We are a time and place in America where more children of Holocaust survivors are with us than survivors themselves. In some ways this is the lens through which many Americans understand how the Nazi regime murdered 6 million Jews in the 1930's and 40's.
Sassa Åkervall's mother survived the Holocaust. She shared part of her family's story in the book, The Ones Who Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust. It was published in 2022 by members of Temple Beth-Emeth in Ann Arbor and contains a collection of essays telling the stories of the children of Holocaust survivors.
“My mother was very extroverted for anyone outside the family,” Åkervall said. “I remember a lot of parties at my parents' house but for us in the family, there was something dark and oftentimes we found ourselves, or at least me, walking on eggshells, you know, cause there was something there. That never really was shown to the outside.”
Akervall grew up in a small town in Sweden, where she said everyone knew each other. Her mother, Magda Wilensky, rarely talked about her past or the horrors she experienced during the Holocaust. Åkervall noted that her mother preferred to live her life and adapt to her surroundings, a behavior that she found common among Swedish people.
“We never really talked about the Holocaust as a family, we all knew that she'd been through it, but we didn't really talk about it,” Åkervall said.
In her essay, Åkervall recounts her mother’s harrowing experiences. Wilensky was initially separated from her family in an attempt to escape deportation, but she ultimately made the difficult decision to return to be united with them once again. Akervall’s mother survived several concentration camps. For many years, Åkervall felt unable to discuss her mother’s experience during the Holocaust.
“She liked to talk about her experiences with my husband and I believe my brother as well, but she never brought it up with me. Just a comment here and there,” Åkervall said.
In 1994, shortly after completing his film Schindler’s List, American director Steven Spielberg established the USC Shoah Foundation. The foundation aimed to record, preserve, and share the stories of Holocaust survivors. In 1997, he interviewed Åkervall’s mother for the foundation's Visual Library.
After receiving the tapes of the interview, Åkervall’s mother encouraged her to watch them and learn about her story. However, Åkervall found this request to be quite challenging.
“I was very naive and maybe even ignorant, definitely ignorant, that I was just pushing it away,” Åkervall said. “I didn't want to go there, and maybe that was a way of protecting both of us, both her and myself. At that time, no interest in watching them.”
Upon moving to the United States in 2004, Åkervall discovered a community at the Temple Beth-Emeth in Ann Arbor, with whom she could relate. Through conversations and the observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, this group collaborated to write a book that chronicled their experiences as children of Holocaust survivors.
Background reading: Chapter 6: Generation to Generation
Hear the full conversation with Sassa Åkervall on the Stateside podcast.
