June 19, 2021

Dear Don,

I keep re-reading your letter - for which I thank you - and ask myself whether I should inflict an answer on you. I write letters such as this, partly to keep my own thinking straight.

a) Dr. Busch has answered neither of my last two letters. I am concerned that he may be seriously ill, and that I will receive no reply no matter how long I wait. 

b) I suspect that when he started to write Verstreut über alle fünf Kontinente, Dr. Busch had made no decision about its style or content, that his interest in and affection for German Jews in general and for the Rosenthal family in particular is what got him started. The the book grew by accretion of stories from the Rosenthal descendants, and by exposition of pertinent historical facts.

c) I have no evidence that Dr. Busch ever contemplated reaching large audiences.  He was addressing us Rosenthals as a family. It did not occur to him, except in retrospect, what a large proportion of living - and future members of that family do not read German. Hence his impulse to arrange for an English translation.

d) Once he had written it, Dr. Busch interpreted his book as an instrument for preserving family consciousness and facilitating the reunion of its members.  In the case of you and myself, that function has worked out.

e) I read - and translate - the book as a monument, as a memorial to the ancestors from whom we descended, and as a reminder that we ourselves are legatees of a - dare I say it - sacred heritage. By writing it, Dr. Busch has fulfilled his perhaps only unconscious desire, to join us in our Judaism.

f) As a monument to our heritage and as a reminder of who we are, "Verstreut über alle fünf Kontinente" does not need to be a best seller. It does not need to be readable. It does not even need to be read. Its sheer existence serves as a pointer to what can now longer, and what could perhaps never be reached.

g) As a relevant illustration of another sort of monument, I attach an image from the Jewish cemetery in Oerlinghausen, - which has become a tourist attraction to the inspection of which it is recommended that visitors allot ten minutes.  The inscription reads: "Die Synagogengemeinde Oerlinghausen ihren gefallen Söhnen 1914-1918 Ernst Joachim Meyer, Albert Kulemeyer", which translates: "The Congregation of the Synagogue in Oerlinghausen, (to) its Sons Killed in War, 1914-1918 Ernst Joachim Meyer, Albert Kulemeyer".

h) However much I like to have a letter from you, please don't feel that you need to reply.

Best wishes, Jochen