My grandmother Maria Helena Friedlaender was a righteous among the nations.
She was the German Christian wife of my German Jewish grandfather, the Typographer Henri Friedlander. She hid my grandfather and some others for 1018 days in an attic in a small hut in the forest in Vassenar, Holland, where they fled to from Germany in 1942.
For years i kept asking myself where did she take the mental strength and the faith to keep going, how can you not lose your mind. She was the greatest animal and plant lover, so i imagined a botanical composition to summarize each day that had past, an illustrated calendar for these 1018 days.
I'm dreaming of publishing it when its done, because this story is about kindness, compassion and love to each other, and that is to me the most important thing in the world.
for further reading:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Friedlaender
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