Episode 3: He Sang So Loudly

“Years later, I’ll know this feeling as a mother, hearing my baby wail from the other room, wondering, praying, hoping that she is ok. But tonight, I’m 25 in a loft apartment in Berlin, 5,000 miles from home, and it’s not a baby crying: It’s my 89-year-old grandfather, Simon, screaming.” - Miriam Terlinchamp“To choose, to actively to forgive. To find beauty in strangers paying homage to what you lost. To embrace the learning journey of others even at the expense of your own pain in having to tell and retell it…Well, that’s a whole other capacity to do so within the context of the very place where the trauma occurred.” - Marika Strauss[1] The audio used for Simon in this episode was recorded by his granddaughter Jennifer Melrose in 1999 as part of Jennifer’s research project for her masters in psychology. [2] Fun fact about the above audio! Jennifer had recorded it on a cassette tape, which was then, 2 decades later transcribed onto a CD, and then, upon research for this project, did we all find out that it existed! Jennifer’s son, Simon’s great grandchild, worked tirelessly to turn it into an audio file that could be used for this piece, and is the first time that most of the family have heard this interview. [3] Miriam refers to a Holocaust Museum in Cincinnati. It’s amazing! It’s proper name is the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center. You can learn more about their work on their website: www.holocaustandhumanity.org. But the most impactful element is the interactive exhibits where you can have an AI supported conversation with a survivor. Definitely worth a visit.  [4] Simon talks about his passport, the papers he needed to move freely. Here are a few pages from that passport, which now belong to Miriam.