Family Feuds: Schwartz style.
A law suit has been filed against Bernice King, Martin Luther King Junior’s daughter, because she has “secreted and sequestered” Dr. King’s medal and Dr. King’s Bible in violation of the agreement that the property inherited from the civil rights icon. This story is so hard to read because of the echoes to my own brother’s confiscation and on going destruction of my father’s world war II heritage.
In the King case, Bernice King claims that the estate wants to sell the bible and medal. In our case, the issue is less about anyone making a buck as it is a fight over my brother’s desire to restrict open access to pictures and writings about Buchenwald. King’s medal and bible are in some ways like the pictures my brother is withholding and allowing to decay n his lawyer’s safe. For some, seeing an original object is important. In our case, however, these objects are photographs and writings that are not only fragile but will literally fade away because of they need archival processing. Meanwhile, the few people who were in the camp as prisoners or soldier are dying. Soon there will be no pictures and no one to look at them and say “That was me!”
