Letter from Stéphane Bern to 'Maître' regarding 'Secrets d'Histoire' box sets

Elie Wiesel writes to Colin Powell expressing profound gratitude and admiration for a "gift letter" that Powell sent. He mentions that the letter was read aloud by Jon Voight at a dinner attended by over 700 guests, and was met with great applause and emotion. Wiesel conveys a deep personal connection, stating he never had a brother and now feels he has found a "very special one" in Powell, emphasizing his strong feelings of gratitude and admiration.

Bernice Fishman (birth name Bronia Graudens) was born in Vronki, Poland in 1934. Her father owned a clothing store. Bernice and her mother fled to her mother's parents in Staszow in 1939. The Staszow Ghetto was established in 1940. Jewish children were educated clandestinely. Bernice and her brother were sent to live with a Polish farmer before the ghetto was evacuated. Her grandmother joined them later. Her grandfather and her father were sent to the Skarzysko concentration camp and her mother was hidden by a neighbor. Bernice, her brother, and her grandmother left the Polish family to go to a town that was supposed to be a sanctuary for Jews but were caught by the Polish police, imprisoned for a week, and told daily they would be shot. Her parents bribed somebody to get them out of prison. Bernice describes how she, her brother, and her aunt and uncle were hidden by a succession of Poles in Ogrodzenie, posing as Catholics. She was always hungry, in fear of being discovered, and pretty much on her own. Her four year old brother died because they were afraid to take him to a doctor. Bernice got sick and walked to a Catholic hospital where she received care. In 1945 Bernice was reunited with her parents who rented an apartment in Kielce that they shared with four other Jewish families. Her mother gave birth to a girl. Bernice describes how her family managed to survive despite constant fear of Polish antisemitism. She relates how Poles threw ten Jews from a moving train her father was supposed to be on. While she was hiding with the Kuchatays, Bernice had to pose as a Catholic, go to Confession and receive Communion, but never forgot she was Jewish. After the war, Mrs. Kuchatay found the family and threatened to sue unless Bernice converted legally. To avoid going to court, the family fled to Bytom with the help of Bernice's uncle who was in the Russian army. A few days later all the Jews in their former apartment were killed during the Kielce pogrom. After several months in Bytom, they were smuggled into Czechoslovakia. From there they went to a Displaced Persons camp near Stuttgart, Germany. Bernice attended a school for Jewish children where classes were conducted in Hebrew. Her father obtained an apartment in a house owned by a former member of the Nazi party. Bernice briefly reflects on the different behavior of Poles, Russians, Czechs, and Germans toward Jews. The family emigrated to the United States in 1950, sponsored by Bernice's cousin who was an American citizen. Interviewee: FISHMAN, Bernice Graudens Date: May 29, 1991

Agnes Adachi, nee Mandl, was born in l9l8 in Budapest. She was the only child in a minimally observant Jewish family. She attended a Reformed Church school, where she received some Hebrew instruction. In l943, prior to the German invasion, she was baptized by a Reformed Church pastor to save her from deportation. Her father was taken away by the Hungarian Arrow Cross and his Christian partner in a textile stored appropriated the business. Agnes was given asylum in the Swedish Embassy together with many other refugees and helped in the distribution of Schutzpasseswith Raoul Wallenberg. She describes Wallenberg’s wit and daring in dealing with Arrow Cross and German officers. She credits the Swiss Red Cross as well as the Swedish Red Cross for their aid. In l945, after the war ended, she was in Sweden, where she worked with Count Bernadotte as a teacher of refugees. Her memoir is Child of the Winds: My Mission with Raoul Wallenberg, Chicago: Adams Press, l989.

Hans Hartenstein was born January 27, 1923 into a Jewish family in Vienna. He describes his father, owner of a printing business, as a decorated Austrian veteran of World War I who knew of the persecution of Jews in Germany but believed that he would not be affected by Nazi oppression. After the Anschluss, his father was arrested on April 13, 1938 and was detained in Dachau and Buchenwald for 13 months. When Hans was forced to leave his Gymnasium, he joined Hashomer Hatzair as an avid Zionist, preparing for emigration to Palestine in a hakhsharah camp near Vienna. He describes illegal shortwave broadcasts and crowded living conditions after his father’s business and the family apartment were confiscated. Unable to obtain a Palestinian emigration certificate, he left for England with help from the British Society of Friends in August 1939. His father had emigrated to England following his release from concentration camp in May 1939, also with help from British Quakers. Hans describes refugee life in England and their concern about his mother’s safety in Vienna. She emigrated to the U.S. in January 1940; Hans and his father joined her within that year. Brief men‌tion is made of a cousin who survived in hiding with aid from a Dutch farmer.

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria, updating her on the family after the marriage of her nephew, Isaac Hays, to Sarah Ann Minis Hays. She also critiques how charitable "fairs" are held and recalls Maria's aunt as a possible love interest of George Washington's after reading his newest biography.