Creation is Healing

My parents met in the Bergen Belsen DP camp in 1945. My mother, originally from Bedzin, was in two concentration camps - Bergen Belsen and Auschwitz. My father, from Lodz, survived`Gross-Rosen and Auschwitz, but lost his first wife and baby. He moved to Brussels where he had relatives, and my mother followed him there. I was born shortly thereafter, in 1947. Although they had thought of returning to Poland from the DP camp, they learned that the Poles were shooting survivors who attempted to come back to reclaim their properties. In 1951, we moved permanently to Boyle Heights/East LA. My whole life has been marked by the impact of their tragedies. Although they both lived until the age of 78, the trauma and nightmares never left, and as a Second Generation survivor I felt helpless to help them deal with their losses. Their memories were a closed and sealed door. But I found the world of imagination open to me. I became a child actor starting at age 4 and then a union actress since 1988. I also began creating art, and have exhibited my work in museums and galleries for over 60 years. Creation is healing for me and I am driven to make art every day. It's like breathing....I can't live without it. This is a history that so many of us on this site share with one another.

I am glad to have found community here. Simone Gad simonegad.gad1@gmail.com