The first weeks of a new year should be optimistic and flavored with the anticipation of fresh vigor, yet for me it has not only been a struggle to reorient my life but also an unexpected vision of past historical events affecting the present. Before the year arrived I was forced to vacate my position as Head-Chef at Prima Restaurant because of overwork, and stress with the conclusion that I was simply too old to be working a completely demanding job anymore. I believed that I was on the edge of an unknown borderland, being thrust out ofa 'comfort zone' into a new but uncertain sphere of creativity. So I began my new year under a dark cloud of apprehension...
Then a newspaper article alerted me to events occurring in Babi Yar park in South Aurora on Yale Ave; plans which will institute a memorial to the 100,000 Jews, Ukrainians and dissidents executed by Nazi's in September 1941. The park itself was created in 1970 as a contemplative space for those killed in the town of the same name near Kiev in Russia. The actual statistics of this event are unimaginable; according to an article by Shmuel Spector in the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, within two days of the German military taking the town of Kiev the Einsatzgruppe (a special police-extermination group) claimed to have killed 33,771 Jews. Two years after the event the only remaining survivors, a mere 14 men, managed to escape after being forced to burn all the remains of the massacre. It is hard to imagine the extent of the atrocity; but let us envisage the entire population of North Aurora (approximately 40,000 residents) being dragged out of their homes and disappearing over the next weekend; we might then come close to the horror of Babi Yar. Whatever memorial is chosen I hope that it stands as a constant reminder of those innocent people swept away in a cruel wave of sadism.
Then I found myself at the Aurora History Museum. Currently they have a photographic exhibition which details the story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee. After France was invaded in 1940 the Germans began to arrest and deport Jews and other groups to concentration and extermination camps around Europe. Under the guidance and inspiration of the ERC, Varian Fry elected to travel to Marseilles in France to rescue as many people from the Nazi's as possible. In August 1940 he left New York with $3000 and a list of refugees in danger, neither the US Consulate or the French authorities in Marseille offered neither help or assistance to his mission. Much of Fry's work was done in a clandestine secrecy. He managed to form a dedicated group of underground workers and based his operations in the local Hotel Splendide, often under intense scrutiny from the authorities. His elaborate rescue network lasted for 13 months and in that time he and his team managed to save over 2000 people by securing their passage across the Pyrenees mountains into Spain and then to America. Many of those saved were already famous in Europe as writers, artists, musicians, doctors, scientists, scholars but also many more ordinary individuals who, were it not for the dedication of Varian Fry would have been exterminated by Nazism. Their intellectual, scientific and artistic contribution to modern America is immense and this is why Varian Fry is today considered a hero in the true meaning of the term; bold, decisive and determined to save human lives regardless of his own personal safety.
Walking into the Mizel Arts and Culture Center on Dahlia Street I was slammed by impact of Jewish tradition, the survival of the atrocities in the 2 nd World War; a poignant memorial within the center is truly heart-wrenching but also symbolically a beautiful restoration of faith and hope for the future. The Mizel center is a place of vision, and I was there to see an exhibition of artwork, drawings and paintings by William Stockman. Unfortunately the show finished on the 18 th January but it gave me food for thought and reflection. Entitled
Nothing is Hiding'the artist has probed the deepest emotional boundaries of a fragile existence.
The artist explores the raw unpremeditated acts of life, aspects of tension, reserve, humility and inner anger, of personal wounds and the struggle, the desire to escape from the fog of confusion and darkness. Stockman has used the image of the archer as a significant symbol of this self-initiated effort to rise above the dross and mud of confusion; not merely a sport or pleasurable pastime, but a magical path wherein the bow and arrow are the tools which confirm the validity of our existence. The intonation of this is so delicate and mysterious that it almost evades contemplation never mind words of explanation; it comes down to an unshakeable believe in oneself, and from this comes passion and success. Without this belief, the perception we have of ourselves and the world begins to fray and disintegrate into chaos.
I have been fortunate in the past month of seeing how many individuals and groups of people have maintained their integrity, character and culture in the face of disquietude. And in these examples I take immense strength. I also see how blessed I and my family are to dwell in this peaceful and tranquil land, free of persecution and potential harm, the right to speak our minds and pursue our dreams, and to build a future...
Mizel Museum and Babi Yar Park:
http://www.mizelmuseum.org/Default.aspx?tabid=213
Aurora History Museum. 15051 East Alameda Parkway. Aurora, Colorado 80012.
http://www.auroragov.org/AuroraGov/Departments/Library__Recreation_and_Cultural_Services/Cultural_Services/History_Museum/Exhibits/index.htm
The Mizel Arts and Cultural Center. 350 Dahlia St, Denver CO 80246:
http://www.mizelcenter.org/c.php