Memory Keepers Story Hour: Naomi Koller, Generations Forward

Naomi Koller is the daughter and grandchild of Holocaust survivors. Naomi’s paternal grandparents, Anna and Israel Koller lived a very comfortable life in the Carpathian Mountain region of Romania in the town of Viznitz. Their two young sons included Naomi’s father, Mark and his brother, Dov.  With Israel Koller’s parents and siblings nearby, life was wonderful with music, friends, family and education marking the cornerstones of their life. This is the of heroic story of Naomi’s grandmother, Anna Koller and it is a story of valor and family.

At the very start of the Nazi occupation of Viznitz, Anna devised a daring plan to save the family from death. Throughout the Koller family’s deportation to the ghetto, march through the mountains to the labor camp known as Transnistria; also known as the Forgotten Cemetery, their liberation and subsequent journey to Israel, and Mark’s immigration to New York. Anna’s story is one of incredible courage and heroism.

The centerpiece of the story is Anna’s beloved piano.  It was this piano which returns as a character in the journey and provides the unlikely escape for Anna, Israel, Dov and Mark.