HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, 92, SEEKS A FUTURE FOR HIS ART.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The ``Museum Man'' greets you at the front door of his Burbank home with a firm handshake handshake - handshaking and a humble smile. ``Please. Sit, sit,'' 92-year-old Irving Belfer says, offering a chair and small glass of 7-Up. ``Welcome to my home.'' A guest book is open on the dining room table waiting to be signed. It's the fourth one the Polish-born Holocaust survivor has filled in the 30 years he's been opening his door to hundreds of schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school and adults who have visited his homemade Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jewish people, faith, and culture. Since Jewish history encompasses nearly four thousand years and hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes. museum. Since 1975, the Museum Man, as he is affectionately called, has carved and built almost 400 pieces of art as a tribute to Jewish history. His tools are a small pocketknife, a handsaw and some glue he keeps in a makeshift tool box on his workbench: a small corner table long familiar to his daughter, Terry Ellis
Terry Lynn Ellis (born September 5, 1966 in Houston, Texas, U.S.) is an African-American R&B singer. . ``As a little girl, I can't remember a day when my dad wasn't sitting at that kitchen table with a saw in his hand,'' she said. ``As I got older, Dad would let me go shopping with him to pick out things. I remember the day we got the soldiers and barbed wire barbed wire, wire composed of two zinc-coated steel strands twisted together and having barbs spaced regularly along them. The need for barbed wire arose in the 19th cent. .'' Room of tears The soldiers and barbed wire. They're in a large backroom back·room n. or back room 1. A room located at the rear. 2. The meeting place used by an inconspicuous controlling group. adj. 1. , down a long hallway, in Irving's homemade museum -- a room where the tears always come. ``It took me two years working night and day to build,'' the Museum Man said about his homemade concentration camp, with soldiers looking down from towers at 600 Stars of David lined up in rows and surrounded by barbed wire. It is the centerpiece of his Holocaust Memorial. Even now, more than 65 years after he spent exactly 951 days in four concentration camps, including the infamous Buchenwald camp, he still can't talk about the camps without crying. Crying not for himself, but for his first wife, Eva, and their young son, Baruch, who died in those camps. ``My son would have been 68 today,'' Irving said Thursday, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the tears. On a table in the corner are dozens of thank-you notes and pictures from schoolchildren who have walked through this room and had their eyes opened. ``Between him telling his story and seeing what he has created, it's impossible not to get emotional,'' said Barbara Kaye, who recently visited the museum with 30 friends. His dream ``The effect is devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . You leave having such respect for this wonderful, humble man. He's not hiding in a corner. He's trying to keep his history alive.'' Irving's second wife, Ruth -- Terry's mother -- died five years ago. Irving lives alone now. Terry, who lives in Northridge and works full time as a bank teller A bank teller is an employee of a bank who deals directly with most customers. In some places this employee is known as a cashier. Tellers are considered a "front line" in the banking business. , tries to visit him every day, but it's tough. ``He'd like me to be there when tours come through because he's so proud, but it's tough to get off work,'' she said. Irving's dream is to keep his homemade museum intact and on display somewhere after he dies. But where? ``I've contacted museums, synagogues A list of synagogues around the world. Contents: Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A
adv. Informal Everywhere. Usage Note: The forms everyplace (or every place), anyplace (or any place), someplace (or some place), and no place else I can think of, but no one can take all of it,'' Terry said. ``They want some of what my father has made, but Dad doesn't want it broken up. He wants future generations to see all of what he has made. ``He keeps hoping, but ...'' For now, the Museum Man continues to get up each day, put on a tie, open his guest book and wait at the front door of his Screenland Drive home for whoever wants to stop by and visit his homemade museum of Jewish history. If you want to schedule a tour, give Irving a call at (818) 842-1253. And bring a handkerchief. dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3749 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Irving Belfer, a concentration camp survivor, has opened his home for the last 30 years to people who view his pocketknife carvings of tributes to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust. His grouping of 600 Stars of David, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers, often prompts tears. David Sprague/Staff Photographer (2) Young father Irving Belfer appears in a pre-Holocaust photo with his first wife, Eva, and their infant son, Baruch, who were both victims of Jewish genocide committed by the Nazis. |
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