We're Still Here

The members of the Jewish families that survived the Shoah do have many secrets to share and to be revealed. Some were hidden for ever in the overwhelming sadness of the survivors that left behind with the murdered loved ones a part of their emotions, hearts and understanding.

Tracing back those secrets, recreating the histories that really made history is becoming harder and harder as the number of those who survived is constantly decreasing. 

Esther Safran Foer is one of those 'gatekeepers of the past'. In I Want to Know We're Still Here she is recreating her family history, through travel, intensive research in the archives, oral testimonies and, when necessary, detective work too. The journey tracing her family history back in the Ukraininan shtetl of Trochenbrod was earlier started by one of her famous sons, Jonathan that ended up writing a work of fiction - Everything is Illuminated - turned later into a movie. But Esther Safran Foer has a list of names, pictures and the desire to discover more about the family her father had during the war. His first wife and daughter were murdered and Esther is intensively researching - through interviews and research done in USA, Israel and Ukraine - those particular destinies. 

We say that someone really dies when there is no one to remember him or her. When there is no one to be given his or her name. This is why in the Askenazi - European Jewish - tradition, we give to a child the name of a dead relative. Thus, the name and the spirit of the deceased stays alive. But what happened when there is no trace of your name left?

Esther Safran Foer succeeds in her treasure hunt discovering her lost relatives. Their names are kept alive through her grandchildren. We're still here.

This relevant post-Holocaust memoir is important for the state-of the art of the genealogical researches and research of personal Jewish narratives. It reveals the ways in which the information from human sources and archives can be used, as well as the new connections made possible by DNA tests and use of online databases. It offers an example of how to proceed to post-Holocaust research, navigating through a sea of information in the absence of direct human sources. 

I personally loved the simple realistic style. It allows the memories to take shape in a photographic way. More than once, one can easily see the short movie of specific events or contexts. 

I Want to Know We're Still Here has a unique voice. Similarly with the memories from different corners of the world Esther Safran Foer collects in ziplock bags - earth, stones etc - it is a fragment of life. Life that once was before it become history. But as long as we're still here, it is a history whose memory will not be forgotten. 

Disclaimer: ARC offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review