To download the flier: CLICK HERE

I'm Still in Awe with their Decision 

Friday, May 3, 2024, 10AM (MST)
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Andre Holten 

Holocaust survivor Andre Holten, 85, will share with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society how he survived the genocide, which claimed the lives of around six million Jews. He was the only survivor of his immediate family, staying alive by stowing away with a righteous family for the last two years of World War II. Andre’s experience is as a "hidden child," after his birth parents made the excruciating, but ultimately life-saving decision to ask a Christian family to take him in. Andre was a Jewish 5-year-old, when he went "underground" with Johannes and Petronella Meijer in the town of Haarlem, not far from where he was born in Holland, where he hid out under a false name for the last two years of World War II. In January 1944, his parents and maternal grandparents were loaded onto a train with nearly 1,000 others, 122 of whom were children, bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. His mother and grandparents were immediately sent to the gas chamber, while his father was forced to work in a nearby camp for around four months before he fell ill due to work conditions and was executed in August. Holten survived the war, completing high school under the wing of the Meijers, who he emotionally said "elected to keep" him, before immigrating to the United States in 1956, where he earned a physics degree from the City College of New York. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, reaching the rank of captain and helping design protection for the fuel system of the attack aircraft A-10 "Warthog" Thunderbolt II, before moving to Albuquerque and eventually becoming a substitute teacher in Rio Rancho for around 22 years. Above all, Andre feels his story is one that teaches young students to practice tolerance, and about the many different sides of humanity. 

To download the flier: CLICK HERE

If it wasn’t for my parents… 

Friday, June 14, 2024, 10AM (MST)
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Susan Faludi 

Copy to come

To download the flier: CLICK HERE

Our Escape from Berlin to Shanghai

Friday, July 19, 2024, 10AM (MST)
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Evelyn Goldstein 
Pre-Recorded Seminar

olocaust survivor, Evelyn Goldstein was born in Berlin, Germany on September 14, 1936 to Victor & Erika Wolpert. Prior to Hitler’s rise to power, Dr. Wolpert was a general practitioner, whereas Erika, served the family as a midwife. As antisemitism spread, her family experienced Kristallnacht, & knew they had to flee, as they secured visas thanks to the help of Ho Feng Shan, who helped to save thousands of Jews as they sought refuge in Shanghai, China. Upon arrival to Shanghai, Evelyn lived on Wayside Rd, was one of the many students who were enrolled in the Kadoorie School, before immigrating to San Francisco, USA in 1949. Evelyn is an active member of the Phoenix Holocaust Association, and regularly attends café Europa. Please join us in July, as Evelyn will share her Holocaust experience. 

Finding the Right Address 

Friday, April 12, 2024
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Bertie Levkowitz 

Bertie Levkowitz’ parents (Hetty and Herman), married in Groningen, Netherlands in 1940 while Holland was under Nazi Occupation.  

Their baby, Bertie was born in May of 1942.

By this time, Bertie’s mother’s, 23 year old brother had been arrested & murdered in Buchenwald, and her father had  escaped a men’s Jewish labor camp (Baldehaar) . Their apartment & belongings had been expropriated by the Nazi Commandant.

Bertie’s family was desperate for a place to hide with their 3 month old baby before it was too late.They arranged for the Dutch underground to hide her from the Nazis while they went into hiding separately. For the next three years, she was abandoned more than 40 times as she was moved from family to family.

One Blanket, One Pillow, & a Doll

Friday, March 1, 2024
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Gyorgyi Rosenthal 

Holocaust survivor, Gyorgyi (Farkas) Rosenthal was born on July 4, 1941 in a suburb (Elizobet) of Budapest, Hungary. Her father, Steven Farkas, was a Hungarian freedom fighter, who occasionally listened to a shortwave radio, and learned that a ghetto was to be constructed. Before they established the ghetto, he waisted no time and his family fled to Kazinci St., located in District 7 within Budapest. Meanwhile, in 1943, her dad was forced to work in the Jewish civilian working service in Hungary. He was then transferred to a Yugoslav labor camp where he lost his leg in an explosion. Afterwards, he was able to secure false papers, went back to Kazinci St., where his 9 friends & family were  hiding in a 2 bedroom apartment, with awful living conditions, as it was too crowded. Her mom, whose father, Bela Kohn, was upset over the living conditions left the apartment with Gyorgyi’s two aunts and their two children, never to be seen again, as they were murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. 

The apartment building on Kazinci St. was marked a yellow Star of David to indicate Jews in the Budapest ghetto, so Gorgyi & mom, Gabriella, ended up leaving ghetto for district 6, on Lazar St., where they were saved a gentile named Ms. Rosmar and stayed for the rest of the war. While in hiding, a pastor provided her mom with more false documentation as a Christian. There were still close calls as well as fear when air raid sirens went off, as they hid with other Christian neighbors within the apartment complex’s bombing shelter. Gyorgyi can still remember liberation in 1945, when the Russian soldiers came to her building and gave her fresh bread & a bag of sugar. Gyorgyi was finally content with her one blanket, one pillow and a doll.

It’s What We Remember

Friday, February 2, 2024
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Kathy Gross 

Holocaust survivor Kathy Gross (Katalin Steiner) was born June 5, 1938 in Budapest, Hungary. Kathy was the second child born to an upper-middle class family; her sister, Livia, was 6 years older. Their father owned a textile factory and enjoyed a comfortable live due to the family business. Kathy’s mother, Magdolna, employed a housekeeper and a nanny to take care of the household and children. Kathy’s family did not keep a kosher home; however, Kathy’s father prayed every morning and they observed all the Jewish holidays. 

Following the Anschluss Kathy’s father, Erno, had to take on a gentile partner to prevent losing his business, as Jews were not allowed to possess valuables, even radios, bicycles, and other personal items, had to be turned in. In fact, Kathy still has one inventory receipt of the items that were handed over. As a young child, Kathy remembers a happy life; visits to the park & spending time with relatives. Although Kathy was too young to remember all the deprivations caused by discrimination, she can recall wearing the yellow Star of David. 

Kathy’s family lived on the fourth floor, which was at the top of her apartment building, where she recalls air raids that forced her family to go to the cellar, where she had her crib. Since most air raids occurred at night, she recalls one instance when her building caught fire, due to the American bombing of the ammunition depot next door; they had to escape from the cellar to cellar, by knocking over a loosely built wall between the basements. The air raids instilled fear & trauma of a young Kathy. 

Meanwhile, Kathy’s father was taken to a labor camp, and then moved to various concentration camps, ending up at Flossenburg, where he died in Nov., 1944. On March 19, 1944, the German Nazis occupied Hungary, and Jews were forced to move to designated Jewish houses. Kathy’s building was designated and they had to share their apartment with another family, who happened to be our friends. Kathy’s mom found out that her brother was taken to a brick factory near Budapest, so she hurried to take some food to him. However, the Nazis grabbed her and sent her home to pack her belongings as they were going to take her to a concentration camp. She took some fake poison to avoid the camp, and was taken to the hospital to pump her stomach; this time she escaped, but they eventually came to the house soon after, and she & our friend were taken by the Nazis, leaving our friends’ son, alone. Kathy’s sister, Livia, was also deported. 

Soon after, a Jewish organization came and collected the abandoned children to hide them in a safe place. Kathy recalls a harsh winter, as she wore three sets of clothing on top of each other and in the dead of winter, and were scrubbed clean with melted snow, once a week. Kathy’s head was shaved; her head/body was covered with lice and she had an infected nail that had to be removed without an anesthetic. After liberation, her mother found her with her arm in a sling, as another finger was infected. Kathy’s mother was taken on a march to the border, but she & her friend were offered to be hidden by a local resident in the countryside; they obtained false identifications and were able to hide at an abandoned place in Budapest. Additionally, after the Russian liberation of Budapest, Kathy’s mom found her & her sister; they all returned to the bombed-out apartment with her grandmother who also survived the ghetto. Livia caught polio and died in June 1945, since the iron lung did not exist at this time.  Kathy’s mother was able to renovate the factory and was managing it until the communists nationalized it in 1949. Kathy grew up in the communist regime but was scrutinized because of her capitalist background, and in 1956, after the Hungarian Revolution she immigrated to England. In 1962, she came to the United States, where she became a proud US citizen.  

The Extraordinary Story of Zvi Teper 

Friday, January 5, 2024
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Zvika Teper, accompanied by his brother, Moshe Bukshpan

Zvi Teper was born in Boryslaw, a city in Galicia, Poland. Zvi was just a baby when the Nazi started persecuting the Jews. He & his family had no choice, but understood that in order to survive, they had to escape. So, he & family boarded the very first train, and did not know that it was the last time that they would ever be together. The Nazis ended up bombing the same train Zvi was on and sadly, Zvi’s father was killed. Meanwhile, Zvi’s mother hid him in a potato sack and together they escaped. Fortunately, Zvi survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel, which he considers his triumph, and today, Zvi continues to share his story as his grandson is a combat soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces. To this day, Zvi continues to promise that what happened to him would never happen again. You see, Zvi did not forget, and will never forget. Please join us for this special program, as Zvi will recount his earliest memories of the Holocaust. 

Sharing the Gifts of Freedom

Friday, December 1, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Hanna Miley

Through rescue, loss, and eventual freedom — author, teacher, and speaker Hanna Zack Miley stands as a warm reminder of the power of forgiveness. In 1932, just 11 months before Hitler seized power — Hanna was born in the German city of Bonn. As anti-semitism increased her Jewish parents, Marcus and Amalie Zack, desperately sought ways of escape. On the evening of July 24, 1939, they were able to get Hanna onto a train to escape to England. They however, would not make it to safety. Her parents were forced from their home and deported to endure six months of inhumane conditions in the Łódź Ghetto before being murdered in Chelmno, Poland, on May 3, 1942.

Hanna has since discovered newfound freedom and joy in sharing her story around the world and through her writing and speaking. She and her husband George have been worldwide travelers for more than 50 years, teaching others about the transforming power of God and forgiveness even in the most painful circumstances. Today, they reside in Phoenix, Arizona.

Music and The Holocaust: The Local Connection

November 27, 2023
Featured Guests: Local Holocaust Survivors & Connections to Music

Please join the Arizona Jewish Historical Society for a special program on Monday, November 27, 2023 at 6 pm, as we offer a memorable educational seminar within the Holocaust Education series, inspired by Rosie & Jerry Guttman. More specifically, AZJHS will tap into collective consciousness, as we make an emotional connection utilizing the senses, and discovering the music connected to our local Holocaust survivors.  Join us as we bring the past back to life by engaging the audience with Holocaust survivor artifacts, local student performance, a special birthday celebration, and more.

Who is Janek Zimmermann? 

November 24, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Jack Zimmermann 

Holocaust Survivor, Janek “Jack” Zimmermann was born to Wilhelm (William) & Malvina (Schachter) Zimmermann on April 12, 1931 in Przemysl, Poland. He can distinctly remember life, prior to the Holocaust, including his large family tree. In fact, Jack and his sister, Cesia, along with their mother, Malvina Schachter, had survived the war thanks to Righteous Among the Nations. After being hidden in an attic with 12 other Jews, Jack survived to see liberation, spent time at Landsberg, immigrated to the United States, and served in the US Army (6th Medium Tank) during the Korean War. Today, Jack resides in Washington State. Jack was among 13 Jews, including Max Diamant, who survived thanks to the bravery and kindness of Stefania & Helena Podgorska. 

The Holocaust did Happen: Lucky #29

Friday, October 6, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Simon Shpitalnik 

Simon Shpitalnik was born on March 29, 1932, in the city of Balta, Odessa province, where he lived with his dad (Iosif), mom (Sonya), and his brother, Efim. On June 22, 1941, Simon’s life was disrupted, and in the years to come, Simon would escape death on multiple occasions, including escaping bullets, beatings, transportations, drowning, & brutal monsters before he was liberated by the Soviet Army. Simon was 62 years old when he left his native Odessa for Los Angeles. With that, he left the Holocaust behind, which claimed most of his family, then service in the Soviet army and a successful career as a construction engineer & factory manager. Please join us on Friday, October 6th, when Simon will relive his Holocaust survival experience & explain the relevance of lucky #29. 

Rebuilt from Broken Glass: A German Jewish Life Remade in America

Friday, September 1, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Fred Behrend 

In November 1938, 12-year-old Fred Behrend witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht (Night of  Broken Glass), seeing synagogue after synagogue torched in the city of Cologne. Fred did not know that back home, his father, like 30,000 other Jewish males, had been arrested for transport to a concentration camp. His father was released several weeks later on the condition that his family leave Germany as soon as possible, never to return. They escaped to Cuba, the only place that would take them, and, eventually, America.  

In his later years, Fred began to speak to schoolchildren about his Holocaust past. In 2018, he was speaking to students at a Jewish day school on the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht about that fateful day. He was telling about the Baum family, whom he lived with at the time – 65 miles from home – so he could attend a Jewish-run secular school after Nazis banned Jews from public school. The head of the day school disappeared from the room for 10 minutes, then returned with a cellphone. A miracle was about to happen.

A Street Car Ride That Changed Our Lives 

Friday, August 4, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Julie Gutfreund 

Julie was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1931. Her father, an attorney, was from Tarnapol, Poland; her mother, from Vishnitz, Romania. The family was well-off and Julie was a self-admitted “spoiled only child.” The family owned a house and had a live-in maid/nanny. Julie attended kindergarten and then had a private tutor at home for first grade. However, all that changed in the spring of 1938 when Hitler entered Austria and Jews experienced changes in lifestyles. They were no longer permitted to go to the park or shop in certain stores. A great many restrictions were placed on them.

On Kristalnacht, Julie and her mother were home alone. The German SS came to the house and banged incessantly at the front door yelling “Juden Kommt raus”, (Jews come out) while Julie and her mother hid in the closet. Her father, meanwhile, had chosen to ride a streetcar all night. What he observed convinced him that the family needed to flee the area. The next morning he moved the family into the home of a Gentile friend and plans were made to leave. Because of the family’s wealth, they were able to give bribes of money and gold coins to consulates. However, Julie’s dad lost his position as lawyer at a bank for no reason other than he was Jewish.

Six months later, in the spring of 1939, the family received permission to go to Antwerp. The first option was to leave by train, but a few weeks earlier they learned Jews were being arrested on trains.. so they flew in a non-pressurized old plane, holding oxygen masks to their faces for the duration of the flight. Once in Belgium, they were on their own to find housing and other accommodations. Julie was placed in first grade. She should have been in second grade, but since she spoke neither French nor Flemish, she was behind in school. Julie’s father began to believe that all of Europe was not going to be safe and he began searching for all possible destinations accepting Jewish refugees including Shanghai.

Julie’s father contacted a family friend originally from Tarnapol who was now a doctor in Chicago. Dr. Davidsohn provided sponsorship and papers for the family. However, since Jews could not get into the U.S.with sponsorship alone, the family had to obtain falsified papers which indicated they were farmers. The trans-Atlantic trip was made on the Holland-American ship Pennland. Although the two-week voyage experienced rough seas, Julie remembers being “happy, running all over.”

In New York, HIAS aided the family, finding them an apartment on the lower East Side. While Julie became sick due to the travel and climate change which caused her to miss school, her adjustment to a new language and environment was otherwise smooth. However with a short time, Jewish agencies in New York were concerned with overcrowding, and wanted Jewish refugees to go elsewhere in the country. In the spring of 1940, Dr. Davidsohn once again helped by arranging for the family to move to Chicago, where Julie’s dad found work selling silk ties door to door. Unfortunately, his accent had him pronouncing pure silk as poor silk and he did not find success in this position. He later became a bookkeeper for a tavern and attended school to become an accountant. It was in this capacity that he later worked for the Board of Education. Her mother, who had moved to Vienna to attend culinary school, became a cook in the Curtis Candy Company’s cafeteria. Julie did not have difficulty transitioning to a new language and lifestyle in the U.S. She persevered, attending summer school to make up for her lost second grade education and later attended college and became a medical technician. She met her husband, Kurt also a survivor, on a blind date. They married in 1954 and had three children, one of whom lives in Phoenix, and 5 grandchildren.

Born on the Cattle Car to Mauthausen Concentration Camp

Friday, July 7, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Mark Olsky 

Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Mark Olsky was born on April 20, 1945 on a cattle car en-route to Mauthausen concentration camp. He arrived on April 29, one day after the gas chambers were inoperable.  Following liberation, he lived in Munich Germany for the first 4 years of his life. Mark’s father was killed before he was born, as were his grandparents, and most of his extended family. Mark’s mother later married a war widower who became a wonderful stepfather. Later, Mark moved to Israel at age 4, arrived in the midst of the independence war, where conditions were harsh. Mark later immigrated to the US (Chicago) in 1958, became a Vietnam Veteran, and for the past 29 years has been practicing medicine, teaching medical administration, but is now semi-retired.  Please join us on Friday, July 7, 2023 to feel Dr. Mark Olsky’s experience.

I Survived to See My Dad…

Friday, June 9, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Eva (Bruder) Hance

Holocaust survivor, Eva Bruder was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1933. In 1944 she is sent by cattle car to Dachau Concentration Camp, where she spent 7.5 months and survived death on a number of occasions. Please join us this June, as Eva will recount her survival & promote her call to action to be better people.

Tough Times Don’t Last, Tough People Do

Friday, May 5, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Alex Metzger

Imagine the people you thought were your parents are actually not your biological parents, or imagine the religion you practiced is not actually your religion. Join us on Friday, May 5, to experience Alexander Metzger’s survival story throughout the holocaust.

Alex was born on June 17, 1940, while his mother Rose was attempting to flee Belgium as the Nazis detained many. Prior to his birth, his father, Ludwig Metzger, was apprehended, detained, and taken to a holding camp called Breendonk, for a week, and was then relocated to several other Nazi camps until his final transfer to Auschwitz in 1944, where he perished.

Two weeks after Alex was born, Rose encountered an extraordinarily difficult decision; should she flee with her son, avoiding capture, or should she hand over her new born to a Christian family who offered safe haven?  With a brave face and selfless decision, Rose handed over Alex, to a childless couple named Joseph and Marie Herssens.  The Herssens were devout in Christian beliefs and subsequently raised Alex in their faith. Throughout this time, Rose would come to visit Alex on occasion; Alex knew and called her, Aunt Rose. In 1947, two years after the conclusion of the war, Rose returned to claim her son.

At 6 years of age, Alex learned the identity of “Aunt Rose,” and that he was actually Jewish. He recalls feeling confused and found the recent revelations difficult to comprehend at his age. While in hiding, Alex attended church regularly, along with holiday services with his “parents,” so the transition was difficult to adjust. However, once Rose officially reclaimed him, they relocated to London, England with Rose’s new husband. Moreover, just two years later, in April 1949, they immigrated to the United States on the SS Washington.

They settled in New York City and Alex’s life got back to normalcy, as he attended the local public school, learned English, and acclimated to his new life in America. He has lived a very full life with many friends, a career, and family of his own. Today he resides in Florida with his wife of 55 years and has two children and four grandchildren. He owes many thanks to the courage and bravery of his wartime heroes, Marie and Joseph Herssens. Please join us on, Friday, May 5, as we retrace Alex’s story of survival.

The Holocaust and Beyond

Friday, April 7, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Wolfgang Hellpap

Wolfgang Helpap was born on June 25, 1931 in Berlin, Germany, the son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother.   The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of their German citizenship and labeled Wolfgang a full-blooded Jew.  On November 9–10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population in Germany called Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass.  Wolfgang watched as his father’s business was vandalized and burned along with other Jewish-owned business, synagogues and homes.  The Jewish business owners were forced to repair and pay for all damage on their own. 

In second grade Wolfgang’s name appeared on a list of Jewish children, he was forced to leave his school.  His father left Germany shortly after 1938 for Shanghai, which was the last time Wolfgang heard from his father.  While his mother wanted to keep him, it became impossible and Wolfgang, at the age of 8, went into hiding. 

After liberation HIAS found Wolfgang and together with 10 other Jewish children he went to Palestine.  The state of Israel was formed in 1948, Wolfgang listened to the UN vote along with the entire country.  Fighting from surrounding Arab countries began almost as the state of Israel was announced.  Wolfgang immediately knew he wanted to fight for this new Jewish state and for the dream of safety and freedom it brought. He was part of the early Hagenah.  Years and countless experiences later, Wolfgang was drafted into the U.S Army and was shipped back to Germany, this time as an American soldier!

I Didn’t Know I was a Jew

Friday, March 10, 2023
Featured Guest: Theresa Dulgov

Theresa Dulgov was born in Hungary in June, 1944, just prior to the German invasion of Hungary with its intent to deport all of the Jews. The Nazi Germans had already taken Theresa’s father to “work” for them, to use them as human shields and slave labor. 

Theresa’s father was a farmer and land owner; the Germans wreaked havoc on the farm and their home.  What they didn’t take, they destroyed. Theresa’s mother chose to go to Budapest where her mother was. Sheer determination and tenacity, pretending, to be in labor, saved her and Theresa’s life and provided them passage to Budapest.  Jews were not allowed medication and Theresa’s birth, an eventual C-Section was brutal.  With her family members being taken away or forced into ghettos, Theresa’s mother took her newborn and went into hiding.  With no guarantee of safety, no food for her or her baby, Theresa’s mother sought help from the nuns in a Catholic convent.

Theresa was baptized in order for the nuns to let them stay.  Potato peels or beans soaked in a cloth diaper for Theresa to suck on was her sustenance.   By the time the war was over Theresa has lost weight and had a huge belly from malnutrition.  Post-war Hungary did not improve the lives of those who remained; bread lines, restrictions, trauma remained a part of Theresa’s early life.  Being Jewish continued to mean, for Theresa’s mother, a death sentence and Theresa was not told of her Jewish roots until much later.  Theresa is a retired teacher who continues to share her story with thousands of teachers and students. 

Holding onto the Hate Let the Haters Win

Friday, February 24, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Andrew Schot

Andrew Schot was 9 years old in 1940 when the Germans invaded the Netherlands.  He was almost two years younger than Anne Frank and about 5 years younger than her sister Margot.

Jewish students were banned from educational institutions, forced into smaller Jews only schools, this is where Andrew met Anne and through Anne, her sister Margot.  While Andrew did not grow up in a Jewish home and was not considered a Jew according to Jewish Law (Andrew’s father was Jewish, his mother was not), Andrew was labeled a full blooded Jew by the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws.  He was forced to wear a yellow star and recalls a sign in a store window: “No Jews allowed when humans are on the premises”. 

His father, after receiving a relocation notice, went into hiding, returning to his home on weekends.  He was caught and Andrew later found out he was taken to Bergen-Belsen.  Andrew and his sister who was six years older, went into hiding, explaining to their mother that it would be better for all if they left.  After surviving on the run for two years, careful to never stay in one place for more than a day, they were caught, loaded into trucks then cattle cars, separated from one another, Andrew’s sister’s train went to Dachau, Andrew’s was destined for Bergen-Belsen. 

After liberation Andrew made his way to the United States, where was drafted into the U.S. Army, later transferring to the Air Force where he served for 26 years.  Andrew didn’t tell anyone — including his wife and kids — about his own family's World War II tragedy until the mid 90s. Since then Andrew has spoken to countless students, adults, military, and every graduating class of the Tucson Police Department.  Andrew shares the importance of speaking up against prejudice and greed, not forgetting but also not permitting hate to have a role in his life. 

The Red Cross Saved Me, So I Saved As Many As I Could

Friday, January 13, 2023
Featured Guest: Holocaust Survivor, Paul Adler

Holocaust survivor, Paul Adler was born January, 1941. His family was from Gleiwitz, Germany. On Krystalnacht, his father was apprehended in Breslau, Germany and taken to Buchenwald where he spent 6 weeks before his mother was able to receive all communications and papers which came via the Red Cross in Lisbon. The papers came just in time, as Paul’s mother was successful in bribing a Gestapo official to escort her by train to Buchenwald and have Paul’s dad released. They boarded the Watussi (ocean liner) which was destined for Mozambique. Upon arrival they were transported to Swaziland.

Against the Odds

Friday, December 2, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Michael Katz

Holocaust survivor, & academic pediatrician Michael Katz will make an emotional connection as he shares his survival experience. Born in Lwow in Eastern Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), Michael lost his family to the Nazis in the summer of 1942. As a fourteen-year-old, he was able to procure false identification as an “Aryan”, and made his way to Warsaw, where he supported himself working odd jobs while “hiding in plain sight.” He ultimately connected with the Armia Krajowa (National Army), and took part in both the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) and in the Warsaw City Uprising (1944). He was able to make his way to the US in 1946.

He is Carpentier Professor of Pediatrics, emeritus at Columbia University, where he was for 17 years Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatrician-in-Chief at Presbyterian Hospital. He subsequently served for 25 years as Senior Vice-President for Research and Global Programs at the March of Dimes Foundation. He lives in New York City and is now an Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University and President of the Institute of Maternal and Perinatal Health at University of Oxford in England. 

After All: Life Can Be Beautiful

Friday, November 18, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Wanda Wolosky

Prejudice against or hatred of Jews-known as antisemitism-has plagued the world for more than 2,000 years. The Holocaust–the state-sponsored persecution/murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933-1945, is history's most extreme example of antisemitism. Yet even in the aftermath of the Holocaust, antisemitism remains. Holocaust Survivor, Wanda Wolosky, a Green Valley resident, was born in Warsaw, Poland and survived the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II as a child. Please join us on Friday, Nov. 18, where you will hear the story of one survivor of the Holocaust and her untiring efforts to teach people about what happened and why it is so important that it never be allowed to happen again.

Our Children Are Safe, Powder Your Nose

Friday, October 28, 2022
SPEAKER: Joseph Erlichman

Holocaust survivor, Joseph Erlichman was born on January 11, 1940 in Brussels Belgium. He was the grandson of Rabbi Efraim Majmin, who was the head rabbi of Warsaw, for years. During World War II, he was a liaison with American Jewry, and ended up within the Warsaw Ghetto. He ultimately perished in that role, as did most of his extended Erlichman/Majmin (aka Maimon) family.  However, luckily, Efraim’s daughter Lena Erlichman (Joseph’s mom) survived, following liberation from Auschwitz. Unfortunately, Joseph’s father, the late Isaac Wolf Erlichman, who was also at Auschwitz, perished in the death march of 1945. Joseph had two sisters, Tina (12) and Anna (16), respectively, at the start of the invasion of Belgium. They, like Joseph’s parents, were born in Warsaw (father 1901; mother 1903) and escaped to Belgium with his parents, in hopes of evading German encroachment.   When Joseph’s parents’ were arrested and transported to Auschwitz, his sisters took over caring for him and even managed to keep him safe for the remainder of the war.  When the war ended, Ann met an American GI in Brussels and they married in the US some time later.  They moved to Great Neck, N.Y. Joe’s sister Tina, visited with them a few years later and met an American Air Force pilot, whom she married.  Six years after the war ended, Joseph and mother were granted a visa and came to America on the Queen Mary in 1951. 

It is painful for Joseph to think about those times.  After all, it has been over 80 years. In the past, Joseph has participated as a speaker in sponsored education programs at various high schools, colleges and seminars. Join us on Oct. 28, where Joe will relive the painful memories of his past and how his father attempted to calm his frightened wife by telling her, as they were being transported to the Auschwitz death camp, “Our Children Are Safe, Powder Your Nose.

Be Brave, and in the End, Everything will be Good!

Friday, September 9, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Irving Bienstock

Irving Bienstock was born in 1926 in Dortmund. He did all the things one would expect a young boy to do: school, family, friends, and stayed active playing sports. When Hitler came to power, life deteriorated quickly for Jewish families in Dortmund, as Irving’s family waited patiently for a visa with hopes of coming to America; but it took 6 years, and during that time, the Nuremberg laws greatly affected their movements and livelihoods, with restrictions and incarcerations. Unexpectedly, on September 28, 1938, Irving’s father escaped Germany to Belgium to avoid arrest and sent to concentration camps. 

On November 9, 1938, also known as Kristallnacht, Jewish synagogues & businesses were targeted/destroyed and with that Irving’s schooling came to an end. Sadly, some of his extended family were deported to Auschwitz, of which only one would survive.  Irving’s younger sister, Sylvia had developed diabetes and was denied medical care because she was Jewish.  Irving’s mother applied for the children to be part of the Kindertransport, taking German Jewish children to England for safety, but was denied.   As the danger for Jews increased, his mother had to make painful decisions.  She decided to send the children alone (separate) to Holland where they were connected to the Jewish community, “Kindertransport network” and specifically, Truus Wijsmuller. Irving’s mother told him to “be brave and, in the end, everything will be good”.

In 1939, Irving’s father’s quota number came up and he arrived in the United States and began to work find a sponsor for the family.  With the help of Mrs. Wijsmuller, Irving and Sylvia were reunited with their mother in Rotterdam, sailed to the United States and reunited with their father in 1940.  Four weeks later, Germany invaded Holland.  Life in the United States was difficult, but Irving was 13 and ready to live in freedom.  He quickly learned English, finished school and worked in a munitions factory waiting until his 18th birthday to register for the Army.  Irving was inducted in the Army on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.  He sailed to Europe on the USS Wakefield exactly 5 years after leaving Rotterdam, to join the 10th Mountain Division in Italy.  After leaving the Army in 1946, Irving returned to his family in New York where he attended the Pratt Institute and worked for the Singer Company as an engineer.  In 1975, he and wife Lillian moved to Charlotte, NC where he still resides.  

Upon retiring in the year 2000, Irving began to tell his story of survival to children in the area.  He joined the Levine JCC’s Butterfly Project in 2010, telling his story to and answering questions from middle school students several times a week throughout the school year. As time goes on, Irving is happy to tell his story to anyone who wants to listen, and learn the importance of taking a stand.  Irving attributes his survival to the incredible bravery and relentless determinedness of both his mother and Mrs. Truus Wijsmuller. 

Sevek & the Holocaust The Boy Who Refused to Die

Friday, August 12, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust survivor, Sidney “Sevek” Finkel

Sidney “Sevek” Finkel is the author of Sevek and the Holocaust, The Boy Who Refused to Die. This Holocaust seminar will focus on an eight-year-old Sevek, capturing the emotions of a boy who loses his home, his family and ultimately his humanity by the time he reaches the age of fourteen. This seminar is used to help with recently passed legislation that offers teachers an opportunity to apply this session in their curriculum in the State of Arizona, Join is on August 12 as Finkel will share his story, relaying a message of tolerance, hope and love. 

Sidney Finkel received the Philip K Weiss Award for Storytelling for Peace and Human Rights in 2013.

Learn more about Sidney Finkel’s work with schools and education at his website http://holocaustspeaker.com/ or contact him at s341f@aol.com

You Are My Liberator

Friday, July 8, 2022
SPEAKER: US Liberator of World War II, Vernon Schmidt

Program Description: Vernon Schmidt was born in Reedley, CA and entered the US Army in 1944, at the age of 18. After Basic Training at Camp Roberts, his Advanced Infantry Training was cut short by the large numbers of casualties in Europe. He shipped out from New York on the Queen Mary and landed in Glasgow, Scotland; took a train to Southampton, England and finally landed at Le Harve, France. He rode box cars to Germany & was assigned to the 90th Infantry. He was then taken by truck to Habscheid, Germany and entered combat at "The Seigfried Line," where he and two others joined a squad in a pill box. 10 days later, Vern was the lone survivor; his two buddies were killed by German artillery. After crossing several rivers, his unit captured the City of Mainz and then they went on to liberate Flossenburg Concentration Camp, and rescued others on the Cavalcade Death March.

RESCUED

Friday, June 24, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Suly Chenkin

Holocaust survivor, Suly Chenkin was born in Kovno, Lithuania. Her story began and ended with a prophecy uttered by her grandmother when she was a child, “born on the first day of the Jewish New Year, will be lucky her entire life.”

Six months later the Nazis invaded Lithuania, and the word “luck” disappeared for all Jewish people living in the country and all others throughout Europe. As a ten month old, Suly’s family, together with about 40,000 other Jews were interned in the Kovno Ghetto. Miraculously, she survived famine, disease and the Kinder Aktzie, when the Nazis went house by house and took any child under the age of 12 and the elderly, sick and the handicapped. Suly can remember hiding in the bunker, her mother’s hand pressed against Suly’s mouth as they came into their house. The Nazis and their dogs did not find our hiding place.

On May 11, 1944, at the age of 3-1/2, Suly was given a sleeping potion, put into a potato sack, and as prearranged, was thrown over a barbed wire fence to a woman, Miriam Shulman and a young Christian girl waiting on the other side. A few weeks later the Kovno Ghetto was burned to the ground and fewer than 6000 inmates were put into boxcars headed to the concentration camps: the men to Dachau in Germany and the women to Shuthoff in Prussia.

Following the war, Suly remembers the terrible trek thru Europe with no food, documents or money. They finally arrived in Romania and on her fifth birthday, as they boarded a ship for Israel. She then understood why she was an orphan and began calling Miriam “Ima”. Six months later, she was told that her parents had survived and on her sixth birthday, she was reunited with her mother in Israel, and six months later, they travelled to Cuba, and she was reunited with her Dad. After three long years, they were together. But 27 of our family had perished and out of Kovno’s 40,000 Jews, only 2000 survived.

Suly grew up in Havana, but shortly after graduating High School, Fidel Castro took over the country and they left for Miami. In 1961, her parents moved to Charlotte, NC. Suly went on to New York City. Now living in Charlotte, N.C. Chenkin speaks widely to school and community groups about the Holocaust and her experience. Please consider joining us for this emotional featured presentation.

WHEW . . . WE GOT OUT OF THERE

Friday, May 20, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, John Kessler

Hans (later John) Kessler was born on November 26, 1928 in Vienna, Austria. John’s life changed completely when his father, Jakob, was arrested on Kristallnacht and jailed. Because of Jakob’s background as an Austrian Army officer, he avoided immediately being sent to concentration camps. This left time for John’s mother to negotiate with the authorities to give the family approximately two weeks to get out of Austria. John and his family were lucky to flee the Nazis, and they went on to live lives that mattered. Join us on Friday May 20th, when John will share with us his story of survival and how he and his family GOT OUT OF THERE…WHEW!

By the Grace of God

Friday, April 8, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Alex(Sandor) Dancziger

Alex (Sandor) Dancziger was born a Hungarian Jew on April 8, 1937 in Miskolc, Hungary. His parents saw the warning signs and the rise of anti-Semitism, following the Nuremberg laws. Alex was literally saved by his mother in the nick of time, grabbing Alex and fleeing the back door of their home as Nazis approached his front porch. In 1944, with quick decision making and wit, Alex’s mom evaded capture by hiding Alex and his siblings at his Catholic grandparents home, in their nearby small town, Izsofalva. Alex’s father ended up in a slave labor camp, where he was liberated in the spring of 45, and following his time at a local hospital. Following liberation, Alex’s parents stayed in Hungary, and settled in his Dad’s hometown of Sarospatak, under the Soviet sphere of the Cold War. His parents finally escaped the communists and immigrated to Canada on the USS General Ballou in 1949. He later went on to raise a family of his own, and becoming an entrepreneur. Alex is now retired and lives in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

Taking Chances

Friday, March 11, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Rachel Ruth Genuth

Rachel Genuth (known today as Ruth Mermelstein) was born in 1929 to Blima Davidowitz and Moshe Genuth, in Sighet, Romania. In 1940, Hitler awarded the region (Transylvania) in which the vibrant Jewish town was located to the Hungarians, and thus began a series of tragedies and hardships that directly affected Rachel and her family. In May of 1944, after the German takeover of Hungary, Rachel, her family, and the entire Jewish population of Sighet were deported to Auschwitz. It was on Birkenau's selection ramp that Rachel last saw her parents and four younger siblings.

In this program Rachel Ruth will share her story of survival, which involved luck and also a readiness to take chances, calculated risks, as a fourteen- and fifteen-year-old.

Rachel Ruth lives in North Bellmore, New York, and is a speaker for the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. Her remarkable story is told in All the Horrors of War: A Jewish Girl, a British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen, by Bernice Lerner, her daughter.

Through a Child’s Eyes

Friday, February 4, 2022
A VIRTUAL SEMINAR

SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Marge Rich

Marge Rich was born Margit Zsupnyik on December 13, 1937 in Vienna, Austria. Suddenly and abruptly, life changed under Nazi occupation. Marge's childhood and adolescence was stripped as she and her family fell victim to Nazi persecution and sent by cattle car to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, where she can recall horrible memories of the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Today, Marge is retired and lives in Sun City, Arizona, after a lengthy career as a local small business owner and entrepreneur.

Making Things Right

Friday, January 14, 2022
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Peter van der Walde

In 1933, Dr. Peter van der Walde was born to Ludwig and Edith van der Walde, in Essen, Germany. Just 6 years later, after witnessing the warning signs of antisemitism, and experiencing Krystallnacht, the van der Walde’s escaped Nazi persecution on January 11, 1939, by immigrating to Holland, and later arriving to New York, USA.

By 1947, Peter’s father re-entered law, as an Immigrant Society Attorney, and later, sued Germany for reparations, enlisting his son’s help. Dr. Peter van der Walde, a Harvard graduate, became a clinical psychiatrist, and assisted his father, providing research/data by interviewing 55 Holocaust survivors, which Peter considers one of his greatest contributions. A Holocaust survivor, interviewing Holocaust survivors, about the severe trauma they experienced. Join us for this Holocaust education program, as Dr. van der Walde makes things right. 

No Greater Love…

Friday, December 10, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Dirk Van Leenen

Dirk Van Leenen was born in 1940 just after the war had begun in The Netherlands. He is married to Cynthia June Van Leenen. Together they have seven children and seventeen grandchildren They live in Arizona. Dirk has spent his life working with flowers. He has several degrees in Horticulture and floral design. His interest in English Literature began when he was still living in Holland. At the University of Leiden, he studied English and he worked a number of years in Holland as an English teacher. For years, he used to tell stories about his experiences during the Second World War in Holland. His children and grandchildren always urged him to write a book about those difficult times. Today, Dirk will provide his testimony of survival, and how Dirk’s father, Cornelius, is credited with saving thousands of Jews as he showed resistance on a bicycle. Additionally, Dirk was on the last train to Bergen-Belsen and was there for 1 day before liberation. Join us for as Dirk makes an emotional connection to the Holocaust.

The Hidden Children: Reflections of AZ Holocaust Survivors

SPEAKERS: Holocaust Survivors Charlotte Adelman and Marion Weinzweig

Two Arizona Holocaust survivors tell the stories of their survival during WWII as hidden children and the fate of their families. The film is geared to middle school students who are learning about the mass genocide of European Jews known as the Holocaust. A guide for teachers is available with a glossary of terms, discussion questions and links to additional resources. Hidden Children is a project of Phoenix Holocaust Association in partnership with Arizona Jewish Historical Society.

I’m Alive Because Of My Mom

Friday, November 12, 2021(MST)
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Arthur Rothstein

Holocaust survivor, Arthur Rothstein was born in Tonopol, Poland in 1938. After the Nazi Occupation in 1941, Arthur and his mom, Lena, took refuge in the home of Polish citizens of German descent. More specifically, Arthur lived for several years in Przemislany, Poland with the Zalinsky’s, who had a son who was in the SS. Throughout the Holocaust, Arthur’s mom reminded him not to mess up or it could mean, death. He was told never to remove his pants, and to always attend church. Mrs. Rosthstein worked for the local German commander. Later, in 1949, Arthur and mom immigrated to Oswego, New York on the General Black. Join us for this seminar, where Arthur will recount his story of survival.

A Hidden Identity in a Village Sanctuary

Friday, October 15, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Betie Newton

Holocaust survivor Betty Levensonas was born on April 22, 1935 in Orleans, France. Her family stayed in Orleans until Betty was 5 years old when her parents then moved to Paris where her father opened a clothing store.

Around 1940 Betty recalls explosions in the area and the family would have to seek shelter in the basement of their home while wearing gas masks. In the need to flee Paris she can even remember hiding under the seats of a train and covering her ears so she wouldn’t hear the destruction and bombardment in the area.

Betty’s parents fled to a small village called Velles. Only two people there knew that her family was Jewish, the mayor and a remarkable strong willed person, Julie Couillard. She was a single Christian woman with a wooden leg. When Julie would hear that the SS were in the neighborhood she would tell Betty’s father so that he could run away to hide in the fields. If the Nazis’ entered her home she would tell them they were all family. She literally saved their lives – even though she did not know anything about them or their backgrounds.

While in Velles, Betty went to school and regularly attended a Catholic church where she prayed to baby Jesus and a cross near the corner of her bed. Around 1945 Betty’s parents invited a Jewish American soldier, who was stationed in the village, to come and eat dinner with them. The soldier, Morris Berkowitz, asked Betty if she knew she was Jewish and Betty replied, “No, I am Christian,” believing she was. Following the war Betty’s father explained everything to her. Betty was confused for a long time which later led her to study many different religions and their varied beliefs.

Resilience:Reflections of AZ Holocaust Survivors

SPEAKERS: Holocaust Survivors Oskar Knoblauch, Dr. Alexander White, and Ester Basch

Three Arizona Holocaust survivors tell the stories of their survival during WWII and the fate of their families. The film is geared to high school students who are learning about the mass genocide of European Jews known as the Holocaust or Shoah. A guide for teachers is available with a glossary of terms, discussion questions and links to additional resources. Resilience is a project of Phoenix Holocaust Association in partnership with Arizona Jewish Historical Society.

The Perilous Journey of a Hidden Child during the Holocaust

Friday, September 17, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Philip Speyer

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor, Philip Speyer recounts his personal story of survivor in Amsterdam, Holland. Phil was saved by Truitje and Jett, who were both recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. Phil recounts how he was able to research his past and understand how he was placed in Kid’s Haven, which ultimately saved his life. Then, later, Philip’s Foster Mother, “Tante” Jantje Spier, was awarded the Netherlands’ Resistance Memorial Cross for bravery during the war. Philip lived with Tante and her daughters from 1942 -1945, from age 2 to 5 years old.

Marisa’s Courage: The Memoirs of a Survivor of the Italian Resistance

Friday, August 13, 2021
SPEAKER: Margherita Fray, WWII Italian Resistance Fighter

Here is a story by and about one of the last survivors of the Italian Resistance that helped the Allies advance up the Italian peninsula and push the Germans out of Italy during World War II. Her name is Margherita Bertola Fray. As a young girl she was raised in a determinedly anti-Fascist family who suffered some deprivations because of this opposition. In her teen years she and her family, as with all Italians, suffered and were witness to the horrors of bombings, executions, and other brutalities perpetrated by home-grown and foreign aggressors. She became a member of the “Resistenza” as a partisan, belonging to a group called the Garibaldi Brigade around her home city of Turin and participated in dangerous missions to support the fighters in the underground for several years. More than once, she put herself in harm’s way for the good of others and for her country. Fortunately, she lived to tell about her experiences even though she is still emotionally distraught over memories of this horrific time. In 1946 she came to America as a War Bride, marrying a man she had briefly met only a year earlier. He promised to return to Italy to marry her, which he did. Her early years as a young woman and mother in a foreign land, married to a deeply-flawed man she really didn’t know at all, were unhappy and presented her with many challenges that might have subdued a lesser person. Thanks in part to the strengths from her upbringing and experiences in Italy, she endured and is contented living in Scottsdale, Arizona – except for the fact that her story had remained untold.

Facing the Enemy

Friday, July 30, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Werner Salinger

Werner Salingner was was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932.  As a child, he experienced Nazi racial oppression and the violence of Kristallnacht.  

On January 12th, 1939, his family fled Europe and arrived in the United States aboard the HollandAmerica ship ms Zaandam.  Their immigration made possible by movie mogul Carl Laemmle.

Twelve years later Werner arrived back in Germany as a USAF Intelligence officer (NCO), and while there he fell in love with his wife, Martha. It was the height of the Cold War and the Korean War; Since Werner was expecting to go to war with the Soviet Union at any moment, his job was to interrogate former German POW's who had recently returned from Russia.

At the same time, Werner struggled to introduce his wife Martha, the daughter of a Nazi family, into the midst of a German Jewish refugee family.  His presentation will focus both on his experiences as a child in Nazi Germany and his efforts after the war to reconcile this past with a new postwar reality.

“Portraits of 7 Nazi Survivors” - The Sun - 2022: CLICK HERE

AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute Symposium 2021- Arek Hersh Testimony

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Arek Hersh

How do you survive when you’re 11 years old and all your family have been taken from you and killed? How do you continue to live, when everything around you is designed to ensure certain death? Arek Hersh tells his story simply and honestly, a moving account of a little boy who made his own luck and survived. He takes us into the tragic world imposed on him that robbed him of his childhood. The depth of the tragedy, strength of courage and power of survival will move you and inspire you. Contrary to assertions that the Holocaust years were a mere ‘detail of history’, Arek Hersh gives us a glimpse into the greatest catastrophe that man has ever inflicted on his fellow man.

76 Years After Auschwitz

Friday, June 4, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Rise Stillman

Rise Stillman was born in Czechoslovakia in 1930. By the early 40’s she was given a curfew and forced to wear the Jewish Star, on May 16th 1944, Rise was forced on a cattle car for 3 to 4 nights and when the doors opened, she recalls how difficult it was to adjust her eyes. She remembers that when they opened the doors she could her music playing, dogs were barking, men shouting, and people screaming. 76 years after Auschwitz, Rise will recount her story of survival.

My Survival Depended On My Parents’ Right Decision & A Lot Of Luck

Friday, May 7, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Frieda Allweiss

Frieda Allweiss was born on May 21st, 1933 in Chortkow, Poland. In 1939 the Hitler/Stalin (Nonaggression) pact divided Poland, and Russia occupied Chortkow until June 1941, when Germany broke the pact, invaded Chortkow, and began killing Jews. Frieda’s craftsman father was conscripted into the Russian army, and Frieda, 8, and her mother fled, beginning a six-month odyssey trying to stay ahead of the Nazis. Taking only what they could carry, they boarded a train with other families on the run. They endured cold, hunger, fear, Nazi bombings, and overcrowded cattle cars with no sanitation facilities. Constantly on the move, they went from Kiev to a collective watermelon farm at Stalingrad, surviving scarlet fever and then typhus, which left her unconscious for several weeks. To hear the rest of Fried’s harrowing story, please register and tune-in.

Bystander to Upstander

Friday, April 16, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Oskar Knoblauch

Oskar Knoblauch was born on November 27, 1925, in Leipzig Germany where he lived with his parents, sister Ilse and brother, Siegmund. In 1936, the family was forced to leave Germany because his parents were Poish citizens. They settled in Krakow, Poland where Oskar continued his education until the outbreak of WWII, Sept. 1st, 1939. Soon after the German occupation of Poland new laws and restrictions were imposed against the Jewish population, including the wearing the Star of David on the right forearm.

In March 1941, a 9-foot wall ghetto was established. The Knoblauch family was assigned to a one room in an apartment house. Forced labor and deportations to concentration camps started as early as mid-1941 and continued until the ghetto’s destruction in March 13, 1943. At that time, Mrs. Knoblauch was sent to a slave labor camp, Plaszow, while Oskar and the others in the family, along with 116 Jews from the ghetto were assigned to work at the SS Gestapo headquarters on Pomorska St. Oskar’s workstation was the boiler room in the basement that provide hot water and heat for the complex.

While there, Oskar’s father was murdered by a Nazi. Oskar, along with his siblings escaped on January 17, 1945 and were liberated the following day by advancing Soviet soldiers. The rest of their fellow workers were deported the eve of Jan. 17th to a concentration camp in the German interior, of which very few survived. In the summer of 1945 after the war, Oskar and his siblings were very fortunate to reunite with their mother and cousin. Oskar, along with his mother and cousin, ended up in a displaced person camp, Feldafing, near Munich, which was at the time in the American occupied zone.

In 2005, Oskar embarked on a lecturing career about the Holocaust to over 500,000 students. Oskar has left a legacy for future generations including his inspiring autobiography, A Boy’s Story, A Man’s Memory – Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945; his website, www.voiceoftolerance.com which shines light on the scourge of bullying and prejudice.

Save My Children

Friday, March 12, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Leon Kleiner

A young Jewish boy and his siblings fleeing a world destroyed by hate. A notoriously cruel antisemite hunting for Jews. Why did this murderer risk his own life to save these children? An 11-year-old boy and his siblings fight for survival after the evil of the Nazi regime descends upon Poland. Time after time, they miraculously escape certain death as the murderous fascists attempt to make their hometown of Tluste Judenrein. Their luck seems to have run out when the Germans order to liquidate their work camp. Unexpected help comes from Timush, a man known for his terrible deeds against the Jews. After hearing their mother shout to him in a desperate plea, “Save my children!” as she is marched to her execution, Timush amazingly risks his own life to make sure they survive. "Save my Children" is the true story of the transformation of a man once filled with hate and violence who made the ultimate sacrifice to save the people he once sought to kill.

Strength, Courage and Hope

Friday, February 5, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Charlotte Adelman

Holocaust survivor, Charlotte Adelman was 9 years old and living in Paris when the Nazis invaded in 1940. She and her brother were given away to an orphanage by her parents, who were told by the Nazis that they had to go work at a "camp." Instead, they were put on a truck that was headed to Auschwitz, where her mother, the motivation for Charlotte’s own survival, was killed.

Adelman’s father escaped but her mother stayed on the truck, fearing she'd be killed and never see her children again if she ran away. Adelman's brother was sent to the hospital due to scarlet fever, and she was adopted by a woman who was later known to be selling children to the Nazis.

Her father successfully located her and made arrangements to bring her to the Quatreville family in Beaumont du Argonne. Charlotte’s dad met "Mr. Quatreville,” where he was working for the Germans in hopes of finding out his wife’s whereabouts. He asked if his family would be willing to take care of young Charlotte so she would be safe from the Nazis.

The Quartreville family, recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations, agreed to take her in and hid her in a cellar, with a mattress and a lamp.  Charlotte spent 9 months in the dark basement, recalling that food was brought to her by the Quartreville’s daughter, Ginette.

After the war, Charlotte stayed with the Quatrevilles for another six months, as her father fought to find her brother and piece their lives back together. Over the years, Charlotte lost touch with the family, but in 2014, after nearly 70 years of not being in contact with the family who saved her, she received a message from Quartreville on Facebook, and later reunited.

Breaking the Silence: Reminiscences of a Hidden Child

Friday, January 15, 2021
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Paul Schwarzbart

Can one predict what a child will remember? Paul Schwarzbart vividly recalls looking out his window daily at the Austrian flag atop a school nearby; one day, without warning, the Nazi flag replaced it. From that moment on, he remembers, everything deteriorated rapidly.During World War II, Paul Schwarzbart lived a life of secrecy. In the spring of 1943, young Schwarzbart was hidden in the Ardennes by the Jewish underground at the Home Reine Elizabeth, a Catholic boys school near Luxembourg. There, for two years he assumed the role of a Belgian Catholic under the name of Paul Exsteen. The model student soon became an altar boy and Cub Scout leader and was eventually baptized in secret. Unable to divulge his real identity, he felt a painful loneliness gnawing at his heart. And all the while, he suffered from the agony and uncertainty of not knowing his parents whereabouts. This book is his story. It is a story of love and hope, as well as man’s terrible inhumanity to man.

On This Fateful Day in 1942…

Friday, December 4, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Alexander White

Born Alexander Bialywlos in 1923, Dr. White grew up in the town of Krosno, Poland. He was 14 years old, on September 1, 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland and began their reign of terror. His father's last words as they were taking him to the gas chambers at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, were to be a Mensch, which is Yiddish for "a special, ideal human being: a person endowed with the finest attributes by Our Creator, including charity, kindness, tolerance, honesty and love of mankind." He immigrated to Chicago after the War ended and became a successful doctor and medical school professor.  

Friday, Dec. 4th is the Anniversary of the liquidation of the Krosno ghetto in 1942. Dr. White spent more than a year in several camps, including Krakow-Plaszow and Gross-Rosen, before moving to one of the camps where Oskar Schindler saved thousands of Jews by employing them in his factories. At Krakow-Plaszow, Alex was ordered to open mass graves and burn the corpses. Next he was taken to Gross-Rosen, a brutal camp. This seminar tells the story of a sole survivor.

Following the war, Alex was aided by several Jewish organizations, studied medicine in Munich, and came to America in 1950. In Chicago, Alex met his wife, Inez, and joined the US Army, having served in the Korean War. To date, Dr. White continues to promote Holocaust education by teaching students not to be indifferent, to get an education, and to be a Mensch.

Surviving Mengele

Friday, November 13, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Ike Feiges

Ike Feiges was born on May 20, 1935 in Czernowitz, Buccovi in Eastern Romania.  

The Feiges family was detained in Niolajew, and from there they were assigned to the Ukraine’s Obodowka camp, where few inmates survived the harsh conditions.

Then, the family was taken by train to Auschwitz, where Ike had an experience with Josef Mengele.

While at Auschwitz, Ike survived by blending in at all times. Always hiding, Ike would stay in the back of kitchens, where food was in short supply. Between 1941 and 1945, most Auschwitz survivors eventually succumbed to disease or were shot by the Nazis.

When the Russians liberated Auschwitz in December 1944, Ike was just nine years old.

Ike worked for the United States Army Corps of engineers, followed by his tenure at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He then transferred to the Department of Defense in Phoenix, Arizona.

6TH Annual Holocaust Education Forum For Teens

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020

This Forum was established six years ago to ensure that the importance of the Holocaust is not forgotten, even with the passage of time. With programs such as this, it is hoped that students will begin to understand how silence, indifference to suffering, and hatred of the other can lead to genocide. We are fortunate to have this opportunity to honor our US Military Veterans and safeguard the memory of the Holocaust through survivor and veteran testimonies and sessions on America and the Holocaust and the resurgence of anti-Semitism.

This Veteran’s Day Teen Forum is a collaboration of the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, and the Phoenix Holocaust Association.

Unless credited with prior ownership and copyright - all displayed imagery, documents, brochures, books, materials, recordings, video, broadcasts, and promotional materials of every form and description, whether in written, analog, digital, film or electronic form, prepared by Arizona Jewish Historical Society shall remain the copyrighted property works of Arizona Jewish Historical Society. Any unauthorized use of that information or materials may violate copyright, trademark and other laws. Any rights not expressly granted are reserved.

I Can Not Forget But I Can Forgive
Friday, October 2, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor, Esther Basch

Esther was born on May 28, 1928 in Czechoslovakia, the same town of Szollosh, which was Hungarian, when Esther’s mother was born there.  By the time Esther was 9 the town was once again considered Hungary.

In 1944, the Nazi’s had forced Esther & her family from their home, into the ghetto for six weeks. Then on May 23, 1944, they were told they’d be taken to “a better place,” and loaded onto a train to the largest Nazi extermination camp: Auschwitz, arriving on May 28; Esther’s 16th Birthday.  

Upon arrival, she was torn from her parents and placed in the line to the right. She never saw either parent again.  

While at Auschwitz, Esther had a few interactions with Josef Mengele, known as the Angel of Death.  Esther not only escaped a selection, but recalls a frightening experience that broth Esther face to face. To this day, Esther has nightmares about Mengele and can still feel the pain he inflicted.

In 1944, Esther was then sent to Fallersleben, a satellite camp, and by April, 1945, Esther was again transferred to Salswedel (Solzwedal), a sub-camp and ammunitions factory, located in Germany.  In order to get there, Esther was forced on a death march, walking for five days. Two weeks later, on April 14, 1945, Esther was liberated by American soldiers.  

Following the war, Esther moved to parts throughout the world, including Palestine, now Israel. Just recently, in 2007, Esther’s dream was made a reality.  Thanks to Rachel’s perseverance, Max Lieber, a member of the 84th Infantry that liberated Esther’s camp, was contacted and came from his home in New Mexico to Phoenix to greet Esther and receive her heartfelt thanks for, literally, saving her life.  The two embraced and cried for ten minutes.  The moment was not lost on Esther’s family, all of whom were there for the “reunion.”  Had it not been for those U.S. troops, none of them would have been born.

Esther sums up her story of survival by saying, “I cannot forget but I can forgive because if I don’t forgive, then I suffer, and I suffered enough.

Dear Mamy

Friday, September 25, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Andre Klein

Andre Klein was born in Brussels, Belgium, on March 9, 1942.

Within the first three years of his life, he had experienced, horrific events of the Holocaust. The trauma of the Holocaust remain with him today.

In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium and just 6 months after Andre was born, Germans began deporting Jews to Auschwitz. One of the houses (apartments) that the Nazis came to was Andre’s, intending to send the entire family to Auschwitz. Andre’s mother pleaded for their lives, and convinced the Nazis NOT to deport her because she was pregnant. Unfortunately, the Nazi’s took Andre’s dad, where he was murdered at Auschwitz.

He was just six months old when dad was transported to Auschwitz.

Throughout the war, Andre’s family remained in Brussels. His mom arranged for each of the children to remain hidden, in separate locations. Andre was placed in a private Christian home; his older brother was hidden in a Catholic convent; and the baby sister, born in 1943, was saved by Mamy and her Catholic family. Andre’s mom evaded capture by obtaining false identity papers. Although allied forces had liberated Belgium in May 1945 that did not stop the anti-Semitic feelings that Andre’s mother was worried about. So, in 1955, Andre’s brother and paternal aunt sponsored 13 year old Andre, as well as the rest of the family, who immigrated to Brooklyn, NY. In 1955, Andre, along with his wife, Joan and their family, moved to Glendale, Arizona. For 40 years (29 years as a full-time Associate Professor of French and 11 years on a part-time basis), Andre taught at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and fully retired in 2012.

On a personal note, when I first met Andre, he was reluctant to tell me his story, so, I am extremely thankful that we are the first that will collectively get to hear it.

I Should Not Have Survived

Friday, August 28, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Bodo Schrader

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor Bodo Schrader was born in Magdeburg, Germany, on November 11, 1941. He was just a baby when his mom was transported to Auschwitz. At four years of age, and unaccompanied, he arrived to Theresienstadt concentration camp and was soon liberated. In 1949, Bodo went to Munich, Germany and immigrated to the United States. He was later adopted by a Jewish family and has called New Hampshire home, for many years.

From Nazi Nightmare to American Dream

Friday, July 17, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Ben Lessor

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor Ben Lesser, recounts what is was like to survivor 4 Nazi concentration camps, 2 death trains, and 2 death marches. He recounts what it was like to be lashed 25 times at Auschwitz concentration camp, and to be the last survivor of the death train from Buchenwald to Dachau. Ben discusses his book, “Living a Life that Matter: from Nazi Nightmare to American Dream,” and provides powerful message of hope.

To purchase Ben Lesser’s book, “Living A Life That Matters: from Nazi Nightmare to American Dream” please click the button below.

Saved from Certain Death by a Coffee Spill

Friday, June 19, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Leon Malmed

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor, Leon Malmed, recounts what happened to him and his sister Rachel’s escape from the Holocaust in Occupied France. When their father and mother were arrested in 1942 and later murdered. Leon recounts how the downstairs neighbors, Henri and Suzanne Ribouleau, gave them a home, family, and a safe haven. Leon shares that “Papa Henri and Maman Suzanne,” who were honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in 1977.

A Boy and His Dog

Friday, May 22, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Dr. Charles Krischer, PhD. MD, PE

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Charles Krischer, discusses how he and his family were able to flee Belgium, during World War II & the Holocaust, with his dog, Kiki. Dr. Krischer and his family experience a number of close calls as they depart Europe, and recounts what it was like to adjust to life in Jamaica.

Lonely Chameleon

Friday, April 24,, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Marion Weinzweig

Featured guest, Marion Weinzweig, Arizona’s youngest Holocaust Survivor, discusses genocide, tragedy, ruthless separations, unimaginable heartache, and, eventually, of triumph. In her account, Marion Weinzweig, a young Jewish child caught up in the horrors of the Holocaust in 1940s Poland, discusses the details of her book,.Lonely Chameleon, which is a graphic, eye-opening, firsthand account of the inhumanity of the Holocaust. Marion delivers a powerful message from a young Holocaust survivor to future generations to remain vigilant so such atrocities never happen again.

To purchase Marion Weinzweig book, “Lonely Chameleon” please click the button below.

Remembering the Righteous

Friday, February 21, 2020
SPEAKER: Holocaust Survivor Phil Speyer

Featured guest, Holocaust Survivor, Phil Speyer recounts his personal story of survivor in Amsterdam, Holland. Phil was saved by Truitje and Jett, who were both recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. Phil recounts how he was able to research his past and understand how he was placed in Kid’s Haven, which ultimately saved his life.