Wilma and Ernesto Reich (1980s)

Above are two recently dug-up photographs of my maternal grandparents (Oma and Opa), Wilma and Ernesto Reich. Unfortunately, my Opa died when I was still a young girl. I was extremely close to my Oma and hers was the first oral history I collected. She died only 3 years ago in 2005 at the age of 91.

After a whirlwind two-week courtship with Ernesto Reich, my Oma (originally from Berlin) moved to El Salvador from Amsterdam in 1938. With the majority of her family killed in death camps only a few years later, she never saw her mother, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece again.

Hers was a hard life...but she always lived it gracefully, inspiring me to no end.

You can find her complete story in an anthology edited by Marjorie Agosin, entitled "Taking Root: Latin American Jewish Women Writers."

Many thanks to Ruth and Paul Feldman for the photograph.