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GenerationsForward
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center created a second and third generation group, called GenerationsForward.
This group includes children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. We meet throughout the year and have ongoing projects, events, book clubs and speaker presentations. MemoryKeepers are members who are trained speakers, who tell their family's story from the next generation perspective, adding new meaning to the survivors' powerful stories of witness.
The MemoryKeeper Family History Group
We are pleased to announce our new MemoryKeeper Family History Group, a resource to help develop and present a family’s Holocaust story.
This program offers a uniquely special opportunity to make meaningful connections with other second and third generation Holocaust survivors. Training sessions will be held weekly for 10 weeks at our library at 4 West Red Oak Lane in White Plains.
The MemoryKeeper Family History Group includes access to resources for family research from pre-war through post-war and life in the U.S., writing vignettes for each of these periods; vetting for historical accuracy by the HHREC Education Department; and training to help prepare for presentations. The program cost is $230 and includes a one-year membership to the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center.
Our next workshop will begin Tuesday, April 8th.
For more information, please contact Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrecny.org
Join us for the MemoryKeeper Story Hour!
Email Mjasper@hhrecny.org for upcoming speakers or visit our Events page.
If you would like to be part of this group or have questions, please contact Millie Jasper at mjasper@hhrecny.org
HHREC Second Generation Holocaust Speakers Featured in National Media Story
The Forward, a national award winning publication that delivers incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews published a story about HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers. Read the full story by clicking here.
MemoryKeeper: Speakers
Click on links below for bios
Yonat Assayag
Tamar Ben-Simon
Michelle Bisson
Martin Bodek
Victor Borden
Yuval Ehrenreich
Gila Ellen Fortinsky
Rebecca Freimann
Max Friedman
Michelle Gewanter
Paul Goldstein
Rochelle Greenspan
Anita Greenwald
Kathy Grosz-Zaltas
Michael Gyory
Joan Arnay Halperin
June Hersh
Ziporah Janowski
Ellen Kaidanow
Naomi Koller
Sandy Speier Klein
Gloria Lazar
Barbara Lewis Kaplan
Debra Lewis
Monica Mandell
Karin Meyers
Marion Novack
Renee Pessin
Joan Poulin
Mindy Nagorsky-Israel
Audrey Unger Reich
Ann Rolett
Sam Rosmarin
Helen Rubel
Tamar Sadeh
Stacey Saiontz
Lisa Salko
Wendy Sandler
Phyllis Shaw
Julie Sherman
Lea Weinberg
Debby Ziering
William Zimmerman
GenerationsForward is generously underwritten by the Richard Lowenstein Memorial Fund.
Education
GenerationsForward have ongoing projects to help educate individuals
Speakers
Members speak out, as seen through the lens of family members experiences and survival
Continuing a Legacy
A group bringing together second and third generation individuals of Holocaust survivors
GenerationsForward Speakers
Granddaughter of two Holocaust Survivors
Yonat shares her journey to the Munkacs Ghetto and then Auschwitz.
Personal antisemitic experiences compel Yonat to tell her story in hopes that history will not repeat itself.
Yonat Assayag
Yonat Assayag is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Helen Gottesman (née Klein) and Alex Gottesman.
Yonat tells the story of her grandmother Helen, who she adoringly called “Bobby.” Bobby was born in Strobochova, Czechoslovakia in 1924, where she and her family lived comfortably until the Nazi occupation in 1939. Yonat shares how, at 16, Bobby risked her life to support her family. She and a few friends would remove their yellow stars and sneak aboard a train carrying suitcases filled with meat to sell at a nearby town. On one trip, noticing a police officer eyeing them suspiciously, the girls jumped from the speeding train to avoid getting caught. Yonat goes on to share Bobby’s harrowing journey to the Munkacs Ghetto and then Auschwitz, where her mother, grandmother, two sisters, and newborn niece were murdered. Bobby managed to survive on account of her bravery, a bit of “chutzpah,” and a lot of luck.
Yonat memorialized her grandmother’s story so that she could share it with her own children. But a string of personal antisemitic experiences compelled Yonat to tell Bobby’s story beyond her own family in hopes that history will not repeat itself.
Yonat was born in Israel and raised in Beachwood, Ohio. She now lives in New Rochelle, New York with her husband, Lou Arbetter, and their three children, Michael, Sasha, and Layla. Yonat is a partner at ClearBridge Compensation Group, where she advises clients on executive compensation and incentive plan design. She received her MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and her BS from Syracuse University.
Yonat is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third-generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She has appeared as a speaker at Hackley School, Saratoga Central Catholic, Temple Israel of New Rochelle, Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel, and on the MemoryKeeper Story Hour.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter of a Dutch Holocaust Survivor.
Her father’s Holocaust story and treasured family heirlooms serve as a testament of the Holocaust atrocities and defy all those who deny it.
Tamar Ben-Simon
Tamar Ben-Simon is the daughter of Joseph Obstfeld, a Dutch Holocaust survivor. Tamar tells the riveting story of her grandparents and her father, who was barely five years old at the time of the Nazi invasion into the Netherlands in 1940. It is a story of love vs. hate, evil vs. kindness, despair vs. hope and above all, about the few extraordinary, courageous people who stood up for their beliefs and morals and made a difference.
In 1942, the Nazis stormed Into her grandparents’ apartment in Amsterdam, and it changed their lives forever. In 1944, her father's mother was scheduled to be sent to Auschwitz, but due to a transportation error, she arrived and was imprisoned in Theresienstadt. Her father's father, was deemed a “Free Jew” by the Nazi regime due to being forced to work for them as a furrier, while he secretly joined the underground resistance.
Since Tamar was a young adult, she has been sharing her father’s Holocaust story about the treasured family heirlooms that serve as a testament of the Holocaust atrocities and defy all those that deny it. Tamar grew up in Israel and returned to New York in 1986 with her husband, Bobby. Today they live in Greenwich, Connecticut. Tamar worked as a Hebrew teacher in Solomon Schechter and several synagogues for many years. Since retiring from teaching, she has been assisting in her family’s luxury home building company. They have four children, who have a close relationship with their grandparents and often share their grandfather’s story.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Mother fled the Holocaust alone at age 16
Used her mother's story to author a children’s picture book, Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust
Michelle Bisson
Michelle Bisson tells the story of her mother’s journey from Budapest, Hungary, to Lisbon, Portugal, and then to America in the middle of the Holocaust in her children’s picture book, Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust (ages 8+). Michelle’s mother was only 16 when she traveled alone through Nazi Germany in 1941 in order to escape the fate of her cousin Marika and much of her extended family who perished in the Holocaust.
Michelle talks about how this dangerous journey alone, and the loss of one of her mother’s closest friends and relatives and many others affected the rest of her mother’s and uncle’s life - he was only 11 at the time. She also speaks about how other members of her extended family survived the Holocaust in Hungary, including an aunt who hid in the woods with her newborn son, now a lawyer in NYC. Michelle also talks about the impact on her life as the child of a mother who experienced such pain, and about the pain and pleasures of life in America after the Holocaust. Recently, Michelle visited Budapest for the first time, where she found her cousin’s apartment and her mother’s, which is now a Jewish history museum near the border in what was the Jewish ghetto in the last year of World War II. Michelle retired from her career as a children’s editor and publisher and still works with writers to hone their craft.
Michelle is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.She has presented to middle schooler students at the UJA in Cos Cob, CT, and to fourth grader students at the Hackley School.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Grandson of four Holocaust Survivors
Author who chronicled Holocaust atrocities in final days of WWII
Martin Bodek
Martin Bodek is the grandson of four survivors with four different stories to tell. He keeps all of them in his heart, but has chronicled his maternal grandfather's astonishing story in a book titled Zaidy's War: Four Armies, Three Continents, Two Brothers. One Man's Impossible Story of Endurance. It is published by Amsterdam Publishers - the largest publisher of Holocaust literature in Europe. Benzion Malik's story involves serving four armies under wildly unique circumstances, being present for both the largest land invasion in human history and the final battle of WWII, avoiding cannibalism under pain of death, eluding poisoning, surviving to walk 1,600 miles to his Romania home, emigrating to Israel, enduring the pummeling of his new community of Haifa during the Six Day War, finally settling in peace in the U.S. where he served as a chef for 40 years, and finished Shas (Talmud) 14 times while he was doing all that. He passed away 10 years ago at the age of 95.
Zaidy’s War has launched Martin on an international, multi-venue public speaking/podcast/Zoom talk/book club tour that remains ongoing. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children. He is a technologist by day, and a writer by night.
Martin is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. He is honored to partner with the HHREC, and brings panache, love, nostalgia, passion, and a "Never Again" ethos to his presentations.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Parents survived Jewish persecution in Poland under Nazi Occupation and in the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Became a surgeon who served in the U.S. Air Force.
Dr. Victor Borden
Dr. Victor Borden is the son of Holocaust survivors Rywen (Roman) and Mina Bornsztajin (Bronstein). Victor shares his parent's story of surviving Jewish persecution in Poland under Nazi Occupation and in the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Rywen and Mina were born and raised in Lodz, Poland, an industrial city with a large Jewish population, and they came from prosperous families. They married in 1938, a year before the world changed when Germany invaded Poland. A few days after the invasion, Victor's father attempted to flee on foot eastward to the Soviet Union, where they were forcibly relocated to slave labor camps in Siberia.
What followed is a uniquely amazing story that offers chilling details of Victor’s parents journey starting in Poland, surviving imprisonment in the Soviet Union, and eventually immigrating to the United States to see their son enlist in the U.S. Air Force and serve as a physician.
Dr. Victor Borden is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Son of Holocaust Survivor who struggled to survive starting at the age of 7
Shares story of his father, one of hope, faith and a family that rebuilt when all seemed lost.
Yuval Ehrenreich
Yuval Ehrenreich tells the story of his father’s stolen childhood and his struggle to survive when he was separated from his parents. At age 7 he witnessed the family’s synagogue on Roonstrasse street in Cologne, Germany set on fire by the Nazis on the night of Kristallnacht and weeks later he crossed the border alone in a unique Kindertransport to Belgium arrangement.
Arrested near Brussels by the Gestapo at age 10, he was rescued hours before his train was to depart for Auschwitz where he had been scheduled for extermination. Later, age 11, he was hidden by the Jewish resistance with a false identity in a Catholic home for boys located deep in the Belgian countryside, and miraculously survived a raid by a platoon of heavily armed Nazi soldiers who surrounded the home so no one could escape before forcing their entry. There, he stood with 86 other Jewish children “hidden” in plain sight during the inspection and avoided discovery due to the daring ingenuity, courage, and unwavering Christian faith of a woman who risked it all to save them.
Yuval talks about how his father managed to survive as an orphan and grow up to rebuild all that was lost to give his own family the good life they enjoy today! He concludes with the recounting of Pope Benedict’s historic visit in 2005 on World Youth day to his father’s synagogue in Cologne that was rebuilt after the war, and shares lessons learned from the Holocaust.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust Survivors from Lithunia
Recounts harrowing ordeal of parents and grandparents to survive Nazi occupation
Gila Ellen Fortinsky
Gila is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Her Mother and grandparents were forced into the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania in 1941, where they lived in squalor, fear and starvation for three years. Her mother, as a toddler, was hidden during the KinderAktion, when the Nazis kidnapped every child they could find in the ghetto, and from then on lived in hiding under a plank in the ghetto room the family shared.
Gila has extensively researched her family experience and visited key historical sites including their residences in Lithuania. She has uncovered new details about the harrowing ordeal her family lived through and the sheer determination that propelled them to survive the brutal years under Nazi occupation. With the help of the partisans and the Jewish underground, they began a new life in Europe and later in Montreal, Canada. She has found video interviews, deposition and trial transcripts describing her family’s experience as it shed light on how they would be the only family to survive the Nazis’ liquidation of the Kovno Ghetto intact. Her grandfather, a prominent Zionist leader in Lithuania before the war, testified in Nazi war criminal trials, wrote a book on Lithuanian Jewry, and worked as the Montreal correspondent for the Algemeiner Journal.
Gila is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She recently presented at the Hackley School. To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Parents were Polish/Jewish Holocaust Survivors
Journalist and author with many years experience in story telling
Max Friedman
Max Friedman’s parents were Polish/Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in Sweden (where he and his sister were born) after their liberation from Bergen-Belsen.
While Max has been telling the stories of others for his whole career — as a journalist, publicist, corporate editorial director and memoir ghostwriter, but avoided his own family history. He finally got to share his own story by penning a stirring family memoir, Painful Joy: A Holocaust Family Memoir (Amsterdam Publishers, 2022 - available on Amazon). It was a five-year-long journey that began when he was nearly 70 years old, spurred by a question posed by his eight-year-old grandson.
Max talks about what he discovered about the early lives of his parents, and then about their surviving five years of ghettos, slave labor and concentration camps, losing everyone and everything they had ever loved. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1952, his parents spoke little about their past – though their physical and psychological wounds were apparent to their children every day. For Max and his sister, it was enough to simply survive their survival. His journey also focuses on his family living with those traumas in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Max is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Granddaughter of three Holocaust Survivors
Author of book on her grandparents' stories Family Tree: Rooted in Survival
Rebecca Freimann
Rebecca Freimann is a third generation survivor. She tells the story of her maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother. Her maternal grandfather lost his youngest brother and parents to the evils of the Holocaust. They were shot in a forest outside of the Izbica Ghetto. Rebecca's maternal grandmother escaped to England via a kindertransport. Her paternal grandmother emigrated before her entire family were deported during the Zbasyn deportations, later shot in a field outside of the Bochnia Ghetto. Rebecca tells the story of how the family was separated, and how each member of her family had their own experiences and met their own fates. She authored their stories in a book entitled Family Tree: Rooted in Survival, so that her family's stories reach the masses, and her family's memories can forever be preserved.
Rebecca resides in Rockland County, where she works as a Special Education teacher. She has a background in teaching Holocaust Studies to religious school classes. Rebecca has always thought it extremely important that the stories of the Holocaust be preserved, shared, and remembered.
Rebecca is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She recently presented at the Felix Festa Middle School.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Granddaughter of four Holocaust Survivors
Shares the story of her paternal grandmother, who hid from the Nazis in Poland
Michelle Gewanter
As the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, Michelle Gewanter tells their story to honor and preserve their memories. She is committed to transmitting the stories and lessons of the Holocaust to audiences of all ages.
Michelle shares her paternal grandmother’s story of survival in World War II Poland, where her grandmother, Hindzia, hid from the Nazis and their collaborators. Hindzia was the only member of her immediate family to survive, with the exception of her brother who had fled to Russia in the early part of the war. After the war, Hindzia met her husband, Karl, who had survived by hiding in an underground bunker that he built with his brothers in a Polish forest. They lived in a displaced persons camp in Austria, where Michelle’s father was born, until they emigrated to the United States in 1950.
Michelle resides in Scarsdale with her husband and three children. She graduated from Cornell University and New York University Law School. After law school, Michelle’s commitment to helping Holocaust survivors led her to a position as assistant settlement counsel on the Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation (also known as the Holocaust-Swiss Bank cases). In addition, she worked for the American Jewish Committee and the NYU Law School Masters of Law program.
Michelle is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Parents cheated death in the Warsaw Ghetto, concentration camps, and POW camps
They resisted the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Paul Goldstein
Paul Goldstein has made it his mission to speak about his parents’ experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland—how his mother escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto, how his parents’ cheated death in concentration camps, and how a miraculous discovery led him to learn of his father’s role in a historic revolt at the Treblinka extermination camp.
With the aid of family and archival photographs and his parents’ written and video testimonies, he explains what can happen when hatred and antisemitism go unchecked and how his parents’ lessons of life, death, and survival impacted his own attitudes and behaviors.
After a successful career in marketing and advertising, Professor Goldstein taught at West Conn University and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. In addition to his current role as a Holocaust speaker and educator, he serves on the Holocaust Commemoration Committee of Fairfield, CT and speakers bureau for the Holocaust Learning Experience in Palm Beach County; Voices of Hope, and the Jewish Federation of Fairfield County. A native New Yorker, he now resides between Connecticut and Florida with his wife Sharon.
Paul is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. He was the keynote speaker at the University of New Haven’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and Morse Life’s Kristallnacht Remembrance Day in 2024. Since 2016 he has presented to over 15,000 students, teachers, administrators, and adult audiences in CT, NY, NJ, and FL as a personal tribute to those who survived and those who died during those years of unparalleled depravity and hatred.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter of two Holocaust survivors from Northern Transylvania, present-day Romania
Shelley tells the story of her mother, who survived two concentration camps
Rochelle Greenspan
Shelley is the only child of two Holocaust survivors who came from Northern Transylvania, in present-day Romania. The region was taken over by Hungary in 1940, when harsh anti-Jewish laws were imposed. But the Jewish community there survived until March of 1944, when the Germans occupied Hungary. On the eve of the Allied victory, the Jews of Northern Transylvania were concentrated into ghettos and, within several weeks' time, were transported to Auschwitz, where the majority of them were gassed upon arrival. Shelley tells the story of her mother, Lilly, who survived two concentration camps thanks to the love and support of her older sister, Sarah, who was with her throughout the war. Shelly’s oldest daughter, Emily, also tells Lilly’s story through her presentations with 3GNY, an educational organization founded by the grandchildren of survivors to preserve the legacies and lessons of the Holocaust. Shelley and Emily had the opportunity to visit Romania in May 2019 through Tarbut Foundation Sighet to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from Transylvania. While there, they traveled to the village of Borșa to see Lilly’s childhood home, which is now a post office. Shelley's younger daughter, Naomi, is the image of her grandmother Lilly.
Shelley was born and raised in the Bronx and lived in New Jersey and Israel. She spent her professional life in international banking and is looking forward to her upcoming retirement. In retirement she plans to work on her father’s story, learn Yiddish, keep physically active through hiking, and eventually travel to Eastern Europe to learn more about her parents' pasts. She currently resides in Irvington with her husband David.
Shelley is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter of two Holocaust survivors from Poland.
Shares parents story of devastation and miracles
Anita Greenwald
Anita Greenwald is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her father was only 12 years old when the Nazis arrived in his Polish town of Tomasev Lubelski and sent him to Siberia, resulting in heart-breaking loss and a lifelong commitment to family, Israel and making a good life. Her mother was only 5 years old when she was taken from her German home to Camp Gurs, France, and was just the beginning of her journey of devastation and miracles. Anita will tell her father’s/mother’s story and share how being a child of a Holocaust survivors has impacted her life.
Anita lives in Armonk, NY with her husband, Richard and they have four adult childen. Professionally, Anita has started successful organizations that continue to thrive, in both the corporate and the non-profit world.
Anita is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Kathy is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
Tells the story of parents will to survive and resettle in America.
Co-host of MemoryKeeper Story Hour.
Kathy Grosz-Zaltas
Kathy Grosz-Zaltas is a daughter of Holocaust survivors, and she tells their story to honor their lives and have it serve as a powerful lesson to confront bullying, injustice, antisemitism and bigotry in our world today.
Her parents grew up in different parts of Czechoslovakia, enjoying a happy, cultured, well-to-do life. And then, suddenly, the Nazi era began to control them, in an attempt to destroy their families forever. Despite their hardships living in concentration camps, enduring forced labor and death marches, survival was their personal miracle.
Kathy speaks about their lives after the War, and of their growing family in America. She discusses what it is like to be part of the Second Generation.
Kathy lives with her husband in Rye New York. Her family and grandchildren live close by, which is the joy of her life. She was a foreign language teacher for 17 years in Westchester County. Kathy and her family are the owners of Zaltas Fine Jewelers. Kathy curates fine jewelry and creates custom designed pieces for her clients. She created the Hope Sunflower Collection, inspired by her family history to honor her parents and HHREC. A portion of sales from the Collection are donated to HHREC.
Kathy is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She is co-host of the HHREC MemoryKeeper Story Hour, a series of events offered on Zoom featuring HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Son of two Hungarian Holocaust survivors
Tells the story of how his teenage parents survived, married, and rebuilt their lives
Michael Gyory
Michael Gyory is the son of Hungarian Holocaust survivors. During World War II, his parents, both teenagers, were sent to concentration camps and slave labor camps. After surviving the horrors and torture of the war, they returned to Budapest to find that they were all alone. They managed to fall in love, marry, emigrate to America and have three children. He also tells the story of his cousin Agi Keleti, who is the Jewish woman with the most Olympic medals, totaling ten medals in women's gymnastics for Hungary after surviving the Holocaust. Michael grew up in the seclusion of Northern Westchester County, and now lives in the Rivertowns.
Gyory holds a master’s degree in communication from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. After a brief time in the corporate world, he has been a real estate entrepreneur, building houses, renovating and developing self-storage facilities. He is a graduate of Safekeeping Stories and as a memoirist, has told of his family’s experiences in many schools and civic venues.
Michael is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Author of book on family history during the Holocaust
Shares testimony her mother gave in 1989, and story of how hwe family made a 1,241 day journey on the road to freedom.
Joan Arnay Halperin
Joan Arnay Halperin is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with a BA in Speech and Drama. She earned a Master of Arts Degree in TESOL, and devoted many years to teaching, grant writing and teacher training at various New York City Public Schools.
In 2012, while doing research for her book My Sister’s Eyes: a Family Chronicle of Rescue and Loss During World War II, Joan learned of her family’s debt to the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, France.
Joan will share excerpts from the testimony her mother Helene Arnay gave on January 1, 1989..
Joan is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. In recent years she has dedicated her energies to sharing the story of her family’s 1241-day journey on the road to freedom with teachers and students at the elementary through university level.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Author of book on food and history during the Holocaust
Travels the country to speak about the Holocaust and preserving Jewish food memory.
June Hersh
June Hersh is the best-selling author of Food, Hope & Resilience; Authentic Recipes and Remarkable Stories from Holocaust Survivors. The book was first released in 2011 under the title Recipes Remembered, and has sold over 20,000 copies, with all proceeds going to charity. In connection with the book, June has spoken to hundreds of groups across the country, has made several television appearances, including one on QVC where she was a featured guest. Her talks focus on the wonderful anecdotes and life affirming stories related to her interactions with over 100 Holocaust survivors. The talk is an unexpected blend of humor and inspiration as she shows the wonderful connection and deep respect she has for this remarkable community.
She has also penned the widely acclaimed Iconic New York Jewish Food, a History and Guide with Recipes, which can be incorporated into her talk. Her other works include, The Kosher Carnivore, Still Here, Inspiration from Survivors and Liberators of the Holocaust, Yoghurt a Global History and The Flavor of Upstate New York. She is currently at work on a book with James Beard award-winning chef Alon Shaya, as they explore stories from WWII through the lens of food. June is a regular contributor to Westchester Magazine and various food publications and is a member of the prestigious culinary organization Les Dames d' Escoffier. Her goal is to honor the legacy of Holocaust survivors, preserve Jewish food memory and Eat Well-Do Good through the charitable flavor of her books.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter of two Holocaust Survivors
Mother deported to work camp from Poland
Speaks of her father’s incredible losses framed by his cleverness and innate will to survive, and of how he picked up the pieces of his shattered life to create a new family.
Ziporah Janowski
The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Ziporah’s mother Chana Mosler was barely 16 when she was deported to a work camp from her small town of Olkusz, Poland. Ziporah’s father, Meier Janowski, was living a prosperous life in the Polish town of Wolbrom where he was helping run the family business and was part of a revered religious family. The Nazis entered the town at the beginning of the war and quickly deported or killed the Jewish residents. Quoting newly discovered documents written by her father, Ziporah tells in her father’s own words the shocking detail of his and his family’s deportation. She describes the torture her father endured throughout his journey through multiple labor camps and his imprisonment in the Buchenwald concentration camp, culminating in his being part of an infamous death march to Theresienstadt.
Ziporah speaks of her father’s incredible losses framed by his cleverness and innate will to survive and of how he picked up the pieces of his shattered life to create a new family, moving from Germany to Israel and then the United States. Ziporah also speaks of what life was like as the American child of Polish Holocaust survivors and the lasting imprint being Holocaust survivors left upon her parents. Her presentation is at its heart a love letter to her father and a reminder to all that their family stories are precious and merit knowing and telling.
Ziporah lives in Croton on Hudson, New York with her husband David Ettenberg. Their daughter Hannah lives in New Jersey with her husband and baby daughter Miriam, named for Hannah’s grandfather Meier. She is working toward becoming a licensed therapist having completed a Masters in Social Work and holding a degree in Chemical Engineering. Their son Sam works in the tile and stone industry in Miami and is an accomplished DJ. Ziporah was a litigation attorney, having retired from Marsh & McLennan Inc. in 2007 to join her husband in his business running wellness programs throughout the country. She also became a certified healthy chef in 2016.She is in her “third act” becoming an artist, focusing on portrait sketches and oil painting, having participated in her first exhibit in 2024. Ziporah enjoys all outdoor activities, especially walks with her beloved rescue standard poodle.Ziporah is a long time board member of Teatown Lake Reservation nature preserve.
Ziporah is a board member of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York and a member of its GenerationsForward group of second and third generation children of Holocaust survivors.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Tells the story of her mother-in-law, who became the sole surviving family member at age 6
Daughter-in-law of two Holocaust survivors
Extensive speaking experience with 4th-12th grade students
Ellen Kaidanow
Ellen Kaidanow is the daughter-in-law of two Holocaust survivors. Her mother in law, also named Ellen Kaidanow, was only 5 years old when her mother, father and two sisters were all forced to move from their beautiful home in Dubno, Ukraine to a walled Jewish ghetto. Ellen tells the story of her mother in law’s life as a young girl in the ghetto and her miraculous tale of becoming the sole survivor of her family at age 6. She was saved by a Christian woman who hid her for two years.
Ellen feels that part of her fate and purpose is to be a witness for her mother in law’s story. She wants to honor her and help others of all religions have a personal connection to the Holocaust so they become witnesses. Most important, she wants to influence others to be “upstanders”, not bystanders. She also wants to show those who are struggling with tragedy that her mother in law was able to be resilient under the worst circumstances and went on to have great joy and love in her life despite the devastating experiences she had as a child. She wants to inspire others to never give up hope and to be grateful for what you do have.
Ellen enjoys traveling which included a 2018 trip to Poland where she participated in The Ride for the Living, a 60-mile bike ride from Auschwitz-Birkenau to the JCC in Krakow to commemorate the Holocaust and celebrate the resilience of the Jewish community. She also visited three concentration camps and then met her mother-in-law in Dubno, Ukraine for an emotional return to her hometown where she survived the Holocaust.
Ellen lives in Harrison, NY with her husband, Joseph. They have three adult children. Ellen worked in commercial real estate and executive recruiting before she became an active community organizer and volunteer for her children’s schools. She continues her volunteer work with her synagogue, UJA, the Pleasantville Cottage School, and is also a Facilitator for Safekeeping Stories.
Ellen is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She has presented and spoken with students from 4th–12th grades at public and private schools and synagogues throughout the tri-state area including: Byram Hills High School, Choate Rosemary Hall, Greenwich Academy, Greenwich Country Day Schools, King School, Hackley School, Harrison High School, Riverdale Country School, Somers High School, The Ursuline School, Malcom E. Nettingham Middle School, Beth El Synagogue, Jewish Community Center of Harrison, Larchmont Temple, Rye Community Synagogue, Temple Shaaray Tefila, and Westchester Reform Temple.
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Daughter of two Holocaust Survivors
Tells inspirational story of resilience and ability to rebuild lives
Sandy Speier Klein
Sandy Speier Klein was born in the Bronx and raised in Washington Heights. Sandy spent her entire adult life in the field of Psychiatric Social Work, first as a line worker, then as a supervisor and finally as the Associate Director of Social Work at New York State Psychiatric Institute. The last 10 years of her career were at New York University Silver School of Social Work where she was a Clinical Associate Professor.
Sandy credits her parents for inspiring her career choice. Paula and Herman Speier were immigrants. They were not JUST immigrants: they were Holocaust Survivors. Their life experiences were part of the reason Sandy was attracted to working with and empowering the disenfranchised people in our communities who do not have a strong voice and who need our help. Paula and Herman’s resilience and ability to rebuild their lives from nothing was inspirational.
Sandy tells two stories: that of her mother and, in addition, the story of Sandy’s search for her half-brother. She is beginning to write the story of her father as well.
Sandy is married to Sam Klein, also a child of Survivors. They have two children, Heather, an Attorney, who specializes in Corporate Immigration, and Gabriel, who is a reconstructive Plastic Surgeon. The inclination to help others has carried into another generation. Sandy and Sam have been blessed with 4 1/2 grandsons: the fifth will hopefully arrive in June 2025.
Sandy is a member of Generations Forward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
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Daughter and Grandchild of Holocaust Survivors from Romania in the town of Viznitz
Member of HHREC Advisory Board
Naomi Koller
Naomi's grandparents, Anna and Israel Koller, lived comfortably in the Carpathian Mountain town of Viznitz, Romania. They had two sons: Naomi's 8-year-old father, Mark, and his 13-year-old brother, Dov. With Israel Koller’s parents and siblings living nearby, their life was enriched by music, friends, family, and education—the cornerstones of their existence. At the onset of the Nazi occupation of Viznitz, Anna devised a daring plan to save her family from the horrors of the labor camp known as Transnistria, where bullets led to the deaths of a majority of the Jewish residents in the region.
Naomi depicts the heroic story through Anna, as well as the experiences of 8 year old Mark, who came of age living in the worst of conditions. Anna's story is one of incredible bravery, heroism, and hope, from the Koller family’s deportation to the ghetto, to their grueling march through the mountains to Transnistria which tragically resulted in the deaths of Mark's grandparents, and their eventual liberation and journey to Israel.
Naomi lives with her family in Westchester County, where she works as a Career Coach.
Naomi is a member GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York, as well as a member of the HHREC Advisory Board. She has presented at CSI, Temple Beth El, and the Temple Beth El 7th grade religious school class.
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Father escaped from Nazi invasion, imprisoned by Soviet Union, survived the Holocaust
Published articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune
Gloria Lazar
Gloria Lazar tells the story of her father, Arthur, whose courage, determination and cunning were key to his survival after the Nazis invaded his town in southern Poland in September 1939. Gloria’s story traces his escape from the Nazis, imprisonment in a Soviet concentration camp, daring leap from a Polish troop train and the remaining years of the war working on a Soviet commune. Arthur broke his silence 35 years after the end of the war and recorded his story as an oral memoir so that his only child would write about his survival and the endurance of the human spirit.
Gloria works in private practice as a speech-language pathologist, public speaking coach and speech writer in Tarrytown. She has an undergraduate degree in English from New York University and graduate degrees from Simmons University and Columbia University. Her father’s spirit and strength of character live on in her two grown sons: Ethan, who works as a film producer in Los Angeles, and Jason, a business and health care consultant in Seattle.
Gloria has published freelance articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and poetry in literary journals. Her short performance pieces and poetry have been presented at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art and other art galleries in the Hudson Valley. She has completed a young adult novel, All the Falling Stars, about the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto and is working on a screenplay adaptation. Her screenplay, Djambul, grew out of her father’s Holocaust experience.
Gloria is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She has presented her father's story in schools and online. She believes the personal story is a powerful tool to educate students and adults about the effects of the Holocaust, as well as fighting prejudice and intolerance.
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Child of two Polish Holocaust Survivors
Debra Lewis
Debra Nancy Lewis is the child of two Polish Holocaust survivors. Her mother, Rose, was born in Lodz and survived the Lodz Ghetto, Birkenau, Oederon (Flossenburg) and Terezin before emigrating to London in 1945 with a group of 732 orphans known as "The Boys." Debra's father, Benjamin, was born in Opatow and was a prisoner at a subcamp of Buchenwald known as Skarjisko Kamienna where he was able to survive thanks to his skills as a tailor.
Debra is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Daughter of a Holocaust Survivor
Tells the story of her father who endured slave labor and torture at 4 concentration camps, including Plazcow, the camp portrayed in the film, “Schindler’s List.”
Barbara Lewis Kaplan
Barbara Lewis Kaplan is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She tells the story of her father, Leon Lewis, who grew up in Krakow, Poland and survived the horrors of the Holocaust, enduring slave labor and torture at four different concentration camps, including Plazcow, the camp portrayed in the film, “Schindler’s List.”
Barbara also recounts her father’s literal leap of faith jump to escape a cattle car headed to an extermination camp. Her father’s story is also one of resilience and perseverance as his daughter talks about his building a new life in America, while overcoming additional obstacles.
With rare photos, Barbara brings to life her father’s incredible journey, and describes her emotional trip back to Krakow with Leon. Barbara lives in Larchmont, NY.
Barbara is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Granddaughter and niece of Holocaust Survivors
Her story features the role of Upstanders who risked their lives to help save her grandparents.
Monica Mandell
Monica is a granddaughter and niece of Holocaust survivors. She grew up in a home where the past and the present were intertwined. "What was it like to be a granddaughter and niece to survivors?" The story she shares is of her aunt and grandmother who survived the war because of their fortitude, shrewdness and, perhaps more importantly, luck. It starts before the war, describing a large and loving family and goes through the years of the war chronicling how difficult it was to survive. The story also includes Monica's grandfather whose life and family interacted with Monica's grandmother and her family, and touches upon a few upstanders who saved Monica's grandmother's life at great expense to their own safety. It winds down to the present as she describes what it was like to be a member of a family that combined the past with the present. Could the wounds of the war be healed? Who was responsible for healing the wounds?
Monica lives in Harrison, NY with her husband and three children. Monica is a social worker who bases her social work practice on the importance of helping others. Her decision to memorialize her family's story was not only to pass along to future generations, but to ensure that the legacy of those who died does not fade. Writing the story has become not only a blessing, but an honor to ensure that our family will live on and on.
Monica is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Tells story of her father and his role as an obstetrician during the Holocaust.
Shares her parents’ emigration ordeal as well as the fates of other members of her family
Karin Meyers
Karin Beuthner Meyers was born in Wuppertal, Germany on June 7, 1937. Her father, an obstetrician, delivered her at home as Jews were no longer admitted to hospitals and Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat Non-Jews. However, Dr. Beuthner continued the care for his patient and for this he was arrested. Later freed, Karin tells the story of her parents’ emigration ordeal as well as the fates of other members of her family that are pictured in a faded photograph taken the last time they were together in the Spring of 1938. The photograph becomes a focal point of the story that Karin weaves in verse and narrative form. Her story illustrates the importance of perseverance, luck and particularly, how the good deeds of some affected her family’s outcome.
Karin Beuthner Meyers graduated with honors from Brandeis University and received a Masters of Humanities degree. She was an adjunct lecturer in Medical Ethics at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City and a member of its Institutional Research Review Board. Karin authored several articles on the ethics of Human Research Ethics.
Karin is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She presented recently at the Bronx Jewish Center.
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Tells the story of her husband's grandmother and family who lived in Munich, Germany.
Works with United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Mindy Nagorsky-Israel
Mindy Nagorsky-Israel is married to the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors. She tells the story of Ilse Sundheimer Seelig, her husband’s grandmother, and her family, using pictures, historical documents and artifacts that have been found. Ilse grew up in Munich, Germany, a member of multiple prominent Jewish families that had lived in various parts of Bavaria for hundreds of years. Ilse escaped Nazi Germany in late 1938, but she lost her entire immediate family and most of her extended family in the Holocaust.
Ilse did not speak about her lost family in the 68 years following the end of the war and her discovery of their fate until late 2013 when Mindy’s then 8 year old daughter asked Ilse to tell the story of her family. This discussion spurred on years of research and writing to find and document the history and fates of family members.
Mindy is currently a knowledge strategy lawyer at Skadden Arps. She earned her law degree from the University of Chicago in 1999 and a bachelor of science in economics, concentration in accounting from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts, major in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences, both from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. She and her husband are involved with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, and with the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a living memorial to the Holocaust. Mindy and her husband Ronen Israel, a retired hedge fund portfolio manager who now teaches at Yale University, live in Purchase, New York, with their three children.
Mindy is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She speaks to children and adults of all ages, telling Ilse's story with photos and artifacts.
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Daughter and sister of Holocaust Survivors.
Tells the story of her family survival based on her research from their hometown in Denmark.
Marion Novack
Marion is the daughter and sister of Holocaust survivors. Her parents fled their native Berlin in 1938, one month after Kristallnacht. They were members of Hechalutz, a Zionist socialist youth movement, whose long-term goal was the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Hechalutz worked with the Danish Agricultural Travel Bureau providing trainees, including her parents, to work on farms in Denmark in order to acquire the farming skills necessary to emigrate to Palestine.
Marion's parents lived and worked in Denmark on eight different farms until they were captured in October 1943 and deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. At the time, Marion's mother was seven months pregnant. They returned to Denmark after their liberation in April, 1945. More than sixty years later, Marion's parents documented their memories of their capture and internment in vivid, heartfelt letters they wrote to her. Years after her parents died, Marion began a research effort to identify the Danish farmers who stored and protected her parents' belongings during their internment. Her research led to a fascinating and unique set of connections and discoveries resulting in a life changing visit to Denmark in 2010.
Marion has presented her family’s story to a wide variety of audiences. “I am the keeper of my parents’ story and their voices.”
Marion is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Daughter of Holocaust Survivors
Parents separated during Holocaust, later found each other
Renee Pessin
Renee Bronner Pessin, a Connecticut resident, is a descendant of two Holocaust survivors. Renee’s mother Helen was the only survivor of her immediate and extended family of more than 50 people In Poland. Her father Sam, along with one brother were the only survivors of their large immediate and extended family. Having met while imprisoned in concentration camp during the atrocities of the Holocaust, Helen and Sam found each other after being separated during the War. They married soon after liberation. Eventually, they immigrated to the USA to start a new life.
Renee feels it is more urgent than ever to share their story, especially to community listeners, to ensure that history does not repeat itself. She is able to do so through excerpts from her mother’s video testimony to the Shoah Foundation and family pictures saved through the horrors of the Holocaust.
Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she has lived in several cities and towns over the years. Over the years, Renee has worked as a registered nurse, editorial associate for scientific journals and most recently, for over 20 years, as a freelance biomedical grant and manuscript editor.
Renee is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Daughter of a Holocaust survivor
Used 175 letters from her father's mother and brother to piece together her fathdr's story
Joan Poulin
Joan Poulin is the daughter of Holocaust survivors who never spoke of their past. Her father left Hamburg, Germany for New York in 1938, leaving his mother and brother behind. Joan was able to piece together his story from 175 letters he kept by his bed until the day he died.
Joan shares his story and the plight of those left behind, and also how being a child of Holocaust survivors has impacted her life and the lives of her children.
Joan lives in New York with her husband, Steve and they have two children. Joan works at a financial planning office.
Joan is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
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Pictured: Audrey Unger Reich with her father Ron Unger
Father is a Holocaust survivor
An artist & educator who tells her father’s story
Audrey Unger Reich
Audrey’s father, Ron (Romek) Unger, grew up in the southern Polish town of Tarnow. His life changed abruptly at age 11, when the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939. He lived under ever-increasing restrictions and brutality until he was deported to Plaszow, the first of three concentration camps he was sent to during the War. He was liberated from Ebensee (a satellite camp to Mauthausen) on May 6, 1945, only months after his father died of infection and malnutrition. Ron’s mother was murdered at Auschwitz. Ron spent more than three years in a displaced persons camp in Italy until emigrating to the United States in December 1948.
Audrey visited Poland in 2014 and was able to find her father’s home in Tarnow, as well as the building where his family’s business had been. She also visited Zbylitowska Gora, a forest outside of Tarnow, where, in June 1942, 6,000 Tarnow Jews, including 800 children, were shot by German soldiers and then buried in mass graves.
Audrey is an artist and educator, who tells her father’s Holocaust story, and has created artwork inspired by it. Ron is involved in the “Adopt-a-Survivor” program on Long Island. They hope to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust, and the personal stories of the survivors, will never be forgotten.
Audrey is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Mother hid in Berlin, Germany during the Holocaust
Tells her mother's story to parallel what's happening in today's world
Ann Rolett
Ann Rolett’s mother Ingrid Sacks was never comfortable speaking in public about her experience as one of the 1500 Jews who survived hiding in plain sight in Berlin, Germany during the Holocaust. Ann wrote her mother’s story with her mother’s help so that her experiences not be forgotten. She researched the extended family her mother vaguely remembers and intertwines her family’s history with the rising success and precipitous fall and destruction of the Jews of Berlin and Germany.
Berlin before Hitler was very much like the US today, a place where Jews were well integrated into the fabric of society and viewed themselves as loyal and respected citizens. Ann tells this story because she believes its lessons about how the Nazi’s used propaganda and laws to isolate and destroy this community are relevant and important in the US today. The story is told from her mother’s perspective, a child’s perspective, so is appropriate for audiences’ of all ages. Ann accompanies the story with family photos saved by relatives who escaped Germany.
Ann and her husband Rod retired young because they love active travel. In 2018, they spent 3 months bicycling in Norway and the west coast of Sweden. Prior trips included extensive hiking and biking in Australia and New Zealand. When they are home, they are active in their communities.
Ann is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Son of two Holocaust Survivors
Tells remarkable story of his parents' resilience and hope
Sam Rosmarin
Sam is the son of two Holocaust Survivors. Sam reverently shares their remarkable story of resilience and hope.
His mother, Mania, was 14 when the Nazis invaded Poland and was present when they took her parents and youngest brother. She survived 7 labor camps in the Auschwitz complex. She endured crushing loss yet lived to 89 and enjoyed 60 years of marriage and the arrivals of 3 children and 6 grandchildren.
His father, Leo, was 18 when he was taken to a series of slave labor camps, where he spent his "college years." He survived 5 years in those labor camps, 3 cardiac bypass surgeries over 30 years, and lived into his 80s, long enough to see all of his 6 grandchildren born. He gratefully wrote in a letter to his first grandchild, asking her and his other grandchildren to never forget what their family went through, "The Nazis burned the trees but they couldn't kill the roots."
Sam lives in Tenafly, NJ with his wife, Susan, a law school classmate. They have two boys, Max and Lee, each of whom have made Mania and Leo very proud.
Sam is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
Daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors
Dutch family hid her mother and grandmother
Helen Rubel
Helen Rubel is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Helen shares her mother’s first person account of being hidden in an attic in Amsterdam to escape being captured during the Nazi takeover of Holland. The family had lived in harmony with their Christian neighbors in Hadamar, Germany prior to Hitler’s rule. After Krystallnacht in 1938, the night of broken glass when the Nazis destroyed Jewish homes businesses and synagogues, their lives changed. The family fled to Holland.
Quoting her mother's letters and writing, Helen's narrative provides a first hand testimony. An important theme is the value of being an “upstander”, someone who stands up for what is just. This concept is illustrated by the courage of the Dutch family who risked their lives to hide Helen’s mother and grandmother. Helen also explores the themes of perseverance, resourcefulness, risk taking, and luck that contributed to her family’s survival.
Since 1987 Helen has spoken to a wide variety of groups about her family’s experiences as well as the impact of growing up as a child of survivors and as a first generation American. She has made visits to her parents’ home towns in Germany and participated in remembrance programs.
Helen lives in Irvington, NY with her husband, a retired attorney. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked with diverse populations in New York City and Westchester. Her son and daughter live in Rockville, MD and Stamford, CT respectively. Both are special education teachers.
Helen is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, NY. Recently Helen has spoken with school groups from Yonkers and the Hackley School.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.
Israeli-born Granddaughter and Daughter of Holocaust Survivors
Shares the history of her grandmother,who survived two death camps, and her seven-year-old father who was hidden by Christians
Tamar Sadeh
Tamar shares the history of the strength, bravery, and hope of her grandmother Margit and her father Ivan and of the ordinary people who chose to help them survive the Holocaust. When Margit and six-year-old Ivan were in a forced labor camp their lives were saved by a man who risked his life to get them removed from a death camp transport. Ivan was then smuggled out of the camp and three different Christians in Slovakia hid him at great risk to themselves. Margit was sent to Ravensbruck and Bergen-Belsen death camps and was liberated when she was gravely ill and wounded. Ivan’s father, grandparents, and many other family members were murdered by the Nazis. After the Holocaust Margit and Ivan started a new life in Israel. Ivan met and married Tamar’s mother Esther, whose parents survived the Holocaust by escaping Nazi Germany and helped found Nahariya, Israel.
She hopes to inspire the realization that your choices matter and contribute to history, and that history is the sum of choices made by ordinary people individually and as part of groups and governments. She seeks to impart that it is essential to reject silence and indifference, and to combat hatred, discrimination, and injustice in our local communities, nation, and world.
Tamar was born in Israel and came to the United States when she was two years old. She holds a B.A. in History from Yale University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She worked at Kramer Levin & Naftalis, the Anti-Defamation League's Legal Affairs Department, and Hadassah's National Domestic Policy Department, where she founded Hadassah's Amicus Brief Program. She is currently Chair of Hadassah's National Attorneys’ Council and a member of Hadassah’s National Board, National Portfolio Council. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Committee’s Westchester/Fairfield Region, Co-Chair of the Campus Committee and the Israel New Perspectives Committee, and a founder of the region’s Leaders for Tomorrow education and advocacy program for high school students.
Tamar is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, and Chair of Alumni and Parent Relations. She is co-founder and national Vice-Chair of the Yale Jewish Alumni Association. She is a member of the Yale Parents Leadership Council, a Yale Alumni Fund Class Agent since graduation, a Co-Chair of her Yale 20th Reunion, and an Attendance Chair of her Yale 30th Reunion. Tamar endows a fund that supports Yale students travelling to Israel to study and work and a fund that supports Israeli students studying at Yale. She lives in Purchase, New York and has two children: Danielle is a Yale graduate who is currently pursuing a J.D./M.S.F.S. at Georgetown University while working for the U.S. Department of Justice and William is a senior at Yale.
Tamar is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Granddaughter of two Holocaust Survivors.
Her grandfather’s stories of his time in Auschwitz and her grandmother’s stories of her experience in HASAG Labor Camp. ngton College of Law
Stacey Saiontz
Stacey is the granddaughter of two Holocaust Survivors. Her grandfather’s stories of his time in Auschwitz and her grandmother’s stories of her experience in HASAG Labor Camp have profoundly influenced Stacey’s outlook and mission. She shares her grandmother’s story with audiences of all ages to inspire everyone to be an upstander and resilient.
Stacey shares her passion for Holocaust remembrance and education with her children, who were featured alongside her grandfather in the HBO documentary The Number on Great Grandpa’s Arm.
Stacey served as a founding member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s (USHMM) Next Generation Board. In 2019, she was appointed to serve on the USHMM’s Education Committee. Stacey is a Trustee for the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, a member of the Next Generation Council for the USC Shoah Foundation, and is.co-chair of the Town of New Castle Holocaust and Human Rights Committee.
Stacey is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
Granddaughter of two Holocaust Survivors
Lisa tells the story of how she and her family reclaimed their grandfather and great uncles' drivers licenses that were confiscated by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Lisa Salko
Lisa tells the story of 13 Jewish Drivers' Licenses. In November of 2018, Lisa, her sisters and cousins traveled to Lichtenfels, Bavaria, Germany to reclaim their grandfather’s and two great uncles’ drivers’ licenses which had been confiscated by the Nazis 80 years earlier, shortly after Kristallnacht and rediscovered while the town was digitizing records in 2017. What started as a trip about reclaiming a part of their family turned into something so much bigger than them. 13 Jewish Drivers' Licenses is about a small Bavarian town coming to terms with its darkest past. It’s a story about discovery, exploration, and reconciliation. It’s a story about human connection and “doing the right thing”. It’s a story about HOPE. Lisa takes us on an emotional journey during her week long trip which coincided with the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht. It’s an important story about being an Upstander and is extremely relevant given the rise of antisemitism in our country, throughout Germany and Europe.
Lisa has presented 13 Jewish Drivers’ Licenses at houses of worship, libraries, educational symposiums, middle and high schools; at colleges and universities; the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the German Consulate in New York, and at Yad Vashem:The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel.
Lisa and her husband, Larry, live in Westchester County, NY, where they raised their two children, Jacob, and Jennifer. They have 3 grandchildren. When not speaking about 13 Driver’s Licenses, she works as a real estate professional at Benerofe Properties Corp., a real estate and private equity investment firm in White Plains, NY.
Lisa is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, NY.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Wendy is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor
Her mother is a Founding Board member of the HHREC
She shares the story of her mother who hid her identity under a false name and false documents from the Nazis in Poland.
Wendy Sandler
Wendy shares the story of her mother's journey from a Jewish six year old to a Catholic school girl who hid in the convent, and back again to become an ardent Jew. She credits her blue eyes with saving her because she didn’t look Jewish and could pass as an Aryan.
Wendy’s mother's story is also about luck and the Upstanding actions of a Priest who risked his life to do help secure proper documentation for the family. It’s a story about hope...and doing the right thing in the face of grave danger.
Wendy is active in UJA Federation and other charitable organizations in the Westchester community, She lives with her husband Neil in Mamaroneck. They have two sons who have graduated from college and are working in New York City.
She is also a Gallery Educator who leads tours for school age children at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City.
Wendy is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Parents were Holocaust Survivors
Incorporates mother’s video testimony told through the Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation
Tells story of her resilience and how she survived Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen concentration camps.
Phyllis Shaw
Phyllis Shaw is a 2nd generation Holocaust Survivor, as her mother and father were Survivors. She tells the story of her mother, Regina, who as a teenager was deported to first a crowded ghetto near her hometown in Romania and then transported to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. From there, she miraculously found two of her nine sisters. The three did everything in their power to survive.
Phyllis charts her mother's journey from Auschwitz, to another working camp, to Bergen Belsen, to a displaced persons home in Sweden, and finally to America. Her story is one of resilience and gratitude despite everything that she went through.
Phyllis resides in Ridgefield, CT with her husband. She graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Computer Science and enjoyed a successful career as a Customer Service and Information System Executive. She has now decided to move away from corporate life and pursue her passions. Carrying on her mother's legacy is one of those.
Phyllis is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center in White Plains, NY. She has spoken recently in the Yonkers school district at Holocaust events. and worked with a student as part of the HHREC High School Living History Project.
Daughter of Holocaust Survivor who lived in Danzig, which is now Gdansk, Poland
Julie tells the story of Upstanders who helped her mother's family survive
Julie Sherman
Julie Sherman is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Helen Sherman, born Chaya Scharfer. Julie tells the story of her mother, one of eight children born to an orthodox Hasidic German family. The family lived in Danzig, which is now Gdańsk Poland, and owned the largest kosher hotel on the Baltic Sea. They were fortunate to have connections, resources and luck which enabled them to escape the Nazis between 1938 and 1940. The family members found refuge in Palestine, Shanghai, England and the U.S. In 1939, Julie’s mother, who was nine years old, and her sister, who was seven years old, were sent on a Kindertransport to England. In England they lived with relatives who mistreated them and were later moved to a hostel.
After the war, all eight siblings and both parents were reunited in Brooklyn, NY. There were many “upstanders”, ordinary people, Jews, non Jews, and even Nazis who helped her mother’s family survive. Theirs is a story of miracles, but also of great loss and trauma. Julie tells the family story and talks about the lingering effects of their experiences and what it was like to grow up as a child of a survivor.
Julie lives in Mt Kisco with her husband, Bruce Jakubovitz. They have three grown sons, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren. Julie graduated from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is a co-principal of So Mulch More, a landscape architecture design firm.
She is a member of Generations Forward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center in White Plains, NY.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Israeli born and raised
Daughter of two Holocaust Survivors
Shares the story of her mother Paula
An Artist-Sculptor, also expressing Holocaust in Contemporary Art
Lea Weinberg
Lea Weinberg is a second generation to Holocaust Survivors Paula and Mordechai Fried.
Her father’s Journey from Transylvania to Auschwitz, to more concentration camps, death march and liberation from Dachau. After the war, luckily found his 3 sisters who also survived. He came to Israel on a boat that was sent to Cyprus by British soldiers. Later, joined the Israeli army, was wounded in a battle near Jerusalem; at the hospital, met Paula, who was a nurse.
Her mother Paula (Gelb) was sent from Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she lost her parents and siblings, worked, at 18, as a Clothes’ Sorter near the crematoria. After the war came to Israel to build a new life and a new family; bringing to life the memory of her lost family through the nostalgic and vivid stories she told.
Lea speaks about her optimistic mother inspired by the special story about 8 photographs of her family which she came upon in Auschwitz-Birkenau and how she was hiding them.
Lea is preserving the stories she has personally heard in a few different ways:
- A talk about her mother’s story; A poem she wrote: “Memories in the Air”
- As an Artist Sculptor Lea is also expressing Holocaust in Contemporary Art through an ongoing project installation MOTHER-SURVIVOR a woman’s Personal Story intertwined with the Shoah History
Lea was born and raised in Israel; since 2005 lives with her husband and younger daughter in White Plains, NY, their older son and daughter lives in Israel.
Lea is a member of GenerationsForward a group of second and third generations individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Debby's parents are Holocaust survivors
Tells the story of her father's war time experiences, suriving the Riga Ghetto and Kaiserwald Concentration Camp
Debby Ziering
Debby is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her father Herman was born in Kassel Germany and was sent to the Riga Ghetto in Latvia. Herman was a teen when the Nazis invaded Germany. He survived the Riga Ghetto and Kaiserwald, concentration camp. Debby recounts her father’s story from the perspective of a young teen and discusses how her father’s story has impacted her life.
The Ziering family story as told by Debby is recounted in the Herman and Lea Ziering Archive Center at the Manhattan College Genocide and Multicultural Center in Riverdale, New York. In addition to books and other resources for research, the archive includes artifacts from Herman’s work bringing Nazi war criminals to justice after the war.
Debby co-teaches 8th grade students at SAR Academy in the Names Not Numbers© Program, an oral history film project which enables students to interview Holocaust survivors to learn about World War II and create a documentary. She is also a Facilitator for Safekeeping Stories.
Debby lives in Greenwich CT with her husband. She earned her masters degree in speech-language pathology.
Debby is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation speakers sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York. She has presented and spoken with students from 4th-12th grade at public and private schools, including: the Yonkers school system, Eagle Hill (upper and lower school), SAR Academy, Atmosphere Charter School in the Bronx, the Mary Louise Academy in Queens, college students at Iona College and Hebrew University in Israel, and synagogues including Beth El of New Rochelle and the Larchmont Temple. She has also spoken about antisemitism at a Westchester rally in Scarsdale NY.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE
Son of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust
Inspirational presentation for students as well as adults
William Zimmerman
William is the son of Holocaust survivors Frieda and Morris Zimmerman, Polish Jews from small towns who survived work camps, ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust. His mother was from Krakow, and his father grew up in Bedzin. William tells the story of their perilous journey that culminated in 1950 with their arrival in America. He also describes his pilgrimage to Poland with his parents and other family members in 2005. A second trip, sponsored by the HHREC in 2022, included a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp 77 years after his father’s liberation from the camp. William has been an educator for over 50 years. Following 36 years in the K-12 domain, he has continued his career at Pace University where he supervises Education majors in their fieldwork placements and at SUNY Purchase where he teaches undergraduate math courses. He also works as a Gallery Educator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan where he conducts student-oriented tours of the exhibits “The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do” and "Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark."
William is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.
To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE.