Friday, July 19, 2019
To Our Dear Friend Shelley
You left us far too early. But, as brief as it was, we are still so thankful to have enjoyed the pleasure of your Wonderful Spirit.
Too late in our lives, and it feels like just yesterday, your good friend Rosaleen brought us together in 2015, at Erin’s wedding in NY. In just those few days, staying together at the same motel, we shared so much and bonded so excitedly – like we’d been together for years as close friends. Our spirits remained closely connected and in harmony, but how we longed for so much more – hoping for another meet-up in London or elsewhere which wasn’t to be.
Farewell our Dear Friend. Sleep well.
Roger Barcant and Eva Gamarnikow
Shelley – my Jewish history soul-mate. I miss you so much!
Shelley - we developed a unique transatlantic bond around my intensely personal journey to recover the hidden/invisible/unspoken aspects of my identity as a Jew. You had a passionate interest in European Jewish history; my Jewish identity, only very recently discovered, comes from my father. My grandfather, his father, was killed as a Jewish lawyer, my grandmother and aunt, his mother and younger sister, died of typhus in the Warsaw Ghetto. As is common in families of Holocaust survivors, all these elements of family history where hidden away, unspoken. As I continued on this personal journey, you were the first person I contacted, via Messenger. We shared our experiences of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, we exchanged information about books, we discussed and argued about the problematics of Jewishness, especially in the current political context. When Roger and I visited Warsaw a few months ago I compiled a number of posts on Facebook, especially with you in mind, to show you what I had seen, to inspire you to come to Warsaw with me and explore the remains of Jewish Warsaw and the Polin Museum of Jewish History in Poland. Very sadly, the Polin museum book and map of the Warsaw Ghetto I sent you probably arrived too late. My own journey will continue, but – Shelley, very sadly, I won’t have you to talk to. RIP
Eva Gamarnikow
