Meet Dr.Judy Stone Author of Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil

Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest, Dr. Judy Stone, author of Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil. Judy is the daughter of Hungarian Holocaust survivors and a physician specializing in infectious diseases. 

She is a Forbes Pharma and Healthcare contributor, the former Molecules to Medicine columnist for Scientific American, and the author of a nationally established textbook, Conducting Clinical Research: A Practical Guide for Physicians, Nurses, Study Coordinators, and Investigators.

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, she completed medical school at the University of Maryland, residency at Rochester General Hospital in New York, and fellowship at West Virginia University. She spent 25 years in solo practice in rural Cumberland, Maryland, and now cares for patients part-time as a substitute physician. Along with her commitment to physical healing, she has an avid interest in oral history and Holocaust education.

Through telling her family’s remarkable story, she hopes to teach tolerance and contribute to making the world a better, more peaceful, and more just place.

Norm: Good day Judy and thanks for participating in our interview.

What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today? As a follow up, what do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your career?

Judy: Thanks for having me, Norm! I went into practice when there weren’t many women physicians, and overcoming the sexism was quite a challenge. Women often had to be better and work harder to prove themselves.

There are two successes that come to mind. Perhaps my proudest accomplishment is that we’ve raised children who are good, caring people.

I still remember in an interview for medical school being asked, “If twenty-five years from now you overheard patients talking about you, what would you want to hear?” My response? That I always did the best I could and cared very much about my patients. I’ve done that.

Norm: What motivated you to write Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil?

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Judy: I was motivated to write this book by a combination of two things—a promise to my mother and uncle that I would keep their memories and lessons alive and my ninety-four-year-old aunt’s devotion to Holocaust education. I was also driven to tell their story to serve as a warning of where we are heading in these increasingly divisive times

Norm: What purpose do you believe your book serves and what matters to you about the story? As a follow up, what do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book?

Judy: Too few people even know what the Holocaust was. We need to educate people so history doesn’t repeat itself. We need to bear witness to what happened.

I want readers to see Holocaust victims and survivors as real, fully developed people like them. And I want them to see the strength and resilience of survivors.

Norm: Did you see your book from an outline or did it come from a completed manuscript?

Judy: The book has been evolving over years as I learned more and my experiences and perspective changed. I tried writing their story chronologically and then by individual. Those failed. Then I found what worked—writing the most vivid vignettes in my memory and then going back to weave them together.

Norm: What was the most difficult part of writing this book and what did you learn from writing the book?

Judy: Weaving so many story lines together was very difficult. I had to learn a lot about narrative writing, too, which was new for me. Emotionally, the hardest parts were telling about my mother losing her first baby and trying to understand my father’s infidelities.

Norm: You grew up as a second-generation child of Holocaust survivors. What effects did this have on you and your family? How did it shape you as a person? 

Judy: Even though my parents, aunts, and uncles never spoke about the Holocaust when I was growing up, it has always cast a shadow over my life—whether I was conscious of it or not. 

When I became a mother myself, it was hard to balance being proud of my Jewish heritage with worrying about antisemitism. For example, when my son was born, I decided against the tradition of a bris, having him circumcised, partly because I wanted him to be able to hide that he was Jewish if he ever needed to. Fear is a relentless legacy of the Holocaust.

It also shaped my career and interest in social justice issues.

Norm: In your book you talk about your aunt Klari, who told you that she owed her life to a Hungarian guard who had hid her within his own family. Later on this same man betrayed her in a most intimate way. How did this affect your aunt and in particular her ability to trust others?

Judy: I was very close with my aunt Klari, but even though we had a very warm and loving relationship, she kept secrets from me and her family. I don’t know if that was a matter of trust, if she was trying to protect me, or if she still needed to repress bad things that had happened years before. If she didn’t speak about the betrayal, she could almost forget it ever happened.

I did notice that Klari was always somewhat withdrawn and cynical. Yet she found great joy in helping others, as she did when making quilts for babies who had AIDS.

Norm: Did any of your family members display any guilt for their surviving the Holocaust while others perished?

Judy: Yes, I saw signs of survivor’s guilt. I’m sure they all wondered why they survived, but Kati was the most vocal. A woman had changed barracks with her so that Kati could be with my mother, who had just lost her baby.

When Kati went back to see a friend in her original barracks, everyone had vanished—one thousand young Jewish women had been killed.

Norm: I have come across Holocaust survivors who have indicated to me that they do not want to be buried but rather cremated. How do you explain this?

Judy: Holocaust survivors’ preference for cremation over burials has always surprised me too. Two of my aunts chose to be cremated because their father had been.

Norm: I have read and reviewed several books about the Holocaust. Many of them include painful and tragic stories. Your book focuses on resilience, hope, and triumph over evil. What made you want to write the book in this way?

Judy: I wanted to show that my mother, father, aunts, and uncles were not just victims but triumphant and vibrant survivors who went on to create fulfilling, successful lives, careers, and families.

Norm: When your parents, uncle, and aunts came to the USA, what kind of a reception did they receive from other Jewish people living there for quite some time?

Judy: My family never spoke about whether they sought out Jewish friends when they came to America. Several family members received help in adapting from relatives who had emigrated before the war. They tended to become friends with other survivors, people with a shared history.

Norm: Do you see any parallels between today's current rise of nationalism with that of the events of the 1930s that led to the Holocaust? 

Judy: Absolutely. People need to remember that the Holocaust began very slowly, not immediately with mass killings. Here are just a few of the parallels: 

• We have widespread “us versus them” thinking today. So did the United States in the 1920s and Germany in the early 1930s.
• We have increasingly severe anti-immigrant restrictions. So did Germany in the 1930s.
• Our government views the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN as “the enemy of the people” and “fake news.” The German government did the same thing in 1935 by calling the news Lugenpresse (lying press).
•  “Othering” and hate crimes have escalated—just like in Germany in 1932–1939.

Norm: What can we do to stop antisemitism and intolerance that are on the rise throughout the world today? 

Judy: We must educate. People need to study history. We must support a free, independent press and stop othering people and lying about immigrants. Racism and fear are where genocides start.

The book is filled with family stories where strangers and friends helped one another in the most desperate circumstances. My aunt Kati slept every night under the bed of a Christian neighbor so she would not be raped by the Nazis. My cousin Ancsi only survived because every once in a while there was a kind guard or person who would give him some food. My aunt Klari owed her life to a Hungarian guard who hid her within his own family. My mother survived because three younger women made sure to take the outside positions when they had to walk in rows so the weaker ones wouldn’t be as visible to the guards, who would have shot them. 

We can teach our children to reach out to friends and strangers who need their help.

We can teach them to be accepting of people who are not like them.

We must teach them to accept those in other communities.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil?

Judy: You can find out more on my WEBSITE. I also have a blog, Legacies of the Holocaust, which can be found on my website as well.

Norm: What is next for Judy Stone, MD?

Judy: I’m not sure what’s next for me. I would like to continue caring for patients, especially the underserved. I’d also like to do more speaking and teaching, like Kati does, about the Holocaust.

Norm: Thanks once again and luck with your book and future endeavors.

Judy: Thank you so much for having me!

 Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil