HOW IF YOU HEARD WHAT I HEARD STARTED
IN MAY OF 2020, AFTER SEEING YET ANOTHER NEWS REPORT OF AN ANTISEMITIC INCIDENT AT A LOS ANGELES AREA SYNAGOGUE, WE THOUGHT ABOUT OUR HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR GRANDPARENTS’ STORIES - THAT IF MORE PEOPLE TODAY KNEW ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST AND WHAT GRANDPARENTS LIKE OURS SURVIVED, PERHAPS THESE INCIDENTS WOULD NOT BE SO PREVALENT.
WE THOUGHT ABOUT THE FACT THAT OUR GENERATION IS THE LAST TO EVER HEAR OUR GRANDPARENTS’ STORIES FIRSTHAND, IN THE SAME ROOM, OVER THE COURSE OF DECADES, DIRECTLY FROM THEM.
WE KNEW WE HAD TO DO SOMETHING, AND KEPT THINKING, IF YOU HEARD WHAT I HEARD, YOU WOULD NEVER FORGET.
FROM THE DESIRE TO MAKE THE STORIES OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS RELEVANT AND RELATABLE FOR TODAY, AND TO CURB ANTISEMITISM THROUGH A NEW AND RELEVANT WAY OF EDUCATING ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, IF YOU HEARD WHAT I HEARD WAS BORN.
TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN WATCHING THE INTERVIEWS:
AS GRANDCHILDREN OF SURVIVORS, WHILE WE DID NOT WITNESS THE SAME HORRORS OUR GRANDPARENTS DID, WE WITNESSED THEIR PAIN, LOSS, AND PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL SCARS. MANY OF US DID NOT GET THE STORIES OF WHAT OUR GRANDPARENTS LIVED THROUGH IN ONE SITTING, BUT OVER THE COURSE OF DECADES.
THE STORIES, FOR A LOT OF US, WOULD RANGE FROM DETAILS THAT WERE SHARED IN A VERY MATTER-OF-FACT MANNER, TO MORE BRUTAL DETAILS WROUGHT WITH EMOTION.
WHAT YOU’LL HEAR WHEN YOU WATCH THESE POWERFUL INTERVIEWS IS WHAT WE HEARD AND WITNESSED THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, OF OUR GRANDPARENTS’ HARROWING JOURNEYS, DEVASTATING LOSS, AND INSPIRING RESILIENCE.
THESE ARE ACTUAL EVENTS IN THE LIVES OF REAL PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCED IT FIRST-HAND. IF YOUR GRANDPARENT SHARED A STORY LIKE THIS WITH YOU, HOW WOULD IT IMPACT YOU?
WE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WATCHING TO PUT THEMSELVES IN THE SHOES OF THE GRANDCHILDREN, HEARING THESE STORIES, AND TO REMEMBER THE INCREDIBLE HOPE AND RESILIENCE WITH WHICH THESE SURVIVORS WERE ABLE TO REBUILD THEIR LIVES.
- IYH Interviewee, Shoshanna Gruss