Like many Holocaust survivors, University of Michigan professor Irene Butter went many years without talking about her experience. In fact, it took four decades for her to conclude that silence no longer was an option.
Community members crowded the auditorium at the Newton Free Library in Newton, Massachusetts to attend Butter’s June 11 talk and book signing for her new memoir, “Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope, My True Story.”
Butter, professor emerita of health management and policy in the U-M School of Public Health, is a Holocaust survivor and peace activist who founded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal & Lecture Series at U-M — named for the Michigan alumnus responsible for saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust — and co-founded Zeitouna, an Arab/Jewish Women’s Dialogue group based in Ann Arbor.
The June event honored Butter and her co-authors, Kris Holloway and John Bidwell. During the event, Butter and Holloway described their process of writing the memoir, shared several excerpts after giving the audience some context about the scenes being described, and then answered audience questions.
After Butter arrived in America in 1945 at age 16, her American relatives encouraged her to stay silent about her experience.
“This is a message many survivors have reported receiving,” Butter said. Forty years later In 1986, she was asked to serve on a panel about Anne Frank, her childhood friend, at the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center.
“It dawned on me that Anne was not here to tell her story, but I was,” she said. “My silence had helped others forget the Holocaust, and silence meant that the dead would have died in vain.” Butter said she chose to be brave and be the voice that was taken from six million Jewish people.
“So I began to speak… and have not been quiet since.”
Butter spends much of her time speaking to young people and students.
“From inner city schools in Detroit, schools in Ann Arbor, and rural middle schools in Dexter, students in what has become my home state of Michigan are ready to hear a message of standing up against hatred, bullying, oppression, and discrimination. Students recognize that all of us are responsible for each other, regardless of our color, religion, or race. The idea of never a bystander, of standing up for others, even when they aren’t members of your tribe, is a strong theme in my life’s work.”
When asked what advice she had for university students who wish to create social change, Butter said, “There are many causes that you could join, and volunteer in organizations. I have tremendous admiration for the students of Parkland who have organized and are still fighting against gun violence. You can form your own group and your own community. It’s not that difficult to gather people who are concerned about the present time and eager to take preventative action. It’s very important.”
