Cover Page Table of Contents Teaching Suggestions Film in DVD or VHS Foreword Reader's Guide Excerpts PROLOGUE (xv) Thanks to the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine in Paris, I had the good fortune to meet French Holocaust survivor Marcel Jabelot in 1993 and gather his moving testimony. Toni Banet videotaped our conversations with talent and patience, and I am very grateful to her. I would also like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for the grant that allowed me to travel to France, conduct interviews and research valuable records. Likewise, the Agnes Irwin School, where I have taught for more than three decades, has generously helped me with both financial and moral support. After returning to France a second time to speak with Marcel Jabelot about life after Auschwitz and using the unedited interviews with my students, I produced the video Visages de la Shoah: Marcel Jabelot [Faces of the Holocaust: Marcel Jabelot] with Martha G. Lubell and Sharon Mullally. It received Honorable Mention in the Jewish film competition at the Judah Magnus Museum in Berkeley, California, aired on Free Speech TV, was featured on National Public Radio, and shown at professional conferences in France and the United States. In 1996, Marcel Jabelot and his lovely wife Danièle, whose kindness and friendship I value greatly, traveled to Rosemont, Pennsylvania for the premiere of Visages de la Shoah at the Agnes Irwin School. Marcel first spoke to more than two hundred attendees, then to my students in their language classes. [. . .] One of these young women said, "For me, Marcel Jabelot will always be the face of the Holocaust." In keeping with my mission as "guardian of Memory," I have published this book that includes the text of the film as well as other resources for teachers and students. I will be eternally grateful to Marcel Jabelot, an extraordinary man and dear friend, who generously agreed to share his moving testimony with me and with hundreds of students. I would like his story to remain alive so that no one ever forgets. Although he died too soon in 1999, I hope my efforts will help perpetuate his memory and that the words "never again" will remain with us forever. |
Barbara P. Barnett |