Yet significant parts of the Jewish collective past are lost through the deliberate choice to excise or ignore parts of the story that are no longer pleasing or useful. History is reinvented. Assaults from without, acts of terrorism, genocide, and vandalism destroy important documents, art, and artifacts. Perhaps equally treacherous, the forces of nature work against the task of remembering. Archival material decomposes.
Important eyewitnesses forget, and survivors' stories remain untold before they die.
Isa Kremer demonstrates palpably all of the difficulties in documenting the past. According to Abarchik's story, Isa, a Bessarabian diva, sang for Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt in a private concert at the Teheran Conference, on Churchill's birthday, November 30, 1943. Isa's performance reportedly outshone those of her fellow artists, Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich. Unfortunately, the Ivriski Mir account overlooks the fact that Chevalier remained in occupied France, making him an unlikely choice to entertain Allied leaders. Moreover, Churchill's memories of that day, told in great detail in Closing the Ring , provide no mention of Isa, Maurice, or Marlene.