Alicia Appleman-Jurman-- Human Light

What do we learn from our heros? Perseverance. Honor. Strength. Love. Easy words, and I can't even begin to comprehend their application. But these abstractions describe one venerable San Jose resident in the least abstract way.

Alicia Appleman was a young Polish Jew during Hitler's reign of brutality in much of Eastern Europe. The last surviving member of her immediate family, Mrs. Appleman-Jurman has touched hearts through her courage and her fortitude. Thoughout her memoir, Alicia- My Story, she comes across as an average girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances; she is really anything but ordinary. Starvation and dehumanization-- Alicia maintains her spirit and her dignity. The most impressive part of her memoir is her empathy for all of humanity, and her burning zest for life.

I mean, how much more can one be marginalized than being denied a place with other children in a school room, being segregated in a tiny liquidation center, and then being shot at every opportunity? But Alicia managed to live and perhaps even thrive.

When I read her memoir in the seventh grade, little did I know that it would affect me enough (I was in tears and an alternating hysteria for much of it) to phone Mrs. Appleman-Jurman to come visit our school. At that time, she lived in the Bay Area. Knowing full well how she would have to discuss a period in her life that had so haunted her, she still came, prepared with a dvd recording of her lecture series to help us, students, understand the girl she was and the woman she has become.

I remember once during her visit, we asked her how she had rebuilt her life, as she declines to discuss too much her emotional distress. She replied simply that she had love in her heart, and that she needed to survive in order to tell the saga of her family and life. After a period of photos and eventual book signings, I wanted to ask her what she would do now that her memoir was over and done with--unlike some other survivor stories, the royalties from the book were relatively small. I never had the pluck to do so; thinking on it now, if one girl could face the entire might of Nazi Germany and then survive the USSR (even founding a business run by orphans) prior to finding a dream in Eretz Israel, why was I so afraid of asking this question of a woman who was so open in sharing the darkest periods of her life?

I recommend her novel to anyone who doubts the power of humanity or anyone who cares to read about this amazing woman. Even Holocaust-deniers cannot deny the simple, beautiful, and human soul that pervades the novel.

p.s.

Your life is not as bad as you think. Buck up and discover your strengths.

p.p.s.

If you can, please share an instance where you have had to display fortitude or have been the victim or even the perpetrator. I have filled both roles to a tee.