le creuset orange

Cern, I got to go to CERN !!!

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Years ago, a young Jewish man left Yugoslavia just in time.

It was 1943, and in the words of Henry, the then almost 16-year old boy, “I just made it.”

A Quaker group was helping children (up to 15-years old) escape Eastern Europe. Once they arrived in the United States; it was up to other organizations to take over. Luckily for Henry, he was introduced to Joachim Prinz, an infamous rabbi who had stood up to the Nazis in Berlin. Now living in New Jersey, Rabbi Prinz introduced young Henry to the Michael Stavitsky family. Soon Henry was living with the Stavitskys and continuing his education.

Fast forward to February 2012. Henry, now in his 80s and a Professor of Physics at NYC, invited this lucky traveler for a visit to his home outside Geneva. One of the scientists working on the ISOLDE project, Henry periodically spends time at CERN.

How in the heck did this Southern-born and Southern-Baptist-raised woman receive this invitation?

Marriage. Purely a connection by marriage. I just happened to marry one of Michael & Evie Stavitsky’s two grandsons.In 1986, Henry generously flew to Tennessee for our wedding. Towing a heavy flaming-orange Le Creuset cooking pot, he and his wife Norma gave us one of our all-time favorite wedding gifts. (We’ve used it almost EVERY day of our over 20-year marriage!)

Though I saw Henry only once after our wedding, we maintained contact. Being a good Southern gal, as well as a proper Kappa Kappa Gamma, I made sure to include our distant aunt and uncle in our annual holiday missives. Good thing! Because this trip to CERN and my visit with Henry will remain one of my absolute solo-travel HIGHLIGHTS!

Thanks Henry for your generosity, good company, and yummy-yummy meals!

2 thoughts on “Cern, I got to go to CERN !!!”

  1. marijastroke

    Hi! I hope you are both very well. This was so much fun to read. I came upon it accidentally because i was trying to figure out where Grandpa Mike and Grandma Evie lived in the Summit area because yesterday I was going to door to door in that area getting out the Democratic vote, and I was thinking about how the Stavitsky family so generously took my father in and became his guardians. Do you know the address of where they lived?
    Btw, just a few tiny corrections: By the time my father was taken by the Quakers, he was no longer in Yugoslavia (his family left Yugoslavia for Paris in 1938, intending to emigrate to Australia but that didn’t work out, and they got stuck in Paris under Nazi occupation.) When the Quakers rescued my father, he and his family were in detention in Spain, having spent several years hiding in France, and then escaping first from Paris in mid and late1942, then climbing over the Pyrenees into Spain in the middle of the night either late 1942 or early 1943. Also, Rabbi Joachim Prinz was a “famous” rabbi, not “infamous”. :) NB Joachim later was also a leader in the civil rights movement in the US, working closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. and getting arrested together. Joachim also gave the speech right before King’s “I Have a Dream speech” in the March on Washington. You can still hear Joachim’s speech http://www.joachimprinz.com/civilrights.htm It is so inspiring, and so relevant today! BTW Joachim Prinz is also a distant relative of ours: He is the uncle of my father’s cousin, Lucy Horowitz.
    It was really fun looking through all your photos of your visit with my father. He is quite well, now 91.
    Love to you both,
    Marija

    Reply ↓
    1. Sj Post author

      How lovely to hear from you, Marija!
      Thanks for all the information! I’ll have to re-visit what I posted almost 7 years ago.
      And…just two days ago, I thought of your father and wrote a note to myself to write to him!
      J’adore la vie! And living in the flow.
      Sending a hug and wishing you well.
      Sj
      p.s. Look for an email for further correspondence. Aloha ;-)

      Reply ↓

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