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Transcript/ScriptThe Letters Project Kupchinetsky
HEAD: “The Letters Project”: How Her Parents’ Holocaust-Era Correspondence Prompted Writer Eleanor Reissa To Dive Into Her Family History
DATE: 01/31/2022: at 9:20am
PUBLISHED AT: 1/31/2022: 9:20am
BYLINE: Victoria Kupchinetsky
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Cold Spring, New York
VIDEOGRAPHER: Michael Eckels
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, see courtesies
PLATFORMS: TV only
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE(1st)
TRT: 5:04
VID APPROVED BY: KE
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: ))
((INTRO:))
[[Eleanor Reissa’s mother and father survived the Nazi Holocaust in Europe during the 1940’s. After the war but before they were married, they wrote letters to each other. Those letters led Eleanor on a journey to learn about her parents’ past. The result of that journey was just released in book form. Victoria Kupchinetsky has the story.]]
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory courtesy: Frank London))
((NATS))
((Eleanor sings in Yiddish))
((NARRATION))
Eleanor Reissa speaks – and sings in – Yiddish fluently. A talented and creative person, she is a writer, singer, actress, playwright and theater director. But she says her main artistic achievement is the publishing of a unique book called “The Letters Project.”
((End courtesy))
((NATS))
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“Both of my parents lived through the Holocaust. My father lived through Auschwitz, and my mother was in Uzbekistan, in Fergana. From Poland, they both were. My father died in 1976, my mother died in 1986. And when she died, I found letters that I didn’t know she had…”
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory courtesy: Eleanor Reissa))
The letters were written in German by Reissa’s father, Chaskel Schlusselberg. In 1949, Chaskel Schlusselberg was in Germany writing to Reissa’s mother Ruchele Hoff who had emigrated to New York. He was planning to join
((End courtesy))
her.
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“I am writing to you non-stop. I understand that you have your hands full until everything is in place. But please realize
((Mandatory courtesy: Eleanor Reissa))
how very happy it makes me to read some words from you, my love. As to my
((End courtesy))
((Mandatory courtesy: Museum of Jewish Heritage))
coming to America, I can only tell you, my darling, that I would fly to you
((End courtesy))
if I only had wings!”
((NARRATION))
When the letters were translated into English, Reissa wanted to learn more about her parents’ story.
She traveled to Germany and
((Mandatory courtesy: Eleanor Reissa))
studied in the archives.
She learned she had a stepsister who died during the Holocaust.
"She read her father’s official account of his time in Auschwitz, and how he managed to escape from the Nazis during a deadly forced march west from
((End courtesy))
((Mandatory courtesy: Museum of Jewish Heritage))
Poland into Germany where thousands of jews died or were killed."
Things he had never told her while he was alive.
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“He didn’t ever talk about it. Why? A – I don’t
((End courtesy))
know, I can only imagine that it was so horrible, so why should he tell me? He loved me,
((Mandatory courtesy: Museum of Jewish Heritage))
why should he give me pain? It’s painful to know that your father was in hell…”
((NARRATION))
When in 1945 her father fled the Nazis, he would hide in the woods and inside haystacks. The war was nearing its end by then.
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“He met with other prisoners who had run away,
((End courtesy))
and then somehow the Russians came and… he said they gave him some food, even though they themselves didn’t have much.
((Mandatory courtesy: Museum of Jewish Heritage))
He wanted to go back to Germany, but the Russian doctor would not let him go, because he was not well enough to go… So, I would say that it was the Russians that were the first who saved him…”
((NARRATION))
Reissa’s parents who had never met finally united in Germany after the
((End courtesy))
war, then moved to the US.
For Reissa, reading her father’s letters was a way to get to know him better – and to get to know herself better as well.
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“And it never really occurred to me, the depth of his
((Mandatory courtesy: Eleanor Reissa))
tragedy. He was broken when I was born already, and just became more and more broken.
((End courtesy))
I didn’t know my father was a vibrant, handsome, smart, poetic fellow! So, I learned who my father was… And I guess that means a little bit who I am…”
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory courtesy: National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene))
Reissa called her book ‘The Letters Project’ – its presentation took place at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene where Reissa previously worked as an artistic director.
((Zalman Mlotek, National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene))
“I look at these as treasured documents.
((End courtesy))
I think what Eleanor is showing us and inspiring us – all of us – is to hold on to those documents,
((Mandatory courtesy: Museum of Jewish Heritage))
you know!”
((NARRATION))
That’s what Reissa did, and it provided her with a universal story about her parents’ survival and past.
((Eleanor Reissa, Writer))
“All of the people under German Nazi persecution at that time fought like hell to live.
((End courtesy))
The… Because, you know, some people say they went like sheep to the slaughter, which makes me so angry! It makes me so angry… They fought, they fought with everything… So, I learned that too…”
Victoria Kupchinetsky in Cold Spring New York,
VOA News
NewsML Media TopicsLifestyle and Leisure, Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
BylineVictoria Kupchinetsky
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
