with you. But he told great stories. He made up stories to tell my sister and I me when we were little, you know, at night before going to bed. He was a creative person. He was funny, he liked to laugh. I always found it surprising to hear that survivors don't like to talk about their experiences because he didn't mind talking at all. He didn't feel the need to keep what he had experienced secret.
Besides the charming fairy tales, I grew up hearing vignettes from his childhood visits to Tartar encampments in Crimea, a child’s recollection of the Russian Revolution, and ultimately, war stories. It was a very different background than most of my friends. The only negative was that he suffered from what we now know as PTSD: he was always afraid that something bad would befall him family. From what little I’ve said about him here, I think you can understand why. Loss was big part of his life.
Your father’s book is now at the Auschwitz Memorial. How do you feel about this?
I think it's wonderful that it is there, that people will be able to see it. Obviously, it's very gratifying. Although my daughter has her own copy, I’m sure she will visit Auschwitz in the future and it will be exciting to see her grandfather’s contribution to history there at the museum. Also for the historical record, that it's preserved in its place of origin, so to speak, where people can access it. And of course, now there's the new edition of “Byliśmy w Oświęcimiu” published by Słowne that just came out, which is also tremendously gratifying.