TimesLeader.com

August 27
Mother’s journey comes to life through daughter

By Don McGlynn dmcglynn@theabingtonjournal.com

SCRANTON - At 16, most teenagers are thinking about driving, but when Sala Garncarz-Kirschner was 16, all she had on her mind was how to survive in a Nazi Labor Camp.

Ann Kirschner and her mother Sala Garncarz-Kirschner

Prisoners were given a monthly Eskarte (meal ticket) in the early days of the labor camp. This is one of many that Sala saved.

Times Leader Photo Store

In 1940, Garncarz was separated from her family and sent first to Geppersdorf, one of many labor camps she would be sent to over the next five years.

The only things she had with her included seven sheets of paper and an ink well, with which she used to write a journal and letters. The letters created a detailed firsthand representation of what life was like for a labor camp survivor.

For five years, Garncarz went to great lengths to hide the letters, taking them with her from camp to camp. Always aware that she would be severely punished if she were ever caught with the letters, her willingness to preserve the documents exhibited her bravery.

After she was liberated in 1945, Garncarz came to America, where she started a family and tried to leave the horrible memory of what had happened to her behind, never breathing a word of it to her children.

“We knew the barest outlines. I knew she was a survivor of the holocaust, but where and how long I didn’t know,” said Garncarz’ daughter Ann Kirschner. “After the war, her strongest desire was to become an American wife and mother, and not forget what had happened, but not let it influence her children in a negative way.”

It wasn’t until 1991, right before Garncarz was scheduled for heart surgery, that she told her daughter the full story of what had happened to her and showed her the letters she had saved for years.

“The historical part was the furthest thing from her mind, she kept them out of a sense of protectiveness,” said Kirschner.

Whatever Garncarz’ motives for keeping the letters, Kirschner saw the potential of them as a learning tool, and as one of the few firsthand accounts of the holocaust. With her mother’s permission, she quickly set to work to bring her mother’s story to the masses.

Originally, Kirschner thought the letters, journal entries, postcards and official documents her mother had saved would make a great book. But, after donating the letters to the Dorat Jewish Division of The New York Public Library, Jill Vexler, PhD. came on board, and suggested the materials would make a wonderful exhibit.

“Exhibitions have a calm about them,” said Vexler, the curator. “It’s one of the many ways to tell a story. The story doesn’t unfold like a book does, but it’s a way for people to feel the story. To show the tangible thing that represents the way of life and tells the story of the horror this person faced.”

The exhibit, “Letters to Sala, A Young Woman’s life in Nazi Labor Camps,” opened at the New York Public Library in 1996, and began a three-year long tour in May of 2007, which went to Washington D.C. at the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda and to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus.

“It’s been extraordinary to see the effect that this story has had on so many people. At first, my mother and I didn’t think anyone would understand or be interested,” said Kirschner.

But people were, and starting in September, “Letters to Sala” will be on display at the University of Scranton until October 28, at The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library.

“Letters to Sala” display begins on September 1, but it officially launches on September 14, when Kirschner will be featured at the event from 1 to 4 p.m.

While having Kirschner, one of the people responsible for bringing the story to life, on hand to elaborate on the exhibit will be a plus, she will not be there solely to help.

“I have a secret agenda about coming. I think that this story has special significance with young people. I enjoy talking to everyone who sees the exhibit, but I especially love talking to them (young people),” said Kirschner.

Also scheduled to make an appearance will be Vexler, who will speak at the college and lead a discussion on how a curator takes tangible visible objects to tell a story.

Vexler is tentatively scheduled to be at the University of Scranton on Monday, October 27. For more information call 941-6341.