Saul S. Frechtel

Vignettes: the Story of My Life Saul S. Frechtel

Despite the growing number of men and women denying the Jewish Holocaust ever happened, or perhaps because of this, every generation must revisit the world of Anne Frank on its own terms, with its own vision. Being more or less the fourth generation since Anne, it's our turn: In a parallel universe half a globe away from her world, in the Bronx, NY, more or less 16 years before Anne began recording her diary entries, a 4-year old boy runs upstairs to his mother cooking in the kitchen, looks up into her face asking: "What am I?" Years later, the boy now a brilliant retired mechanical engineer recalled: "Mother said that I was a good boy [and continued working]. I repeated the question and she replied that I was a very good boy." "My next query was - Am I Italian? My mother then said - "So that is what this is all about. No, you are not Italian. You are a Jew." "With that response, I ran down the stairs and with a loud voice, echoing "I am a Jew", "I am a Jew" all the way to the building's front steps and down onto the street, where many neighborhood kids were gathered. One of the older boys, who may have been six or seven years old said - in an equally loud voice - "OK Jew - get the ball - you're holding up the game." Read "Vignettes: The Story of My Life" by Saul S. Frechtel for the rest of the connection. Anne Frank's Diary and Saul's Vignettes experienced half a globe apart parallel and complete each other. Anne died just as World War II was ending, in Belsen, on the eve of being liberated. Saul grew up and fought trying to liberate her and others.