What I've Learnt - Rachelle Unreich

WHAT I'VE LEARNT

A Brilliant Life book by Rachelle Unreich

I’ve known Rachelle as a fellow journalist for many years sometimes working together and I’ve always respected and admired her - so as she embarks on this very personal story I’m thrilled to have her join me on the WhatIveLearntPodcast podcast

In her new book “A Brilliant Life” Journalist Rachelle Unreich interviewed her mother Mira—a Holocaust survivor—in her final months of terminal cancer, and discovered stories of human goodness and love, which would impact her own life for the better.

• Mira’s incredible survival through WWII and the Holocaust is because of ‘human goodness’. Mira used to say that in the Holocaust ‘I learned about the goodness of people.’ Her survival is due to people of all races, religions, ages, and circumstances helping her live to the next day. It’s a lesson Rachelle holds dear.

• The historical background: In the late hours of 30 April 1945, Mira

Blumenstock was liberated and the camp gates opened. It was also her 18th birthday. She’d survived four death camps, including Auschwitz, and a death march. But there was a mystery to Mira’s survival. Seventy years would pass. A life lived joyfully in France and Australia would start to wind down. After Mira was diagnosed with cancer, her daughter, Rachelle, a journalist, would interview her to distract Mira from her illness. What she discovered about her mother is astonishing.

• The incredible bond of mothers and daughters: This story traces both Mira’s relationship with her mother Genya as well as Rachelle’s with Mira. Genya guided Mira through the Holocaust, while Mira helped Rachelle through tough experiences like a near-death motor accident. It reminds us that one of the most powerful forces of the universe is a mother’s love.

• The mysterious ways of the universe: All her life, strange, inexplicable, mysterious occurrences took place around Mira and her family. A Brilliant Life looks at the role that fate, destiny and chance plays in one’s life.

• Caring for a parent at the end of their life: Rachelle explores the inverse relationship of a mother and child

at the end of life when the child becomes the carer.

• Rachelle was bereft after Mira’s passing. During the Melbourne lockdown, her job

opportunities look dwindling, and feeling unsure she would ever write a book - Rachelle began to write Mira's story in what would become A Brilliant Life.

• The weight on the next generation of Holocaust survivors: Australia has the highest number of

Holocaust survivors per capita outside of Israel.

So

With the world spinning on its axis and antisemitism on the rise again, weaving Holocaust stories into our present is so important for many among Rachelle’s generation. So many echoes of the past have been heard within the present, and it's more important than ever that we learn from history.

Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/
Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBk
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850