In 1940, the Jewish population of Romania was 760,000.  During the next decade, 400,000 Romanian Jews would be killed by an
anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi government.  The survivors faced World War 2, a Soviet occupation, and the ensuing communist regime. 

“Escape From Romania: The Leonard and Rodica Barad Story” is a two-disc documentary detailing the extraordinary personal journeys of Leonard and Rodica Barad.  They survived the Romanian Holocaust and the war, and then risked everything for the hope of freedom and opportunity in America.  The movie was commissioned by Steven and Beverly Barad in 2008 for the benefit of the extended family and future generations.

Watch all seven trailers on Google Video (key words: “Leonard and Rodica”) http://video.google.com/

A Legacy Project can be an audio recording, an ethical will, a recipe book, a website, a collection of video-taped messages or even some hand written notes in an envelope. The underlying idea behind a Legacy Project is that you have something tangible about your life to pass onto future generations so that they might know who you were and where they come from. Here are some resources to help get you thinking about the content you will include in your own Legacy Project.

Dying 47-year old professor Randy Pausch gives exhuberant “last lecture”

This is an hour-and a half lecture delivered to the faculty and students of Caregie Mellon, where Dr. Pausch is a professor. He learned in August 2007 that he had terminal cancer and only three to six months of good health left. Scroll to about eight minutes into this lecture to view Randy’s Legacy project entitled “Really achieving your Childhood Dreams.”

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950&hl=en

Thousands of StoryCorps audio recordings

“Our mission is to honor and celebrate each others’ lives through listening,” says StoryCorps,a nonprofit which empowers people to interview a family member or acquaintance in one of their soundproof recording studios across the country. The recordings are added to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Link: www.storycorps.net

Examples of Ethical Wills

An ethical will is a personal statement about your values, beliefs, the lessons you’ve learned and what you hope for your family members and future generations. Check out these examples of what others have written in their ethical will.

Link: www.ethicalwill.com/examples.html

For WW2 veterans, learn more about the new Ken Burns documentary and the Veterans History Project

Link: www.pbs.org/thewar/