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Mendel (Manny) Riba: A Story of Survival

COMING IN 2025
SPEAKERS:  Susan Schneiderman, daughter of Mendel (Manny) Riba

Susan Riba Schneiderman is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and a poignant voice for preserving the legacy of her parents. By recounting their courageous journey, Susan imparts hope and heartfelt wisdom from their experiences and explains why it is everyone’s responsibility to continue to bear witness to the undeniable facts of the Holocaust.  Her father, Mendel (Manny) Riba is the focus of many of her talks. In the late 1930s, Manny was a teenager in Nazi-occupied Poland who survived six hard labor concentration camps in three countries and numerous attempts to end his life. His determination to survive and hard work led Manny & his wife, Sally, to Wisconsin, where they raised their family. Manny became a successful businessman and a leading authority in the cattle & meat industry. Later, he continued his business in Tampa, FL.  Susan and her husband Steve raised their two sons in a home filled with remembrance of the Holocaust. Susan, a retired Realtor, now takes pride that their sons, daughters-in-law, and four beautiful grandchildren are also continuing community-based Holocaust efforts, teaching future generations to stand up to all forms of hate and indifference. 

The Man, the Myth, and How He is Responsible for My Life

Thursday, August 29, 2024, 10AM (MST)
SPEAKERS: Bruce Klasner, son of Holocaust survivor & Schindler Jew, Samuel Klasner 

Samuel Klasner was born on September 8, 1917, in Wolbrom, Poland, to Bella & Jozef Klasner. Sam was born into a loving family with two sisters, Lola (b.1905 & fled Europe in 1932) & Rachel, and three brothers, Wolf (b. 1896), Adolf, & Bernard (b. 1910). Sadly, Sam’s dad, Jozef, was killed during an anti-Jewish pogrom in 1926. Following his father’s murder, Sam became an active member of a Zionist youth organization.

By summer of 1939, Sam was drafted into the Polish Army and shortly after, on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland with eminent surrender. Unfortunately, Sam was sent to a POW camp & his captors discovered he was Jewish; he was sent to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. Less than two years later; June 2, 1941, Sam was sent to Reichshof (Rzeszow) forced labor camp and then later, in September 1942, he was transferred to Płaszów forced labor camp near Krakow where he worked in a textile factory. Krakow-Płaszów was a brutal camp, led by the infamous Commandant Amon Goeth, who oversaw the daily arbitrary beatings/murders of those imprisoned. As a tailor, Sam sewed false bottoms in his tool pouch as he hid potato peelings and became friendly with an SS officer who gave Sam food in exchange for items Sam knitted for the man's wife.

On one occasion, Sam was caught taking potato peels by another SS guard, and the other guard intervened. It was winter (February); the guard took him outside, doused him with cold water, and left Sam to die. Following Plaszow, Sam was transferred to Gross Rosen concentration camp. By Aug.1943, the SS converted Płaszów to a labor camp. Oskar Schindler was given permission to make Emalia a subcamp, and in October 1944, Schindler relocated his factory to Brunnlitz (Brnenec) in Moravia. Schindler’s workers from Płaszów were transferred to & processed at Gross Rosen. Sam was mechanically skilled & was invited to become a worker at Brunnlitz and have his name placed on Schindler’s list. Schindler left the camp on May 7, the day Germany surrendered. The camp was liberated on May 9 by Soviet forces who gave the prisoners vodka and cheered Stalin.

Following liberation, Sam went back to Poland to search for his family, and the antisemitic feelings towards Sam continued, as he was nearly killed in a pogrom. He went to a displaced persons camp in Regensburg, Germany, in the American zone, where he learned that his mother Bella and sister Rachel had been murdered at Treblinka death camp. His brothers Adolf and Wolf, as well as Bernard’s families, were killed in Auschwitz. To make money, Sam dismantled German equipment and smuggled it into Czechoslovakia. A short time later, he went to Palestine to assist the Jewish underground in their fight against British rule. He returned to Germany and, in July 1949, left for New York.

Sam settled in Texas and continued to work at a machine factory. In 1950, he went to New York where he met Lida Cipliskia Flaum, where they got married on June 17, 1951. Sam went on to operate a grocery store until his retirement in 1979. Sam was one of the survivors from Schindler’s list. After the film’s release in 1993, Sam began speaking about his wartime experiences. In May 1994, Sam attended a reception for Emilie Schindler, Oskar’s widow, who was in Florida on a trip from Argentina sponsored by the Women’s International Zionist Organization. Sam asked her if she remembered him, and she responded, “Of course, I do, you’re Blue Eyes,” which had been her name for him. He cried and said he thought of her as his “second mother because I’m still alive today because of her…. I remember there were days she would pretend it was our birthday and give us bread. She gave us life.”

Death and Diamonds: The Story of Samuel Soldinger, A Legacy of Oskar Schindler 

Friday, July 12, 2024
SPEAKER: Laura Soldinger Yotter

"Death & Diamonds" a memoir written by author, Laura Soldinger Yotter, is the inspiring true story of Samuel Soldinger, who survived seven Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, worked for Oskar Schindler, and was finally liberated from Mauthausen Death Camp in World War II. Samuel eventually made his way to America and landed a position with diamond magnate Harry Winston, teaching Native Americans in Arizona the art of diamond cutting.

Laura Soldinger Yotter, daughter of Samuel, shares her father’s story of survival, in his own words, as he was compelled to share his story with the hope that the horrors of the Holocaust never happen again. Powerful and poignant, ultimately Samuel’s story is one of perseverance, courage and dignity. The years of unthinkable brutality did not break the spirit of this sweet, strong and gentle giant, who flourished beyond those harrowing days to brighter new ones.

This memoir & seminar is dedicated to the more than 6 million Jews and others who endured or perished from the atrocities of the Holocaust. This is to honor them, and spread love, kindness, healing, hope and peace for generations to come. May we never forget.

We Must Never Forget:  My Parent's Story of Survival

Friday, June 28, 2024
SPEAKER: Renee Karson, daughter of Holocaust survivors, Irving & Frieda Mann

Renee Karson’s parents, Irving and Frieda Mann, never discussed their experiences in the Holocaust with her or her brother.  However, they knew that they were in concentration camps and had lost most of their family; they were never told details about what they had experienced.  Over time, they discovered that their dad was from Lithuania and spent time in the Kovno Ghetto, survived the Dachau work camp and had one surviving sister, but knew little else.  Their mom, on the other hand, opened up for the first time to a 13 year old neighbor for his Bar Mitzvah project in 2013, and throughout the process created a comprehensive video of her mom's Holocaust journey, in her own words.  Although Renee’s mom passed away two years ago at the age of 98, her story lives on through Renee, as incorporated into this upcoming seminar.

Additionally, Renee’s mom was only 16 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and her life changed forever.  Her family was brutally taken from their home and forced to live in the Lodz Ghetto for over five years where she watched her mother and many others perish.  When the Nazis decided to liquidate the Lodz ghetto, my mom, along with her older sister, spent a brutal year being forced to work at various concentration and work camps where they were  starved and beaten on a daily basis. Renee’s mom and Aunt survived being transported via cattle cars, death marches, and selection lines of those sent to the gas chambers.  Renee’s mom was only 67 pounds when the Allies liberated the camps, only days before her mom and her sister were scheduled to be exterminated.   

Renee’s parents met at the Displaced Persons Camp at Bergen-Belsen where they began to rebuild their lives, moving first to Sweden and then settling in Chicago.  Despite the horrific suffering, brutal starvation, and personal loss that her mom experienced, she remained a very positive person all of her life.  Her wish was that her story inspires others to be kind and tolerant of each other in order for this type of cruelty to never happen again. 

Your father is a survivor. I am a survivor. You will be a survivor: My Holocaust Legacy

Friday, January 26, 2024
SPEAKER: Dr. Alex Kor, son of Holocaust Survivors Eva & Mickey Kor

With an intense obligation to never forget and to tell the stories and life lessons of his parents, Dr. Alex Kor will share videos, images, and the incredible memories to honor Eva and Mickey Kor. By participating, the attendee will learn about hope, healing, humanity, resilience, and forgiveness.

Living in Many Worlds

Friday, September 22, 2023
SPEAKER: Eva Flaster

Eva Flaster is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her father, Chune Flaster, was born in December of 1912 in Nowy Sacz, a city in the Carpathian Mountains of Poland. He loved the mountains and enjoyed the outdoors, skiing, and hiking. He lived at home with his mother and his two siblings until he enlisted in the Polish Army. When the Germans attacked, the Polish Army only lasted three weeks. The Poles disbanded, and he moved eastwards and was captured by the Russians who invaded Poland from the East. They sent him to a gulag in the frigid, frigid north of Russia. The Russians released him in 1941and he fought the Nazis for a second time.

Meanwhile, Eva’s mom, Genia Nordon, was born in Sosnowiec (Southwestern) Poland in 1924. She lived with her parents and three siblings. She was four days shy of her fifteenth birthday when the war began. The Nazis removed them from their home and forced them into a less desirable apartment. Life was exceedingly difficult, and food was scarce. Jews were no longer allowed to go to school. The family was moved one more time in1942. This time to a sealed ghetto.

From 1939 to 1942, Genia often hid her star with a purse and tried to barter for food for the family. In 1942, the Nazis captured her, and she became a slave laborer in a chemical plant. In January of 1945, the Nazis knew they were losing the war. They removed prisoners from the camps and took them on the “death march” to erase all evidence of the concentration camps. During the “death march,” Genia tried to escape by jumping from a moving train. The Nazis recaptured her, and she went through a series of prisons, and eventually, she wound up in the small fortress at Terezin.

Two years after the war, thanks to a family friend also living in the American sector of Germany, Chune and Genia met each other. They dated, got engaged and married in 1948. Eva was born the following year in the same Displaced Persons’ camp in Landsberg Am Lech.

Please join us on Sept. 22, when Eva will share more about her parents’ story and growing up as the child of survivors.

Not Just A Survivor: A Portrait Of My Mother 

Friday, August 18, 2023
SPEAKER: Rochy Miller, daughter of Holocaust Survivor Lea Leibowitz and third generation survivor, Kerryn Lehman

“The camp is getting fuller and fuller. I talk to the Sanitater – an SS guard, who collects the sick from all the other camps and brings them here – and he tells me that when there are over a thousand inmates, they are sent away. And I see that the camp is filling up and filling up and filling up. So I decided – I am not going away with them to Auschwitz. I have to get out of here!”

My mother was a Holocaust survivor. She embodied the Holocaust. She experienced it physically, lived it emotionally and studied it intellectually. She spent her entire life trying to make logical sense of an inexplicable trauma that ruled her life and decimated her past. But being a Survivor was never all of who she was. She was so much more – somebody truly special who survived and enriched people’s lives not because of the Holocaust, but despite it. Filled with the many stories of love, loss, hope, friendship, and food, told and retold – some by her, and some about her – this book creates a composite of the warm, intelligent, and amazing person that she was. These are her stories. This memoir provides an insight into the life of a truly exceptional woman. A Holocaust survivor’s tale told across two families and three continents before, during and after World War II. A remarkable meditation on suffering, resilience, and rebirth. Please join us on Friday, August 18, for an emotive account of what it means to face the worst, emerge with your humanity intact, and go on to live your life to the fullest.

Our Holocaust Story 

Friday, May 19, 2022
SPEAKER: Jerry & Sy Guttman, children of Holocaust survivors, Irving & Rose Guttman

Among the millions of people who were systematically killed and persecuted, as part of the Holocaust, were two — a man and a woman whose vastly different experiences before and during WWII paint vivid pictures of what life was like for a Jewish individual as Hitler rose to and claimed power as one of history's most formidable dictators.

This one man and this one woman are just two verses to a very long song, but their stories and their survival shed an important light on the brutality of war, the unthinkable grievances of genocide and the hope that springs from knowing and building a life on the other side of it all. It is easier to understand history through the people who lived it. That is why it is important to get to know Irving and Rosie. Jerry & Sy Guttman were just children when they were introduced to the gruesome reality that his parents had survived during World War II. Join us on Friday, May 19 when Sy & Jerry will share their parents’ stories.

A Twist of Fate

Friday, March 24, 2023
SPEAKER: Karen Zubkoff Perna

Karen Perna, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is fortunate enough to have known her great-grandparents and grandparents, who fled Germany with her mother and aunt to escape the darkest days of human history, arriving in the US in March 1940.  As fate would have it, Karen’s good fortune of growing up knowing of her family’s Holocaust experiences helped her realize how this atrocity was denied, ignored, downplayed, and not even taught in schools.  Karen has had a lifelong desire to share her family’s history to enrich others not only about the Holocaust, but also about genocides still happening in our world today.  Knowledge is power and it is Karen's legacy to share her history and knowledge with others. With her young family, Karen moved to Arizona in 1981, where she found the lack of familiarity of Judaism in Arizona surprising.  Her first battle in Arizona was to get the Jewish holidays on the Mesa School District academic calendar because required testing was often done over major Jewish holidays, meaning Jewish school children would miss these crucial exams, and she has not stopped her advocacy since. Thankfully, Karen found the Phoenix Holocaust Association (PHA) and realized the organization aligns with her beliefs. She feels honored to serve on the PHA Board, as Coordinator of the PHA Speakers Bureau (arranging Holocaust speakers for schools and other organizations), and as a 2G (second generation of a Holocaust survivor) speaker.

The Birds Sang Eulogies

Friday, June 10, 2022
SPEAKER: Mirla G. Raz, daughter of Holocaust Survivors

Mirla Geclewicz Raz is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Her father was living in Lodz when the Germans entered in September 1939. Draconian laws were put into place immediately. In March 1940, the Jews of Lodz were trapped inside the Lodz Ghetto. When the Lodz Ghetto was liquidated in August 1944, her father and his remaining family members were shipped to Auschwitz. Ms. Raz’s mother was living in the city of Lvov (now Lviv in Ukraine) when Hitler broke his pact with Stalin. Her mother and her family were forced into the Lvov Ghetto. She escaped into Germany where she worked as a maid in a German household. A quiet woman, she expressed her emotions of living through those horrific years in her poetry. 

Ms. Raz will present her parents incredible stories of survival and what it was like growing up as a child of survivors. Ms. Raz will read a couple of her mother's very emotive poems.

Choices: Why Did They Stay?

Friday, April 29, 2022
SPEAKER: Judy Egett Laufer, the daughter of Holocaust Survivors, Kati & Adolf Egett

Only a decade had passed since their ordeal in the Holocaust. They came home to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives only to find themselves again placed in harm’s way. What if the CHOICES were; live in a country that offered your family a future without freedom or risk everything and everyone, in search of a better life? Which would you choose? Today, these choices are even more relevant with the ongoing aggression, taking place in the Ukraine.

J.E. Laufer was born in Budapest, Hungary, and grew up in Montreal, Canada. . Judy is an award winning book author of several children’s and young adult stories. Both her parents and her husband’s parents are Holocaust survivors. She currently lives in the US with her husband. They have a son living on the west coast.

Saluting Alex, a Story of Survival and Resilience

Friday, February 11, 2022
SPEAKER: Susie Weil Ernst (daughter of Holocaust survivor & WWII Veteran, Alex Weil

Alex Weil, was 17 years old and living with his parents, Adalbert and Margaret, his sister Blanka and his brother Tibi in Bratislava, now the capital of Slovakia. The year was 1939. Alex’s parents, seeing the rise of Adolph Hitler and other warning signs, decided to emigrate to the United States, with the financial and logistical sponsorship of Margaret’s brother, Paul, in Cleveland. Since Alex was the eldest child, they decided he would be the first to depart. Little did they know that it would be their last time together. All of them but Alex, were murdered in various Nazi death camps. Alex’s daughter, Susie Weil Ernst, who lives here in southern Arizona, presents a loving tribute to his spirit and resilience.

When We Came in to Dachau... They started to Cry & We Cried With Them

Friday, December 17, 2021
SPEAKER: Don Nemerov, Son of US Liberator, Capt. Jack Nemerov

Jack Nemerov was born in 1917 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942, and was commissioned First Lieutenant in 1945. Captain Nemerov survived the landing at Omaha Beach, France, on June 6, 1944. Later, he helped to liberate Dachau Concentration Camp. Following World War II, Captain Nemerov’s civilian career included business owner, manufacturing representative, and management consultant for 40 years. Jack was very active in the Jewish War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the World Wars, Joe Foss Institute, Southern Poverty Law Center of Montgomery, USHMM, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Additionally, Capt. Nemerov established in Arizona, a Teaching Tolerance Program to combat racism and hatred, and scheduling speakers on the Holocaust. Please join, Donald Nemerov, as he relives his father’s heroism

German Family History and “Ordinary” Antisemitism

Friday, Oct 1, 2021
SPEAKER: Björn Krondorfer, Regents' Professor

The question of "ordinary antisemitism" will be explored through a personal story about the effects of the Holocaust and war memories in  German society after 1945, especially as they are passed on generationally. The speaker's parents were 18years old when the war ended. His father was drafted into the German army at age 16 and ended up in the near vicinity of a Jewish slave labor camp in Poland; his mother escaped from the advancing Soviet Army. The talk concludes with remarks on the value of dialogical engagement between the communities affected by historical trauma due to state-sponsored violent ideologies.

Sole Survivor

Friday, August 27, 2021
SPEAKER: Steve Hilton (Son of Holocaust Survivor & Windermere Child, Sam Hilton)

Born in Warsaw, Poland on September 23, 1929, Sam Hilton experienced tragedy at an early age, with the loss of his mother. After his father remarried, Sam and family experienced the bombardment of Warsaw and subsequent Nazi occupation. Later, Sam was forced to live in the horrific conditions within the Warsaw ghetto; welcome the arrival of his sister in 1942 and then the mass deportations from the ghetto. From Sam’s account he can recall the song in the ghetto about Treblinka, hiding in a basement bunker during one round up, the loss of his stepmother and sister, the ghetto uprising in 1943, being deported to Majdanek with his father, the selection process and lying about his age (he claimed to be 16 when he was only 12), being in Majdanek for three weeks, being sent to Buchenwald in June 1944, being sent to a work camp in November 1944; the liquidation of the camp in March 1945; being sent on a death march; And then going to Theresienstadt where he was liberated. Following the war, Sam made his way to Prague, Czech Republic, then to Rotterdam, Netherlands and then finally to Windermere, England for recuperation. Later, he immigrated to the United States, finally settling in the American Southwest. In this seminar, Steve Hilton retraces his father’s steps and discusses Sam Hilton, the sole survivor.

I Heard His Silence
A daughter’s quest to understand and honor her father’s past

Friday, May 21, 2021
SPEAKER: Janice Friebaum

At the bitter end of the Holocaust, Moniek Frajbaum/Morris Friebaum was anything but “liberated.” Barely 18 years old, he was emaciated with rotting teeth and a leg wound that would dog him the rest of his life. On May 2, 1945, Moniek/Morris had no family, no home, not a single earthly possession, and nothing but a sixth-grade education. Decades later, his second child would instinctively appoint herself his lifelong champion and defender. This is a story of one man’s remarkable resilience and the bonds of mutual protection and love that shaped his daughter’s life.

A Suitcase of Ghosts and Dreams

Friday, March 19, 202
SPEAKER: PHA President, Sheryl Bronkesh

In June 1947, my parents arrived in New York from Bremerhaven, Germany with an 11-month-old baby and a metal suitcase. The case contained all their worldly possessions, mostly clothing and bedding donated by aid organizations or purchased on the black market in Munich near the displaced person’s camp that had been their refuge for the past year. Ghosts of their parents, grandparents, sisters, and other relatives hid among the worn dresses and knitted baby hat and booties. The valise also had space for their dreams for a better life in America.

A Child of Holocaust Survivors

Friday, January 29, 2021
SPEAKER: William Steen

William Steen, also known as Willy, was born after World War II, in 1948 in Brussels, Belgium. He has an older sister, Cita, born in Varon (near Grenoble, France) in 1943, as well as two brothers, named David & Harry, whom were also born in Brussels in 1946 and 1947, respectfully. William lived a normal life after immigrating to Montreal, Canada in 1951. He went on to graduate from McGill University, where he majored in Mathematics and Physics, which led him to become a Chartered Accountant (CPA) in a public practice for many years. He grew up to live a life that matters, marrying Sylvie, Tel Aviv (born in Romania) and having three children, Nomi, Ady and Oren. To date, Willy is a snowbird of Scottsdale, lives in Toronto, Canada, and has 6 grandchildren with one on the way. However, Willy is a child of Holocaust survivors and will share his parent’s emotional stories of survival.

A Birth Of A New Beginning: Our Parent’s Stories

Friday, November 20, 2020
SPEAKER: Joel Lassman

Joel Lassman was born in a displaced persons camp near Munich, Germany. Joel’s family immigrated to the United States in 1949 after receiving sponsorship from the Jewish Community of Spokane, WA. He graduated from high school in 1967 and then attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. After graduation and receiving a commission, Joel remained in the Navy for 20 years retiring in 1991 with the rank of Commander (Lt Colonel equivalent). Joel’s second career was as an elementary special education teacher which he did for 18 years. Joel’s mother was a survivor speaker for over 25 years in the Pacific Northwest. Following his move to the Phoenix area in 2013, Joel joined the Phoenix Holocaust Association and became a member of Speakers Bureau. In 2017, he was honored to become the Speakers Bureau Coordinator. Joel and his wife have one daughter who lives in the San Francisco area.

Born at Bergen-Belsen: Our Parent’s Stories
Displaced Persons Camp

Wednesday, September 30, 2020
SPEAKER: Alan Jablin

On April 15, 1945 Nazi Concentration Camp, Bergen-Belsen, was liberated by the British army. 50,000 people were murdered there. In entering the camp, the British Army discovered horrors beyond belief. 10,000 corpses lay on the ground. From the ashes of the dead, a displaced persons camp arose. The British called it, Hohney, but the former Jewish prisoners insisted on calling it Bergen-Belsen so the world wouldn’t forget.

The DP camp existed from 1945 to 1950. 2,000 babies were born there. They were known as “Belsen Babies.” They were born at the Glyn Hughes Hospital. It is very rare to meet one of the 2,000 “Belsen Babies,” who are now in their 70s. Today, we get the opportunity to meet a Belsen Baby; my good friend, Alan Jablin.

Alan Chaim Jablin is a retired attorney. He speaks to schools and groups about the Holocaust and his personal link. He is the founding president/board chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix.

As Mama Told Us

Friday, July 23, 2020
SPEAKER: Dr. Ettie Zilber

Featured guest, Dr. Ettie Zilber, a Second-Generation daughter (and granddaughter) of Holocaust survivors, describes her parents’ experiences from 1940-1950, from their home in Kovno, Lithuania,  life in the ghetto, the transfer to Stutthof and Dachau concentration camps, the death march in the Polish winter, until liberation. Liberation was fraught with its own challenges and dangers. She reflects on the impact of her birth in a Displaced Person’s Camp in Landsberg am Lech, Germany and how it influenced her life, her thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and even her career. Describing the great variety in Survivor’s experiences, she conveys some of the research on characteristics of Survivors, as well as those of the Second Generation, and when and how they learned about their parents’ history.

This presentation is based on her book “A Holocaust Memoir of Love & Resilience: Mama’s Survival from Lithuania to America.”  To purchase Dr. Ettie Zilber’s book, please click the button below.