Broken Birds – Grown Children Of Holocaust Survivors
What would you do if your mother unexpectedly died, and left the family
residence not divided up equally amongst her five children but entirely to a
single child? You may say, Well it’s her money and she can leave it to
anyone she likes. But is that how you would you feel down deep inside? You’d
been a loyal, attentive son or daughter. You called every day. You were
there at their beck and call whenever she needed anything. But, in the end,
that parent’s final message to you is I liked him better. People will tell
you that that isn’t how it was meant, but that’s nevertheless how it feels.
.
My Mom died four and a half years ago. All too soon after her death, her
widowed husband of fifty-four years and five children found themselves
seated in the attorney’s office to hear Mom’s will read aloud. We all had a
hunch there might be trouble found in Mom’s Last Will and Testament, but we
were nevertheless shocked. Mom had bypassed Dad altogether and given the
title of the family home to my brother.
.
It would take four grueling years to complete the battle for that house.
During that time I realized how much she had buffered the five of us from
each other when she was alive. Once she was gone, it took little time for
this family, which she had once held together with the force of Jewish
guilt, to splinter and fracture irrevocably.
.
In my fifty years of life Mom had taught me many life truths. It took a
long time for me to understand that many of her ideas/truths/ways of looking
at the world weren’t true at all. My fingers could barely type as fast as
the words were coming to me and it took many many drafts to get the anger
out.
.
Jewish or Gentile, Black or White as we Boomers age, many of us will head
down the road to Inheritance hell. It isn’t about greed. It is about justice
– and about feeling like our presence and contributions to family life
have counted for something over the years.
.
“Broken Birds, The Story of my Momila” is the story of my journey. It
explores parent child relationships and sibling rivalries, and how, after
fifty years, some things just don’t change. I discovered some of my own
truths and for me it was better late than never. To view an excerpt please
visit: www.BrokenBirds.com.
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