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Perspectives
Fall 2000

MEET
Hedy Brasch

Shelah Fried

Ellen Gerstle

Gerald Gurland

Arlene Kesselhaut

Barbara LeFebvre

Hildred & Jerome Nozick

Joyce Reilly

Richard J. Tisch

Have you heard the story about Grandpa Gus? If you haven't, then you probably haven't met Center Associate, Dr. Ellen Gerstle, coordinator of our Leave-a-Legacy Writing Workshops for Survivors. If you do know the story, then you know that Grandpa Gus, formally known as Gustave Gerstle, was Ellen's father-in-law, a very private man who had never told his sons (including Ellen's husband, ophthalmologist Dr. Claude Gerstle) about his early life in Konstanz, Germany nor about the anti-Semitic incidents that convinced him back in 1929 to leave for the United States. He had never talked about this part of his life until twelve-year-old granddaughter, Jessica, asked him to describe those painful years: she wanted to incorporate them into a school project she was preparing. Grandpa Gus complied by producing eight hand-written pages, pouring out his heart and emotions describing events no one had ever imagined. As Ellen has said, "This history was clearly a legacy that might never have been handed down if Jessica hadn't asked him to share his life with her," a legacy that his family has since cherished and that presently serves as the "signature story" behind the origin of our Leave-a-Legacy Writing Workshops for Survivors at Drew.

As Ellen became more involved with our Center, she began to think about the possibility that others who had escaped from or survived Hitler's plan for the extermination of the Jews might want to write their stories, if only someone would encourage them to do so. She brought this idea to Center Co-Director, Jacqueline Berke who in turn shared the idea with colleague Robert Ready, Professor of English. All three would become workshop leaders when the writing workshop program was initiated in December 1998. With Ellen serving as workshop coordinator and bringing word of the workshops to larger venues, the program has been flourishing ever since. In October 1999, at the Second Annual Conference of Holocaust Educators held in Yad Vashem, Israel, she presented a paper, co-authored with Jacqueline Berke, about the inestimable value and importance of helping survivors write their histories. Ellen is currently working on an extension of this paper for presentation at the upcoming Annual Conference on Jewish-American and Holocaust Literature; and she will also be a member of the team-along with Jackie and Bob Ready-who will be presenting a Demonstration Writing Workshop at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. in November.

Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, Ellen graduated from Boston University with an undergraduate degree in English, after which she earned a masters degree, also in English, at New York University. A teacher at heart, she taught English in junior high and high schools on Long Island, then took a break to raise three children. As her children grew older and became more independent, Ellen returned to school for a graduate degree in Computers and Education, but then interrupted her studies to manage her husband Claude's medical practice where she stayed for seven years. Eventually, she decided to pursue a second masters and doctorate at Drew, all in English Literature. (Some of you may recall in the Fall 1999 issue of Perspectives on the Holocaust the wonderful tribute to Ellen in which friends and admirers honored her on completion of her doctorate.) Focusing on Jewish-American literature, Ellen has published articles in Studies in American Jewish Literature and presented papers at scholarly conferences, dealing with Pulitzer Prize winning author Philip Roth and Jewish feminist author E. M. Broner.

Recently returned to her first love, Ellen currently teaches humanities courses for the core curriculum at Fairleigh Dickinson University, including "Perspectives on the Individual," "The American Experience," and her recently created course, "The Nature of Evil: A Cross Disciplinary Course" In addition to teaching, Ellen loves traveling, biking, jogging, hiking, and going to the theater. It is amazing indeed that she is also able to dedicate so much time to Center activities; hers is clearly a labor of love. In addition to coordinating the writing workshops, co-chairing a sub-committee for last May's Drew Cabaret, and editing stories for Perspectives..., Ellen is also spearheading a projected new Center program: an Elder Hostel on the Holocaust, featuring yet another set of writing workshops. The Center is indeed fortunate-indeed blessed-to have someone so talented and energetic, and so dedicated on "our team." As Shakespeare so succinctly put it: "We can no other answer make but thanks...
and thanks...
and ever thanks."

Above: left to right--Grandpa Gus, Hedda Gerstle (step-grandmother), grandma Sadye Cohen, Ellen Gerstle (expecting Jeremy) (front) Jessica Gerstle, Ari Gerstle.
Right: Ellen at Anasazi ruins outside Santa Fe, NM.