Because She Chose Freedom

Sometimes one story is enough.

For this second August newsletter, I wanted to slow things down and share a story that has stayed with me from the moment I first heard it. It begins during the Berlin Airlift with a young woman whose choices would ultimately shape not only her own life, but the life of a son who would come to understand just how deeply his family story is connected to world history.

This is Rabbi Andrew 'Andy' Steiman’s story. Or perhaps more accurately, it is his mother’s story, his story, and a story about how history continues through us, often in ways we do not recognize until much later.

Take a few minutes to meet Andy and discover why this story has become so meaningful to me.

Bibi

📖 LATEST STORY 📖

"Because She Chose Freedom"

The story of Rabbi Andrew Steiman and the mother whose choices changed everything...

When I met Rabbi Andrew Steiman in Frankfurt, I had no idea how deeply his family story was connected to the Berlin Airlift.

His mother, a young Jewish woman serving as a Red Army nurse, made choices that would alter the course of her life and, ultimately, Andy’s.

But this is more than a remarkable family story. It is also about the way history continues through us.

As Andy says: "Young people need to understand: I am part of world history. I am the result of world history.”

His story powerfully reminds us that history is not only something we study. It is something we inherit.

🟡 THE AIRLIFT PENNY PROJECT 🟡

Remembering Airlift Veterans at Riverside National Cemetery

The Airlift Pennies continue to find their way to places of remembrance across the United States and Germany.

At Riverside National Cemetery in California, I recently visited the graves of three Berlin Airlift veterans: Lt. Col. Edward Stanley Gorski, Col. Howard Samuel “Sam” Myers Jr., and Col. Harold R. Austin.

You can read their stories in Wolfgang W. E. Samuel’s book I Always Wanted to Fly, which made standing at their graves and placing pennies there especially meaningful.

And if you are ever near the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, you may have the chance to meet Wolfgang himself. He is there every weekend signing books.

A penny is a very small thing. But placed beside a veteran’s name, it carries a simple message:

Your service mattered. Your part in the Berlin Airlift is remembered.

Learn more about The Airlift Penny Project HERE.

🎈 Do You Remember the Shmoo? 🎈

Dr. Sean Brennan, a history professor at the University of Scranton, is researching a paper titled “Shmoo to the Rescue!: How Al Capp’s mysterious creature from Li’l Abner became an essential part of the Berlin Airlift.”

During Operation Little Vittles, Shmoo-shaped balloons or toys filled with candy were among the items dropped to children in West Berlin and refugee camps in West Germany. Unlike the famous candy parachutes, this part of the story has received much less attention.

So we are putting the question out to you:

Were you there? Did you receive one, see one, hear stories about them, or perhaps have photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, or other information connected to the Shmoo drops?

If so, I would love to hear from you and connect you with Dr. Brennan. Even a small memory or detail may help preserve a part of the Berlin Airlift story that has nearly disappeared.

Public-relations display featuring Shmoo figures at Rhein-Main Air Base during the Berlin Airlift, ca. 1948–1949. U.S. Air Force photo.

CLOSING MESSAGE

Andy’s story keeps bringing me back to the same thought: history never stops with the people who lived it.

A decision made by a young woman more than seventy-five years ago continued through her son, through the values he carried into his own life, and now through the stories he is willing to share with us.

Perhaps that is one of the most important reasons to preserve these personal accounts. They show us that history is not separate from us. We are living with its consequences, carrying forward its lessons, and adding our own chapters to it.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and helping these stories continue their journey.

Until next time,