Over 20 people responded favorably to my first newsletter, so it looks like there will be enough interest to get started. I will continue to send out the Newsletter to both generations for the time being, so that everyone can see what's going on. In addition, if more next generations want to get involved later on, their parents will be able to give them a copy of the membership forms.

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

You may have noticed a subtle difference in the name of the group since the last newsletter. By the responses that I received, I noticed that members of the second generation are not all Jewish. That is why the name was changed from "Jewish Descendants from Augsburg" to the "Descendants of Augsburg's Jewish Community". This way anyone who is the child or grandchild of a Jew who had to leave Augsburg due to the Nazi persecution or fear of the Nazi persecution can join, regardless of one's religion. The main focus of the group is to remember the roots of our parents and grandparents. Of course, there will be a strong influence on the Jewish aspects of these memories. But the group will respect the feelings of all members. I hope that the Holocaust has taught us the lesson of accepting differences.

GOALS OF OUR GROUP

The group's first goal is merely to exist and have an entity grow to meet any future needs. One of these needs will be to remember the lives, contributions and culture of the Jewish Community in Augsburg which existed for almost 800 years in Germany. Another goal will be to allow future generations to understand some of our common threads of being children of Holocaust Survivors. Another possible goal will be to relate to the new Jewish community growing in Augsburg today. If my information is correct, hundreds of Eastern European and Russian Jews have been moving to Augsburg. So in addition to projects like preserving the Jewish Cemetery or synagogue, there may be the possibility to assist some of the new Jewish residents with a feeling of continuity from the past.

HOW WILL THE GROUP WORK?

This is an open ended question. I would like to hear more from you. I will propose some ideas, and volunteer to get things started for a year or so, but then I hope that the group will take on a more active life of its own.

To start, we can use the Newsletter as a means of communicating with each other. Please feel free to send me things to include in the next edition. Then, as the world gets on to the internet, we can use E-mail or a Web site to keep in touch. About one third of our members are now on the net.

HOW OFFICIAL ARE WE?

I am not incorporating our group, or taking out a separate bank account or paying any dues to become a member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations at this time. I will keep it as a loose organization and I will cover the costs as a mitzvah. If anyone else wants to participate in the mitzvah, hold on to your money right now and we can always find a way of spending it on some related project. Since I do not have a separate bank account, please do not send any checks in the name of our group.

I will notify the Association of Holocaust Organizations that we exist, in case anyone ever reactivates an Association of Second Generation Organizations (which I hear is now defunct).

I will also notify interested parties in Augsburg about our existence, in case they can think of ways that we may be of assistance.

HERE ARE SOME PROJECTS WHICH CAN USE... If anyone is interested in doing any on the things below or if you have other projects in mind, just write me and I'll include them in the next newsletter.

1. COMPUTER WIZ: We could use someone to either help in E-mailing out information, or in creating a Web site for our group. The Web site could include a copy of the Newsletters, a chat room and status updates on the various projects.
2. EDITOR: I am going to propose that we write a Book of Memoirs about our families and lives. I'll describe it later on in this newsletter, but it will be nice if someone would volunteer to receive everyone's pages, bring it to a photocopier and make copies to mail out to people. The only qualification that you need is an address and the ability to stuff and label envelops and schlep the packages to the post office.
3. TRIP PLANNER: Some people expressed an interest in going to visit Augsburg. If someone wants to organize the trip this may be a possibility. I am sure that today's Augsburgers will assist in making the trip a meaningful experience.
4. AUGSBURG LIAISON: Some people may want to keep in touch with groups in Augsburg and travel there individually to keep us in touch with what is happening. In addition, people may want to get involved with the growing Jewish community in today's Augsburg who are just learning about their religion after years of Soviet repression.
5. CEMETERY OR MONUMENT COMMITTEE: Several members of our group expressed conern about what to do with the Jewish Cemetery in Augsburg, where many of our relatives are buried. In addition, there may be the possibility of having a monument erected with the names of those Jewish Augsburgers who perished in the Holocaust. In this manner, people could visit the symbolic grave of an entire community or have some sense of final resting place, for those for which we do not know where they were killed.
6. NEWSLETTER: I will prepare the newsletter for the first year, and then hopefully someone else will want to lead the group after that.

REUNION?

It looks like the Reunion in 1988 will be the only time that the Jewish Community of Augsburg got together again. The responses to the idea of a 1998 Reunion fell into three categories. Most felt that it was too difficult for the original generation to have another Reunion. Another opinion of the second generation was that since they never met each other, having a "Reunion" was not a good idea. A question asked by several people was, "What would I say to 25 people that I never saw before?" A few wanted to come to a Reunion with their parents, but it was not the majority of responses. So for now, it doesn't seem likely that we will have another Reunion. But if the project on planning a trip to Augsburg becomes real, that may serve as a kind of gathering.

On a smaller scale, since a number of the respondents came from the New York area, I might be willing to have a small get-together for the second generation people in my apartment, if there is enough interest and if I'm feeling up to it. Right now my health is a little bit off.

BOOK OF MEMOIRS PROJECT:

The first project that I thought we could do next year was to have each member write approximately 3-5 pages for a collection that we could then photocopy and send to everyone who wants one. The 3-5 pages could include:

1. A description of your family in Augsburg with some anecdotes or whatever you wish to write to keep the memories of those who didn't make it out alive. It would be a good way to document all the members of your family that lived during and before the Nazi era. I think that some of today's Augsburgers students may find it interesting to know what the Jewish people were like.
2. A description of what your life and new family is like now.
3. If being a child of a Holocaust Survivor has had a special effect on your life?

If you have a better idea of topics, please write me. And if someone volunteers to spearhead this project, we can send everyone details about what to do then. But for now, just think about it.

DIRECTORY PROJECT:

Unless someone wishes to opt-out of a directory, I will prepare a list of names and addresses of all of the second generation members, to be distributed just to our members. This way, should anyone wish to contact another member, you can do it on your own. You never know, just in case you travel to another city and get bored, you may want to say hi. If you do not want your name and address included in the directory, please contact me.

PERSONAL NOTE:

On a personal note, my father would like to wish everyone a belated "Happy New Year or L'Shanah Tovah" and thanks everyone who sent him cards. Since the responses came in a steady drip, I wasn't able to get this newsletter out in time for the Holidays.

And I would like to wish everyone an early "Happy New Year" because I will probably not be sending out another newsletter until 1997.

So now that we are group, in the future if more of my generation, or the next wants to get involved in remembering their roots and working with people with similar personal issues, or with the current people of Augsburg there will be a means of contacting each other.

Please copy this newsletter and pass it around to other second generation people since my mailing list is not accurate.