The Call of Shattered Glass

only smile. After the war, Madame
would return to ransacked homes, crushed
chandeliers, stolen paintings. She would
search freight cars filled with her
belongings marked “Goerring for Hitler.”

Some canvases could never be restored,
some heirlooms were never found—
precious possessions smelted for
the Reich. Yet one hundred thirty children
settled in other countries, learned new

languages, began again. Sixty years later,
they would return to Chateau de la Guette
from Boston, Miami, Cincinnati, Canada,
Israel, Australia. Strangers linked
by dim, grim details, coming together

to place a plaque for the Baroness
Germaine Halphen de Rothschild
who heard the call of shattered glass
and added to the Rothschild collection
irreplaceable, terrified treasures.