Gail Newman’s family history/Holocaust poetry collection Blood Memory
‘To make fresh powerful poems rooted in Shoah is amazing. (Newman) does it by specifics. There are no faceless men in dirty ragged uniforms. The people are individualized.” — Marge Piercy, who selected the book for the Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize
“The very unspeakability of the Holocaust can make writing about it fraught. Gail Newman, the child of Holocaust survivors, transcends this difficulty in her vital new collection, Blood Memory, by telling her parents’ stories — the story of millions — in tender, particular detail…This is a book about collective memory, about the importance of story. …Newman…doesn’t flinch from brutality, yet she has achieved something extraordinary. Blood Memory is a testament to humanity. Despite the darkness, the light of the living shines through.”
— Ellen Bass, Poet and Chancellor of Academy of American Poets
Gail Newman has worked as an arts administrator, museum educator at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and CalPoets poet-teacher and San Francisco Coordinator. She was co-founder of Room, A Women’s Literary Journal and has edited two books of children’s poetry: C is for California and Dear Earth. A collection of her poetry, One World, was published by Moon Tide Press.
Here is an interview with her about her new poetry collection Blood Memory.
How did you decide to put together this collection?
These poems, in bits and pieces of memory, have been inside me all of my life. I tried, when I was younger, to write about my family and the Holocaust, but then, I set it aside. In the 80’s, I invited a friend who produces radio documentaries to come to Los Angeles and interview my parents and family.
She produced 12 hours of taped interviews. After my father passed away, I started writing about him. More poems about my family followed. Then I reached a conscious decision that it was time to write this book.
How did you learn your parents’ stories?
I grew up in a community of Holocaust survivors in Los Angeles, my parents and their large group of friends. I did not know much about the Holocaust at the time, but I felt an underlying sadness, something secret and unspoken. My father spoke more about it as I grew older. I think, like many survivors, he wanted to protect me. And how does one speak of the unspeakable. Talking brings up the disturbing past.
In 2016, My husband and I went to Poland with The International March of the Living. Every year thousands of participants from around the world march together from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day — Yom Hashoah — as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust.
Prior to the trip, I contacted a guide to help us research my family. We spent 4 days with him in Poland and went to Lodz, where my mother was born. We went to my father’s home town, where we found my father’s birth certificate and the house where he grew up. I was surprised to see that the house was not in a rural setting. Across a small courtyard were a row of enclosures where the horses my father spoke about must have been sheltered.
In the Lodz documents office, we found my father’s work papers. In Lodz, located my mother’s house. She had described the location of the house and remembered the address. We asked for admission to the building, and the residents allowed us into their apartment.
What do you think that Blood Memory adds to the body of Holocaust literature? How do you write something new about the Holocaust?
The Holocaust has been widely documented. We have many novel, memoirs, and poems. However, it’s not a question of writing something new, but of writing to remember, honor. And be moved. Elie Wiesel famously said, “Whoever listens to a witness, becomes a witness. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.”
Every witness has a story, and every story is unique and worth telling. Blood Memory is a family, immigrant story. It reads like a memoir, in three sections. The first part takes place during the war. Part two begins with First Date, and moves on to marriage, parenthood, and immigration. The third section includes elegies to the dead, my trip to Poland, and poems about growing old.
How do you think new generations read this sort of poetry differently? On the one hand, most actual Holocaust survivors aren’t with us anymore. On the other hand, there are more refugees/immigrants reading literary magazines etc who may have survived these sorts of traumas.
The historical moments tell the story of my heritage, my culture, as do all immigrant stories. I know myself through the past and those who came before me. When we say, “Never forget,” we mean that history teaches us lessons that help us live and carry on into the future. So, I remember and learn what I can of the past. And these stories are relevant today, and apply to all people. To remember is to live with compassion and a sense of justice, to speak out against injustice, cruelty, racism. And to live with hope.
Why is it important to remember the Holocaust?
We remember the Holocaust in the hope that it will never happen again in any nation, to any people. We want to remember the past, those who died, our heritage and our people. We want to remember so we can live with compassion. We remember so we will not stand as silent witness to others’ suffering.
I hope readers will find in my book a source of hope and a model of resilience during hard times. I think young people can read the book, study the Holocaust, and relate it to racism and prejudice in the world today and speak out.
Some teachers have asked about using the book to teach Holocaust Studies, and since I’m an educator, I could help or become involved in that. I would love to share my book with readers in other countries, especially Eastern Europe, and to use it as a message of hope, resilience, and resistance. The present is a moment in history when antisemitism and racial hatred are on the rise around the world.
The human spirit can surpass the most horrific experiences with dignity and courage. We remember the Holocaust to honor the living and the dead. And we remember so that we will be vigilant and compassionate, so that we don’t stand idle when others, of any religion, culture or race, experience bigotry, hatred, or genocide.
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