Page 12 - Rivkas Diary 090516 HTML5

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Rivka writes about her family:

“Today is Sunday. Esther and Mina have gone off to work. It is very

cold outside, and I am very sad as I recall that Avremik and Tamarche

have been sent off to an unknown place. I have become very sad now.

I feel pressured and filled with pain for the world, and I force myself

to feel that I am happy, with much laughter, thinking about other

things. And nonetheless, I think of them very much, about my family.’

Esther and Mina lived with Rivka in the Lodz Ghetto. In fact, Esther

was the one who raised Rivka after both of her parents passed away,

and two of her younger siblings were taken by the Nazis.

“Even in the diary she writes that I said to her, ‘You shouldn’t be

writing, what are you writing about?’ Do you understand? I scolded

her for doing that, since there were more important things to do. Like

what? At home, to help. Her help was needed, I needed her help.

We meet Esther and Mina as they sit and wait for Dr. Anita Friedman

of the Holocaust center in SF, that should be arriving any minute with

the original diary that Rivka wrote.

‘I miss them so much, my conscience tortures me. If Avremik looked

better in the selection, they wouldn’t have taken him. He was such a

good boy. How many times I was lacking bread, and he gave me a

piece of his. Oh, so many times. It’s because of me that they took him,

because of me that he didn’t look well. My conscience is killing me, I

wanted so much to cry.’

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