"for the sake of humanity"… A small town American high school history project changes lives worldwide. These are the observations of a veteran teacher- on the Power of Teaching, the importance of the study of History, and especially the lessons we must learn, and teach, on the Holocaust. Click on "Holocaust Survivors, Liberators Reunited" tab above to begin.
A bit sad to announce we closed the physical bookshop this month at the Glens Falls Shirt Factory on the third floor. We just don’t have the bandwidth (i.e. my physical presence in two places); originally it was a father-daughter venture, with the youngest having a photo studio there too, but she moved to Troy to continue her education/career. And my butt needs to be in the chair at home working on new titles. I hope to be back there with a booth for the holidays and a new title or two. It’s nice to interact with the fans!
photo: Gretta Hochsprung 2020
At home, my wife and I worked really hard getting books packed and shipped for the latest holiday rush; between mid November and Christmas we gained at least 2500 new readers. Then we took our annual retreat to start the next book in the series, Vol. 10, China/Burma/India, and work on the third eight-hundred page omnibus book. I think that cover came out pretty good! It will be available in a few weeks, or you can look for it at Amazon here.
Around the beginning of this month we crossed over 25,000 orders on the direct to consumer store [link below] we opened 44 months ago, or 3.75 years, around Memorial Day, 2020. Many of them are now long time subscribers; we have about the same number for followers on our official Facebook page. So thank you for that. And virtually no complaints/returns [well, maybe literally a handful from the occasional husband who admits being too lazy to open the books his wife got him for a gift!]. That tells me we are scratching an itch, and someday I will post the comments and conversations that turn into message boards that appear on some of my feeds I see online.
Today by chance in an audio shuffle, I’m listening to history podcaster Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History episodes on the War in the Pacific, “Supernova in the East”. It’s very long and involved but it is very good. And a former student tipped me off that Dan quotes from my first book in it [about an hour twenty-five minutes into this one]! I hope Dan gets a chance to pick up the other (nine)!
This week I’ll also get to preview a working draft of Mike Edwards’ film on my book, and 1/3 of my life. It will be Episode One, of four parts. And I’ll get to see it with Mike, my family and some others, the screenwriter Lee Shackleford and key film making participants Josh Fronduti and Chris Martin, all coming hundreds of miles to screen it for us for the first time.
And, timely enough, I have heard from another second generation survivor (daughter) who saw her father’s moving image on the day after he was liberated. I’m honored and welcome to share her astonishment and greetings, below.
Suffice it to say, the miracles just keep coming.
From NARA: “Summary: Numerous scenes, freed Jewish prisoners in groups along railroad tracks. Their expressions furnish a clue to the suffering they endured. Individual shots: Men, women, and children, some of them in various stages of emaciation. Flashes of US soldiers distributing food. The group surrounding the soldiers push forward to receive meager bits of food. LS, village being shelled by German artillery from across the Elbe River.”
“Hello, Dr. Matt Rozell,
I have the honor to write to you after my efforts to reach your address by Mr. Jakob Barzilay from Raanana and Mis. Varda Weisskopf .
On July 31, 2023, Channel 12 of the Israeli television broadcasted the video that was found in the basement of the archives of the Holocaust Museum in Washington after for 78 years without anyone knowing about it, which I understand was thanks to your investigation.
When I watched the video I was immediately flooded with calls from my children, my brother and nephews who all couldn’t believe their eyes. Our father (their grandfather) appears clearly in the video.
After watching the video at least five times and rubbing our eyes, we opened the booklet in which our children wrote on 1986 the family roots when they were 14 years old. We found the literal description of the valley where the train stopped, with a hill covered with trees on the one side and a lower hill with green spring grass on the other one.
The name of my father is Michael Sonnenshein, born on 1909 in Verebly. His name appears in the list of the Bergen-Barzan release book – “NAMES” (Jewish victims of Hungarian labour battalions).
I am attaching here: 1. His name from the book; 2. A photo of my father which was taken after the War for the purpose of identification in the video; 3. A section from the video, where you see my father removing his hat in front of the photographer.
Michael Sonnenshein.
I would like very much to get in touch with you and learn more about the story of the train.
Teaching History Matters 