Posted by Can there be anything left to say about the Shoah? Surely every story has been heard, every angle covered, every opinion expressed. And yet, time passes. Those who survived, who saw and witnessed, are reaching the natural term of their lives. New generations inherit the bad with the good. They need to know what happened, because it did. It is not necessary to say anything new about these events. It is necessary only to say it again, like a prayer, not because it makes something happen, but because it might change us.
from the preface of Talking Until Nightfall, Isaac Matarasso et al. Bloomsbury 2020
Neither my grandfather, who died in 1958, nor my father, who died in 1982, were able to bring this book back into the light. That task fell on my mother, who translated the French texts and wrote a biographical introduction, and me. I have worked on this material, one way and another, for 30 years; I have lived with it all my life. Today, our work is published, a duty fulfilled. I haven’t seen the book yet, but I know it’s out there; it cannot be recalled. Memory has become history.
Today, I think of my father, and my grandfather, who survived, and of all those who did not. I bear witness, as Elie Wiesel wanted, and I wish them peace. The talking is over, Night will fall.
The sun will rise.
Parliament of Dreams 