My grandfather was already married or about to
get married at the time. They said, ‘If you will not
move, you will find their heads in that ditch.’ So in
one night, she picked up what she could and left.
In 1941, when the Germans invaded Russia,
Inna’s grandfather was captured and shot. “The
Germans made children and women watch how
they kill their men,” said Inna. “My wonderful
grandmama and another woman decided that
night to get the bodies of their husbands and
bury them. When she jerked the body of my
grandfather from the pile of bodies, he started to
move. A German bullet had gone through his left
shoulder, but he was alive. She used ash from coal
to heal him.”
Even though Inna spent much of her
childhood with her grandparents in Veliz, she
had no knowledge of Jewish ancestry. “When you
start your life several times over again, you lose so
much.”
The professor from Haifa suggested that Inna’s
grandfather might have converted. “He said, ‘Most
Jews were trying to hide their roots.’ I remember
they had so many visitors and so many friends.
But when you are a child, you don't pay attention
to what grandparents say. I do remember my
grandfather was very smart. He remembered all
the poems he learned in school.”
“Why don’t you do a DNA test?” I suggested
to my former college algebra professor. It was
something she had already considered. I shared
with her that I had only recently discovered that
I have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors somewhere
down the line through a DNA test. A few weeks
later, the results of Inna’s DNA test gave proof
to European Jewish ancestry somewhere in her
family line.
There are traces of the past in us all. Science
proves that the experiences of our ancestors are
woven into our DNA, each story an opportunity of
redemption. Although Inna didn’t understand it at
the time, she remembered how her grandmother
would be frightened if a car drove up suddenly.
For Inna, the memory of those last months in
her homeland are still haunting. “I always keep
something pushed back in the pantry,” she said.
In the spring of 2018, Dr. Inna Edwards
retired from Georgia Southern and took a position
at Brewton-Parker College in the Division of
Mathematics and Natural Sciences department.
Inna and her husband enjoy traveling together and
have become amazing photographers in their own
right. Inna’s three grandchildren Vlad (16), Liliana
(10), and Mathew (6) enjoy regular visits with
their Babyushka (Grandmother). TCM
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