Today is the day of the Abe’s Story Yahrzeit, and on this day I’ll share a story of friendship and hope developed over 23 years.
If you visit Remember.org and wonder who the gentleman in our logo is, that’s Abram Korn from Abe’s Story (the book is even in the Stanford Libraries). Back in 1995 when Remember.org began, Joey Korn shared his father’s book with me, Abe’s Story, and was kind enough to share excerpts and photos on the site.
Since then we’ve become long time friends, and it’s been an honor to share his father’s story. That’s why Abram Korn’s photo is integrated into the Remember.org logo, because this site is always about remembrance, the stories of life and survival that grew out of the Holocaust.
And each year, Joey contacts me on the anniversary of the first sharing of Abe’s Story on Remember.org, on Abram Korn’s Yahrzeit:
yahr·zeit
ˈyärˌtsīt,ˈyôr-/ noun
(among Jews) the anniversary of someone’s death, especially a parent’s.
I’m sharing some emails we’ve shared over the past 7 years to give an idea of how one story, and the sharing of that story, connects so many people.
It’s my honor to share Abe’s Story with the visitors at Remember.org, where so many have viewed the book, the excerpts, the photos, and the map.
And for me, it’s where a friendship began with a child of survivors, and continues to this day. Thanks Joey for sharing your father’s story, and helping me remember why Remember.org began – to share stories of life and survival during the Holocaust.
All the following are excerpts of emails from Joey Korn shared since 2011.
August 7, 2018
Today is Dad’s Yahrzeit, the anniversary of the day you set up the first Abe’s Story pages in 1995, Just a few months after the first edition was published in April 1995. I still remember the story of how I found you, and when. It was just after July 4.
2017
2012
| Abe‘s Story: A Holocaust Memoir |
| One of the proudest and most meaningful accomplishments of my life was when Longstreet Press published my father’s story in April 1995. We got our rights back and published the softback edition ourselves in 1999, but it has been out of print now for about year. I’m honored that it is now available again. Dad’s story is tragic, yet powerfully inspirational. My father was an incredible human being, who survived more than six years in Nazi ghettoes and concentration camps with his dignity intact. He’s my hero. It would be an honor to personalize this wonderful book for you. Abe‘s Story: A Holocaust Memoir by Abram Korn & Joseph Korn |
On Aug 7, 2012, at 2:40 PM, “RHODES, SHAWN C SSgt USAF AFRC 927 ARW/PA” wrote:
Hello-
I would like to request permission to use excerpts from this page on your
website:
http://remember.org/witness/chuckf
In particular:
“The smell burned my nostrils and permeated my pores,” he commented.
“Most of us have some idea of the horrors the Nazis perpetrated on the
European Jews,” Ferree said in an interview decades later. “No one knows
how many humans suffered and died at the hands of these ordinary men.”
I write for our unit webpage, which can be found here:
https://www.927arw.afrc.af.mil/
I will cite Mr. Ferree and give credit to the website in my article. Thanks
for your consideration-
Shawn Rhodes
Public Affairs Technician
927th Air Refueling Wing, USAFR
2011
We’ve got some exciting stuff going on with Abe‘s Story, at least in potential. We’ve arranged for Esther Gilbert to do a detailed index like she does for her husband’s book, Sir Martin Gilbert. I’ve been in touch with her for several years. She’s at least read parts of Abe‘s Story, but I don’t think she’s read it straight through. She just used it as a reference to make connections with some survivors she wrote about in her Holocaust Memoir Digests. I’m hoping she will see how wonderful Abe‘s Story is and maybe Martin will read it and no telling whose hands it will fall into.
So I’m going to make a few minor changes, including a new family photo, and will publish as we’ve talked about asap, but as a reprint of the Second Edition. Then we’ll do the index and make more editing changes for the Third Edition.
We ran out of Abe‘s Story a couple of months ago. I’ve been doing some minor editing, but haven’t felt good about printing another run of several thousand copies and continuing as we have been. We’ve consistently sold 500 copies a year since we printed it in 1999, mostly through speaking in schools. My sister does more of it than I do now.
Anyway, I’ve been down on Print on Demand, as I’ve seen a lot of poor quality and high cost prices. But it seems to have come a long way.
I’m talking with a friend who’s had lots of experience with POD and he has gotten me excited. I hope to talk with him today to clarify things. Assuming I do this, it will soon be available for POD as well as Kindle, Nook and more. I’ll keep you informed.
Hope all is well.
2010
Do you have a higher resolution image of the Abe‘s Story Banner that you put together (attached). A lady from the Pentagon wants to have a poster made with me, Abe‘s Story and Remember.org to display in the Pentagon during April.
Many more emails have been exchanged over the years, and this gives an insight to the power of digital stories, and of stories of survival. Our mission at Remember.org is to take the memory of these events away from the horror – the obsession with Hitler and the Nazis – and remember the people who lived through it, with family and love, and remembrance for those who didn’t make it.
It’s our honor to serve the memories, and many friendships on Remember.org.
