Walking with my Grandfather in his footsteps

The main goal of our work as 3Gs is to tell our family stories of survival; whether our grandparents made it through ghettos, work camps, death marches, or worse, the legacy of how we came to be is the thrust of what we share with those to whom we speak. What is much harder to capture, and what is often lost to time, is how our families lived all those years ago. 

I have always said at the end of my speaking engagements that I am one of the proud and fortunate few that has my grandfather still with me, sharing his story with the world. But last month I had the incredible privilege to really celebrate how he lived before history made him a Holocaust survivor. My grandfather took his children and his grandchildren, and our respective partners, to where his story began: Budapest. 

My family and I got to walk in his footsteps, share a slice of his life, and experience some of the places he has spoken about dozens of times. All with him in tow, sharing memories and guiding our tours.

One of my grandfather’s first brushes with the Holocaust was his father refusing to get him a bike. He was given two reasons - first, they lived in a 5th story walk-up and the broken elevator couldn’t be fixed because the factory was now part of the war effort, and second, because he might ride out of sight and become a target for violence. Telling that story will now invoke incredible memories for me - I have been to his apartment, I have been inside that elevator, and I have walked the streets he was kept from riding. 

The most powerful moment of our trip was at Rumbach Synagogue, where my great grandfather Yehudah served as cantor. Though it has been recently restored back to its colorful and architecturally stunning glory, its beauty was not all that moved us. Our family sat and played a CD of my great grandfather praying. We listened as his voice wound through the arches and cascaded from the balconies. I cannot begin to describe the reverie it evoked within us. We cried and we embraced each other as my grandfather got to hear his father daven one last time in the shul he grew up in. 

This trip only strengthened my resolve to be a speaker and volunteer for 3GDC. To elevate the memories I have and moments I experienced, and carry a lasting legacy for my grandfather. It is the least I can do for all he has done for me.