Dear Mary, A thank you letter from a WWII child refugee
Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.
Today I have a story for you that is guaranteed to warm your heart but to that I’m hoping you can give me a bit of latitude so I can offer some perspective. While I’m sitting down to write this edition of Newsgram there are news stories circulating about Israel and Gaza, the war between the Ukraine and Russia, Trump’s guilty verdict and the aftermath of that along with numerous natural disasters happening all over the world and the damage done by them. Then there are our own personal struggles over things like interest rates, the price of gas or the economy. I’m sure you have issues personal to you like childcare, joblessness or any number of things that are creating tension for you over a backdrop of world chaos and political infighting but for just a minute let’s put a pin in all that and listen to Miriam Steiner-Aviezer born in 1935 in Yugoslavia to Jewish parents.
In 1941, the Nazi’s invaded Yugoslavia, arrested Miriam and her parents and forced them onto trains bound for a concentration camp in Croatia. This is not the story of that horrific time and fortunately she and her parents survived the Holocaust. This story is about her experience in the refugee camp.
Miriam – No it was a nice place. They did all the efforts to make us happy and to provide us a nice place to live in but maybe they didn’t understand our feelings and our mental situation. I just want to be alone all the time.
In case you aren’t familiar I will give you the Wikipedia definition of a ‘displaced Persons camp”. It was a temporary facility where unaccompanied Children of all ages were gathered together and looked after until a more permanent situation could be found for them. Miriam was one of those children. A scared little girl who just wanted to be left alone.
Miriam – I was just a person that liked to be alone and I was just happy they didn’t join me in their singing and dancing. There was not one single thing that could move me.
Most people are well-meaning and try to help by encouraging you to join in on group activities and games but we all process grief differently. Some kids just want to be left alone and it can be very hard to reach them.
Now, we can argue all day long about congress spending our money but today I thought it would be nice to transport you back to a different time and reflect on an aid package sent by the people of America to children living in this refugee camp in the aftermath of World War Two.
Miriam – I really admire the people of America. Americans are so concerned about what is happening around them and they are always ready to help and they’re always read to share what they have with others.
Miriam is going to read an excerpt from her book “Dear Mary” about her experience and the thing that changed her life for the better.
Miriam – Then one day I found a big package on my bed. I was not sure it belonged to me so I did not try to touch it but they took all the things that were in the package and put it on my bed.….somehow I knew that this was not the name of the doll but of the girl who sent it. I imagine a girl my age
A doll with one shoe and the name Mary written on the other foot that got sent from America as part of a large care-package and managed to reach just the right person.
Miriam – I imagined a girl my age kissing her goodby and putting her in that big box. This doll made a very long journey before she came to me. I took her in my arms and embraced her body as if I finally met a dear friend of mine. From that day on I was not alone or lonely. I had a friend. I was you Mary. I remember I was told, it was a gift from the people of America. The people of America sounded so beautiful that I enjoyed repeating it on and on until it came to be a melody caressing my ears and I began mumbling silently to myself. The people of America.
Miriam wanted to thank Mary for sending her this doll but she had no individual address and you can’t just send a letter addressed to “the people of America” so now, years later she’s published this book that will hopefully serve as a thank you.
Miriam – Many years have passed since and you Mary probably have a big family with children and grandchildren, just like me. I’m sure you have forgotten about the package you sent me years ago but I did not forget. All those years all I wanted was to write a letter and to say thank you to the people of America.
What a beautiful vision it would be for Mary to read this letter and know that her doll touched the life of some little girl that needed it so badly but Miriam has a more important take away for us.
Miriam – Mary is a symbol. It’s not really a person it is a symbol of a generation and I think that this generation of Mary, this was the finest hour in your history. You personally didn’t go through the holocaust but you identify yourself with those that did. Those activities of sending packages; not only what was in the packages but it was the gesture. It exudes the message of human love and kindness, compassion and the power of goodness.
A Kindness done for no other reason than to brighten someone’s day. No politics, no religion, just love.
We send care packages out all the time in the form of financial aid, supplies and necessities and don’t often get to hear how much these things are appreciated. Maybe it’s because we don’t ask, we just give because it’s the right thing to do.
Miriam – I really admire Americans and I really think that people should have more respect for the simple American who is always concerned about what is happening around and is ready to help.
Are you familiar with the concept of The Butterfly Effect? It’s a concept that comes form the modern Chaos theory developed by Edward Lorenz an American mathematician and meteorologist who discovered that minor variations in the initial conditions of a weather model could lead to vastly different outcome but it’s a lot more that that for the purposes of this podcast lets just say that sometimes, the things we do can have far reaching effects because the world is interconnected in so many ways.
Do something out of love and you could be sending out waves of kindness into the universe that reach far beyond our expectations like a care package sent to a child refugee camp nearly eighty years ago resulting in a book written in 2023 that can bring a smile to sick women and continues to pay dividends.
Miriam – I once received a letter from a young woman. She said when I read this story to my grandmother who is sick and not responsive she smiled.
Miriam – And I think there are still alive people that were handling these packages and my wish is that those people will read my book.
Dear Mary, a thank you letter from a WWII refugee to the People of America, a wonderful story for not only the people involved but anyone who needs a smile or a reminder that kindness is a good thing. A loving gesture doesn’t have to be on a grand scale, and it doesn’t have to take place at Christmas time. It’s always a great time to reach someone in need in any way you can because, well, you just never know.
Her name is Miriam Steiner-Aviezerand you can see a photo of her with her doll if you visit theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museumin Washington DC. If you can’t make it to DC look up the museums page on Facebook and you can find it there.
To find the book just Google “Dear Mary by Miriam” and you’ll find it. We put a link to some of the online bookstores in the show notes for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com
The post Dear Mary, A thank you letter from a WWII child refugee appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
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