Q: Your podcast was partially born out of the sociopolitical climate that has characterized the past decade. A few years removed from the release of “How My Grandmother Won World War II,” how do you feel this heightened relevance continues to shape its impact?
A: Thank you for the opportunity to speak about my grandmother. She would want to start off by commenting about being profiled or celebrated amongst other Jewish people, that she is many things, we all are. Celebrating one particular aspect of your identity is valuable only if it helps everyone see the common humanity in each other. My grandmother loved her family, but never centered herself or her background as a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor. The value of sharing one’s personal history is in how it can be useful in furtherance of helping others everywhere, and in dispelling myths of monolithism. My grandmother boldly and courageously believed in the best of humankind during the time of the Holocaust that killed her husband, father, and almost her children and herself. The story, “How My Grandmother Won WWII,” is an invitation to love each other and fight fascism, most especially right now with unspeakable cruelty on the rise.
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From Enid Zentelis’ forthcoming book How My Grandmother Won WWII:
...Excerpt 2: “I knew those boxes also contained a lot of my grandmother’s memorabilia and I missed her so much. I was in a restless state of mind - full of longing for the way she had made me feel in her presence, emboldened, free - as I opened a recent package from my mom. After rummaging through rescued photos, drawings and old books, I found myself staring at a letter, a war commendation I had seen in childhood, but never fully understood. It was from the Allied Control Commission addressed to my grandmother, thanking her for her highly confidential work.”