOD, HE IS NOT LEFT TO STAY WITHIN ANYONE ANYMORE…
HE KEPT REPEATING THIS SENTENCE OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND THE JOURNALIST WAS CRYING WITH HIM.THEY HAD SAID THEIR GOODBYS IN TEARS WITH THE BLESSING OF :NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM WITH THE MESSAIAH…
THIS IS THE POWER OF FAITH:LOVING AND PITTYING THE ALL MIGHTY
WHO HAS DONE TO AND FOR US GREAT WONDERFUL MIGHTY THINGS AS WELL AS HORIBBLE ONES,AND WE FEEL COMPETION FOR HIM,THE NEED TO CONSOLE HIM…NOT LEAVING HIM ALL BY HIMSELF…
THERE IS NO ANGER IN MICHELS’ MOTHERS’EYES/FACE,NOR HATERED,
BUT FAITH IN WHAT IS TO COME,AND AS THE PREVIOUSE COMMENT STATED,GRACE,GRACE OF LIFE AND HOPE.
CARMELA,ISRAEL
As a son of a hero who came from the holocaust hell to heal and save lives, I salute to your mother who has a clear message: Cherish life. I am impressed with her strong message that she didn’t do anything wrong and only she can give her permission to die and then on nobody could kill her.
What a remarkable mother you have.
Thank you for sharing!
Hey Michel. Thanks so much for sharing this amazing story.
Your mother is a hero of life.
Thanks for sharing this…. what an incredibly moving interview – the way your mother expresses herself was so matter-of-fact and yet so poignant.
Very powerful. Thank you for sharing your Mother’s moving story.
You must be so very proud of Mom and proud to be her son. Clearly, she is of you. At such a young age, she was forced to sort of wrestle with her own “essential message”. To conclude that she was ready to die and that she was at peace with that decision helped her to survive the horrors she was to face. Her thinking must have influenced many others. Her strength of character and courage were extra-ordinary! The power of one.
You asked me to comment on the treatment of the Japanese Canadians during WWII, which occured in tandem with the treatment of the Jews in Europe. There were many parallels– from the motivation of the Fed Gov’t, to the incarceration and treatment at the concentration camps. Clearly,there was nothing to compare to what your Mom experienced at Aushwitz, but the process ws eerily similar. There must have been an “internment 101″ international playbook of sorts.
In ’42, in Vancouver, all of the Japanese families were rounded up by the RCMP, stripped of all there assets and sent to relocation centres in the interior of BC. My Dad, fortunately, was able to convince the gov’t to at least keep families together. The plan was to put men in one camp, women and children in another. They were given the option of being sent back to Japan, which to those born in Canada, was an absuurdity.
There were no death camps, but life was not easy nevertheless. Dad had volunteered to join the army, but was rejected. Years later, Mom would tell the kids about the incarceration, which invariably brought on many tears. I had been born in captivity in ’43. Access and egress to the camps was guarded by the RCMP.
When the war ended, families were not allowed to go back to Vancouver. All of the homes, property, businesses, cars and possessions which were to be returned, had been sold. So there was no reason or desire to go back anyway. so families were forced to go east and we went to Montreal to start life over again. Prior to the War, the JC’s had owned prime farmland and controlled the west coast fishing industry. Their relative prosperity had been a sore point among the non Japanese. So incarceration was a convenient solution to the building resentment. It was easy to disguise it as a political necessity. War histeria didn’t help.
My parents viewed this experience in retrospect as a blessing in disguise, unlike many of the JC families who were traumatized for life.
There is a fascinating book called “The Jews and the Japanese, the Successful Outsiders” which explores the similarities between these 2 peoples who have surprised the world, by what they have accomplished against all odds, by what has been done to them. And their tragedies. They are both survivors!
dear friends, thank you for your comments. they touched me profoundly and I am glad that I touched a part of your heart.
My victory in life are my sons. they are truly great human being and I am proud of them.
love to all
Ruth neray
We are very proud to have had the chance to give Ruth Neray a chance to speak what is in her heart. My daughter, Laura and I went to film the interview and visit Ruth’s house, full of images of birds escaping from cages. She is one of the people I love the most in the world.
If you are interested in learning more of Ruth’s story, please come to http://www.bookofodds.com and read the audio interview at http://www.bookofodds.com/Accidents-Death/War-Genocide/Articles/A0-Against-the-Odds-Interview-with-Ruth-Neray-Holocaust-Survivor.
Ruth also contributed a blog, she calls her “Cri de Coeur,” a moving expression of the essential doubleness of the life of a survivor. http://www.bookofodds.com/Blogs/Guest-Blog/2010/04-April/A-Cri-De-Coeur-From-A-Survivor
In addition there is a wonderful piece by Anthony Lydgate called “Dreaming in Auschwitz,” full of the remarkable juxtapositions Book of Odds can produce: http://www.bookofodds.com/Daily-Life-Activities/Articles/A0079-Dreaming-in-Auschwitz
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Amram Shapiro,
Founder, Book of Odds
As children of a holocaust survivors we have an essential message we need to convey to the world, we will never give up. Our struggles and our challenges are nothing like what our partners went through and we are here to prove that their courage was worth it. It is our responsiblity to be the best that we can be. It is our destiny to make an impact on others. Michel you are honoring your mother simply by doing what you are doing, that’s the essential message.