Mixed Blessings: New Zealand Children of Holocaust Survivors Remember

by Deborah Knowles

Description

Mixed Blessings provides a NZ perspective on the tragedy of Hitler's Europe and brings these otherwise distant events and their ongoing legacy home to this part of the world. Initiated by the Auckland Second Generation group, it developed from a meeting where each person spoke of the memories evoked by a particular family recipe, or recipes. For children of refugees who had survived and escaped the European War Against the Jews, food was often a complex and emotive subject. This meeting show more inspired the 19 contributors to expand their recipe-related memories to include detail of their parents' lives in pre-war Europe, their escape and eventual arrival in NZ. These refugees came to NZ from Hungary, Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia and Poland, some before, many post-war. Some talked of life in their home country, but most didn't reveal details of terrifying and humiliating experiences, or the fate of family members as it was too painful. Despite family silence, the children, as they grew up, were compelled to find out more about their parents' past. What it was that could not be spoken about and to know more about the family they didn't have. he lack of extended family and search for records of them is a common theme in the stories.The 2nd generation children all remember, with varying degrees of sensitivity, feeling that their parents were different. Not only did they wave their arms in the air and argue loudly in a foreign language in public, but once again food was a point of difference. No peanut butter sandwiches for these children. The foods essential to the cuisine these refugees yearned for such as yoghurt, brown bread and salami were not readily available in NZ in the late 40s and 50s however they were soon produced by these resourceful people. As the recipes in the book testify, these useful little bits of home proved to be portable, easily recreated and shared in the new land. Although initially produced for their own consumption, they formed the basis of food businesses which had a dramatic and permanent effect on NZ cuisine. All the refugees had to make adjustments to the different way of life here; it was such a long way from the cultural liveliness they had been used to, but on the other hand, it was also a long way from the danger. They were grateful for refuge in New Zealand. These personal stories are thoughtful, loving and often told with humour.Mixed Blessings is a fascinating social history of an immigrant group which had a significant effect on the arts, culture and business of post-war New Zealand.The stories also illustrate the reality for second generation children who 'are possessed by a history they had never lived'. show less