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Autobiographical Essays
Beate Brigitta Caspari-Rosen, MD
(1910 - 1995)
Beate Brigitta Caspari-Rosen
Born: March 14, 1910, Berlin, Germany
Died: July 8, 1995, Hamden, CT, USAIndex to Essays
Introduction by Beate Caspari-Rosen
Table of Contents
My Grandfather Louis Arnswalder
New Years Eve (written New Years morning, 1994)
A Short Essay on Jewish Holidays
Different Countries, Different Customs
285 Riverside Drive, Manhattan
4. 1977 - (?1995)
The Pleasure of Living at Whitney Center
The Beginning of a Professional Career
Introduction by Susan Joan Rosen
My mother’s essays were written at Whitney Center, Hamden, Connecticut, for a writing group the Center organized for its residents. The group was led by an instructor, possibly associated with Yale University. If I recall correctly the members met weekly, each participant presenting a contribution. My mother enjoyed writing, and this weekly get-together was an event she looked forward to with considerable enthusiasm. Over the years—I do not know the precise year that her participation began—the group waxed and waned, and my mother, confonting numerous health problems, was unable for certain periods to participate. One of the benefits for my mother is that it gave her the opportunity to recall significant events in her life. There are extended accounts of her life in Berlin and also in the United States. Yet it is evident that as her world began to constrict, the subjects she selected were closer to home. But whatever the theme she chose, her indomitable character, her curiosity, her perceptive incisivie observation is apparent, as is her personality and character. In reviewing these essays, I regret that I did not ask more questions about her life, but would she have told me what was in her heart of hearts? It seems as if she avoided certain topics, but then perhaps the group she participated in may have exercised a kind of silent peer censorship. Health, too, may have limited output. Alas, names are not mentioned in some essays. Understandably, in certain cases these are not recorded, but others inadvertently, I believe, were omitted. I would have liked to learn more about her professional career, her work as an historical medical researcher, as a ready ear and critic for my father’s ideas, professional life, and as his co-worker, not least, typing his extensive writings. And then there is the beloved rural house in Canterbury, Connecticut. This lovely part of their life is absent from her essays.
I am extraordinarly grateful for what is recalled, but castigate myself for not being more inquisitive and supportive in her endeavors.
17 September, 2007
Susan Joan RosenPictures will accompany these essays.