PBS高端访谈:在大屠杀中消失的服装设计

 　　MARTIN FLETCHER: When the Nazis² occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, tens of thousands of Jews applied³ for visas to anywhere.

　　And among them, Paul Strnad and his wife Hedwig, nicknamed Hedy. Their best hope to save their lives was help from their cousin Alvin, thousands of miles away in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

　　So on December 11, 1939, Paul wrote him this letter.

　　NARRATOR: "You may imagine that we have a great interest of leaving Europe as soon as possible."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: And Paul hoped he had an ace⁴ up his sleeve. These drawings. Eight beautiful dresses. And all accessories, down to hat pins and shoes, purses and gloves. Modern. Elegant. His wife Hedy was a seamstress — a dress designer.

　　Could Alvin find a firm in Milwaukee who'd hire Hedy and sign an affidavit⁵ to grant the couple visas to the US?

　　In his letter, Paul wrote:

　　NARRATOR: "I hope the dress manufacturers you mentioned in your letter will like them."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: Karen Strnad is Alvin's granddaughter.

　　KAREN STRNAD: "It was a letter that was pleading for, you know, a savior, for you know survival. And using the dresses as a tool to be able to get out of there."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: Alvin Strnad tried to find Hedy a job and visas for them both. But too late.

　　Paul was declared dead January 31, 1943. Murdered in either the Treblinka concentration camp or the Warsaw Ghetto⁶. Hedy's fate is unclear, but her dresses live on.

　　Almost sixty years later, Karen's parents found the letter in the basement, complete with a Nazi¹ censor's swastika stamp, and the colorful drawings.

　　KAREN STRNAD: "The dresses represent prejudice and persecution⁷ and what was lost in the Holocaust⁸ because of it. The dresses represent love."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: The Strnads gave the letter and dress designs to what is today the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee, just another painful link to the past.

　　Until one day a visitor had an idea. Why not make the dresses?

　　KATHY BERNSTEIN, JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE: "We had a wonderful opportunity to fulfill⁹ a victim's dream."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: So when Kathy Bernstein, the museum's director, met the costume director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, she didn't hesitate.

　　KATHY BERNSTEIN, JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE: "I said, ‘We want to create an exhibit. We want to show — to have a tangible¹⁰ example of what has been lost in the Holocaust, and is this something the Rep can do? Well she said ‘Absolutely.'"

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: And the rest, as they say, is history.

　　The Milwaukee Rep began a labor¹¹ of love.

　　KATHY BERNSTEIN, JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE: "They became filled with Hedwig's story. And it became personal for them."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: Then hard work paid off; a researcher found a letter from Hedy and bit by bit Hedy Strnad took shape.

　　KATHY BERNSTEIN, JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE: "We found out she had red hair and that she smoked cigarettes, and that she had a sense of humor."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: Today the dresses with their accessories, Hedy's last hope for survival, are the stars of an exhibit in the Milwaukee Jewish Museum called Stitching History From the Holocaust, running through February 2015.

　　KATHY BERNSTEIN, JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE: It's happy but it's haunting, too. It's a haunting thing."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: And inspiring too. For Karen Strnad, family history come to life, in the most personal way.

　　KAREN STRNAD: "When I put the dress on it fit me perfectly¹². The whole thing is surreal. The torch has been passed. It was passed from Hedy's dress designs that she created in Bohemia to her husband to my great grandfather, who started this process in terms of starting the immigration application process in the United States."

　　MARTIN FLETCHER: Among those admiring the dresses: family members who never knew their murdered relatives, didn't know their story — and now do.

　　KAREN STRNAD: "History is ongoing¹³ — what we see here is history is ongoing. This is never gonna die. And we have to keep telling the story so that history does not repeat itself."

1 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

2 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

5 affidavit   

n.宣誓书

参考例句：

• I gave an affidavit to the judge about the accident I witnessed.我向法官提交了一份关于我目击的事故的证词。
• The affidavit was formally read to the court.书面证词正式向出席法庭的人宣读了。

6 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

7 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

8 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

9 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

10 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。