Last week, Frieda Scherer, a 109 year-old Holocaust survivor, passed away. This is the letter she left

[vanessa_ca]

Last week, Frieda Scherer, a 109 year-old Holocaust survivor, passed away.
This is the letter she left for her granddaughters:

Dear Erika and Polina,
We don’t have much time left together in this world.
I was fortunate to live a long and good life, especially in the last two decades, after I met you.
But it wasn’t always that way. Just after finishing my studies, my country closed its borders, and I was sent to the Ebensee concentration camp.
I went through horrors I still cannot speak about, and I will take them with me to the grave.
Hunger, disease, and infection ran rampant in every corner, but above all, despair.
My life was saved by a miracle, likely because I was a young doctor, and the camp commander saw me as having special talent. That’s also how my father and brother survived.

I held onto the hope that one day, it would all end, and we would live in a better world - a world of peace, where all people live in freedom, equality, unity, and solidarity.
Sadly, I’ve come to understand that I will not live to see that dream come true.
Our people, who endured the most unimaginable cruelty, have chosen the wrong path.

Just a few kilometers separate you from those who are now enduring horrors no less severe, and the images coming from there take me 80 years back - to the moment the camp was liberated, and I saw my brother for the last time since we were deported.
A Muselmann - living dead, no expression on his face, no spirit left in his body. That was the moment I realized: there is no God.

This is the reality today for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian women and children, and also for the hostages.
You may not be able to save the world, but I am proud of your dedication and of how you are continuing the tradition of our family by becoming doctors yourselves.
I am sure you will be able to bring some light into this world through your actions, helping the wounded and the sick, in body and in spirit, and offering aid, compassion, and kindness to anyone in need.
My dream will not come true in my lifetime, but maybe in yours.

With love,
Frieda ❤️

Link to tweet

MAY FRIEDA'S MEMORY BE A BLESSING, and may we all live long enough to witness her dream come true at last.

[Srkdqltr]

1. How beautiful. Amazing woman.

So we'll said.

[Evolve Dammit]

2. What a beautiful letter and heartfelt recollections of her trauma. That is what we are supposed

To do and be.

[JanMichael]

3. Cue something.

[BadgerMom]

4. This reminds me far too much of Mineral Man's post from earlier today.

Here’s the link. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220523721

As an older liberal myself, I feel the sadness of others who have longed for and worked toward a more equitable, more fair, more just society for the world and its peoples. The current rise of greedy, selfish, immoral, authoritarian leaders around the world is a disgrace and a sadness.

[vanessa_ca]

5. Thank you, I hadn't seen that and am glad you linked it -eom

[LymphocyteLover]

6. Remarkable writing, especially for a 109 year old

[niyad]

7. why especially?

[LymphocyteLover]

10. normally they aren't so nimble with their thoughts. I wonder if she wrote it by hand or dictated it.

[niyad]

11. Aren't you making some rather ageist assumptions there?

How many centenarians do you know personally?

[LymphocyteLover]

12. Maybe I am making assumptions. Nothing against her.

I'm mostly curious how she composed it. I know writing by hand is hard for very old people.

[GaYellowDawg]

14. It is.

And everyone loses almost every capacity as they age. That's not ageism, it's entropy. Yours was a legitimate question.

[GaYellowDawg]

13. Oh, please.

Every centenarian is slower than they used to be. That's not "ageist" - it's the truth. And I've known two centenarians in my family. How many centenarians have you known? How many magical centenarians who haven't slowed down one bit have you known? Are they as sharp as when they were 90? 80? 70? 50? 30? How would you know whether they were? Are you a centenarian right along with them?

[niyad]

15. Your post could be just a bit more offensive and hostile with a little work.

[GaYellowDawg]

16. If reality offends you

Then that's your problem, not mine. So since you were so snarky in demanding if the other poster knew a centenarian, then answer the question I asked. How many centenarians do you know? Are they just as vigorous and vital as they were at an earlier age, say 50? If they are, then please find a prominent researcher in gerontology so that they can document the difference between your centenarian and every other centenarian who has ever existed.

You criticism of my reply is exactly the technique that Donald Trump uses when he faces a question he doesn't want to answer.

[niyad]

17. And now you compare me to the orange creature, but you are not being

offensive. Got it. remdi95

[GaYellowDawg]

18. Jumped on the chance to deflect, didn't you?

You still haven't answered the questions: how many centenarians do YOU know? How many do you know who do not have diminished capacity? I rather suspect that the answers are zero and zero, and you are hiding behind manufactured outrage. Don't want to be told that you're acting like Trump answering his questions? Don't use his tools.

[electric_blue68]

8. Rest in Peace, Frieda. Here's to A Better World Becoming.

[Passages]

9. Honest.

Unafraid.


Love to Frieda and her family.