by Irene Butter
If there is anyone who has been omitted unintentionally, my thanks to you.
Irene Butter
Ann Arbor, MI
December 2017
From John and Kris:
We first met Irene in the fall of 1992 in her role as Kris’s graduate school advisor. Kris and Irene got on famously from the start. When Kris gave birth to our first son, Aidan, in 1994, Kris was the only nursing mother in her program. It was hard balancing high-powered grad school, work, and motherhood. Irene was the one professor who made it easier. She helped take care of Aidan during key events and meetings, and helped normalize motherhood in the classroom. Kris could not have completed her degree without Irene’s support.
Irene attended the birth of our second son, Liam, in 1997. It was our second home birth, and Irene was the first person after John to hold Liam. As we became closer with Irene, we got to know her husband Charlie and had meals at their home in Ann Arbor. It was during our first visit that we noticed photographs on the wall of Irene and the Dalai Lama and other peacemakers, and it was then that she began telling us her story. We were dumbstruck: how could this petite, bright bundle of energy and joy have experienced such horror? We listened. This book is a product of that iterative journey. It has been one of our greatest blessings.
In addition, we want to thank:
• John’s writing workshop, Writers in Progress, led by the wise Dori Ostermiller.
• Our patient friends and family members who read our words over and over, gave feedback, and many times just listened: Aidan and Liam Holloway-Bidwell, Jane and Bill Holloway, Pam Holloway, Paul Bidwell, Ginger Milord, Jim and Ruth Bidwell, Betsy and Mark Bartholomew, Darryl Caterine, Amy Russell and Michael Sanders, SuEllen Hamkins, and Michelle Segar.
• Linda Roghaar and White River Press for helping us pull all this together!
Our deepest gratitude goes to Irene and all the Irenes in the world who choose to stand and bear witness even under the most trying of times, and speak up for others even when their own skin isn’t on the line.
John D. Bidwell and Kris Holloway
Florence, MA
December 2017
Authors
Irene Hasenberg Butter is a well-known peace activist, Holocaust survivor, and Professor Emerita of Public Health at the University of Michigan. She is a frequent and favored inspirational speaker, talking about her experience during World War II and stressing the importance of “never a bystander” and that “one person can make a difference.” Irene is a co-founder of Zeitouna, an organization of Jewish and Arab women working for peace, and a founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Project at University of Michigan, which honors the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews with fellowships and an annual award for peace workers such as the Dalai Lama, Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu, and Aung San Suu Kyi. She received a PhD in Economics from Duke University.
John D. Bidwell is consulting editor of Monique and the Mango Rains, the critically esteemed book authored by his wife Kris Holloway that chronicles their time in the Peace Corps with the Malian midwife Monique Dembele. He is a branding and marketing executive and consultant, a frequent presenter, and has lectured and taught at the University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts, Smith College, and Marlboro College. John has his BA from McGill University.
Kris Holloway is author of the critically acclaimed Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali, which has been called “a respectful, unsentimental portrait [and] a poignant and powerful book.” (Kirkus, Starred Review). She has delivered hundreds of presentations, and the book remains a favorite “common read” and is used in 150+ college and university courses. Kris is President of CISabroad, a leading education abroad organization responsible for sending thousands of students to study and intern abroad worldwide. She holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan.
A Call to Action
Irene has inspired thousands over the past three decades through her presentations, lectures, and film. She reminds us all of our ability to make meaningful change through seemingly small gestures, and reminds us that “refusing to be an enemy” and “never being a bystander” makes all the difference in the world. Here’s what you can do:
Commit to volunteering 4 hours a month. That’s it. Research social justice issues important to you in the world or in your local community. Start small. Think about what’s important to you and get involved, in your local government, with nonprofits, or volunteer with national or international organizations. Just devote 1 hour a week to something you care about.
Use these resources that Irene has developed for you:
• Download the Reading Guide: www.irenebutter.com/book
• Order the DVD on Refusing to be Enemies to learn about facilitating dialogue across differences. www.irenebutter.com/zeitouna/
• Watch the documentary film Never a Bystander and join the conversation. www.irenebutter.com/neverabystander
Invite Irene to speak or to Skype into your group, book group, or classroom. www.irenebutter.com/contact
Learn about the organizations that Irene believes in deeply:
• Raoul Wallenberg Award: www.raoulwallenberg.org/awards
• Zeitouna: www.refusingtobeenemies.org
• The Practice of Tibetan Buddhism: pemachodronfoundation.org
• Southern Poverty Law Center: www.splcenter.org
• Equal Justice Initiative: www.eji.org
“...accept the call to action by speaking out against injustice on your own journey.”
JAMES F. JOHNSON
Assistant Principal
Discovery Middle School
About the Book
As Irene’s Pappi fights to save his family during the Holocaust, Irene’s childhood is lost. Play is restricted. Family and friends disappear. Finally, with the Dutch police at their door comes the reality that Irene’s father has not moved his family far enough from Hitler’s Germany.
By January 1945, the family is struggling to survive a death camp. Irene tends her ailing parents, cares for starving kids, and even helps bring clothes to her Amsterdam neighbor Anne Frank, before her family is offered a singular chance for freedom…providing the Nazi doctor says they are healthy enough. After two weeks of heart-lifting miracles and heart-breaking tragedies, Irene arrives in the Algerian desert to journey into redemption and womanhood, without her parents or brother.
Irene’s first person memoir, Shores Beyond Shores, is an account of how the heart keeps its common humanity in the most inhumane and turbulent of times. Irene’s hard-earned lessons are a timeless inspiration.
