HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR PROGRAM
Holocaust Education History
Selfhelp is dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and raising awareness of the survivor population still in need today. Through creative educational initiatives, we’re ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust will not be forgotten by generations to come. Help us educate future generations about the Holocaust.
STORIES FROM HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
Hedy, Artist, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Born in Vienna, Austria in August 1929, Hedy cherished music and simple joys in her childhood. Her life changed with the rise of the Nazi regime. A supportive teacher nurtured her love for drawing, but due to increasing fear, her parents halted her education.
In 1938, Hedy’s family escaped to Panama, eventually reaching the United States in 1947. She studied at the American Academy of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1948, she married Eric, a fellow Holocaust survivor, and they became U.S. citizens.
Hedy and Eric moved to New York, where she studied under Isaac Soyer at the Art Student’s League. Her artwork is featured in various collections, including The Museum of the City of New York. She also contributed to art education through teaching and volunteering.
Diana, Artist, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Diana, a painter born in Vienna, emigrated to the U.S. in 1940. She began focusing on Holocaust themes in her art in 1989. During the start of World War II, Diana’s family lived in Ireland before moving to the U.S. from Southampton, where she formed some of her earliest memories.
After the Holocaust, Diana’s parents found two of her cousins. Her uncle was murdered in Auschwitz, while her aunt and cousins survived Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen camps. They were later sent to Sweden before emigrating to the U.S.
Diana’s artwork has been showcased in numerous exhibitions across the U.S. and Europe, earning her several grants and awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship. She has also taught studio art at institutions like Queens College and Pratt Institute.
Henry, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Henry was born in Augsburg, Germany, in December of 1927. This recording was made just a few weeks before Henry celebrated his 96th birthday.
In this video, Henry told how his family moved from the country to the city of Augsburg, how he experienced antisemitism and hate from his very first day of school in 1934, how he and his parents escaped to England in 1939.
The cruel war damaged everything. Henry and his family were aided financially by an uncle living in the United States, where they later immigrated. He is dedicated to spreading awareness about the horrors of the Holocaust and preserving the memories of his family. Henry joined the Lifelines project, sharing his experiences in its sixth volume. He later educated Augsburg via a museum exhibit, a theater show, and high school workshops.
Here is Henry’s advice for younger generations: To be aware of what is going on in the world. He also feels that it is important to remember that we are all human beings and to treat everyone with respect.
Liane, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Liane was born in Czernowitz (now in Ukraine) in the summer of 1934.
In March of 1944, Russian troops were about to enter Czernowitz and Liane’s parents and other Jewish families decided that to avoid deportation to Siberia, they should flee to Romania. Liane and her parents took the last train before the Russian occupation to Bucharest, leaving their three houses back in Czernowitz. They fled with one suitcase and her father’s medical diploma.
To read Liane’s memoir, please click on the Flipbook below.
Tibor, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Tibor was born in Budapest, Hungary in the summer of 1934.
Tibor’s father, Mor, came from an Orthodox family and had three other brothers. Tibor’s mother was not very religious on her own. Tibor’s mother, Ilona, was born and raised in the countryside of Hungary, and travelled back and forth to Vienna.
Before Tibor’s parents got married, Mor had been considered Polish living in Hungary. Before he proposed, Ilona made one contingency… that Mor and his brother’s would become Hungarian citizens.
By doing this, it had saved his parents and ultimately, Tibor’s life.
Watch Tibor’s Full Story on YouTube
Margareta, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Margareta was born in Gerta Mica, Romania in 1938.
According to the 1930 Romanian Census, approximately four precent of the people identified themselves as being Jewish. She lived with her mother, father, and older sister.
When Margreta was growing up, her and her family, including her grandparents who lived nearby, were forced to wear Yellow Stars. Margareta didn’t understand why until she got older. Her father and uncle were taken to Budapest and put in jail. Margareta’s father, Samuel, wrote to her mother, Ilona, telling her that the Nazi forces had taken him from Hungary to Germany.
After Margareta’s father wrote to her mother, Nazi forces began to collect the Jewish people in smaller towns and bring them to Satu Mare, where they were holding people in temples.
Watch Margareta’s Full Story on YouTube
Sonia, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Born in Poland, Sonia was forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto until the middle of 1943, when she was taken to Madjanek and shortly after to Auschwitz.
In January, 1945, she was sent to Ravensbrück in Austria for a short period until she was sent to Malchow until February, 1945. She was on a death march and liberated in April of 1945 by American soldiers in Mittenwald, Germany. Sonia met her husband in Mittenwald, where they had their son and opened the first Jewish business after the war.
They settled in Buffalo, New York, where Sonia had a successful catering business. Sonia is also very proud of her volunteer involvement with Hadassah, Amit and State of Israel Bonds.
Watch Sonia’s Full Story on YouTube
Anne, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1925. Her father’s business was seized by the Nazis, forcing Anne to attend a Jewish school. Her friends were forbidden from associating with her.
During Kristallnacht in 1938, her father was taken to Buchenwald, and their home was threatened. A family friend sought refuge with them, but later died by suicide. Anne’s mother managed to secure her father’s release by presenting his World War I Iron Cross, but he had to leave Germany. He went to England in 1939, but Anne’s mother and brother perished in Auschwitz. Anne escaped on the last Kindertransport to England in August 1939, reuniting with her father before moving to the U.S. in 1940.
In the U.S., Anne lived with relatives in New Jersey while her father was in New York. During the war, Anne and her uncle were suspected of espionage and questioned by the FBI. After the war, Anne married Sy and had a son, Alan, who became a lawyer. Alan and his family live in New York, while Anne’s grandchildren are in California. Her family brings her great joy, and she cherishes these memories.
Watch Anne’s Full Story on YouTube
Robert, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Robert was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1938. In 1942, his father was conscripted into the Hungarian army and in 1943 his family apartment was seized. In 1944 he, his mother and grandmother were rounded up with all the other Jews in Budapest and brought to the town square.
Robert narrowly escaped being separated from his mother and grandmother, and the three of them were relocated to the ghetto where they stayed, under terrible conditions, until they were liberated by the Russians in 1945. After the war, Robert lived with his mother and grandmother. They often spent time with his four aunts who were the only other members of their family to survive. His father never returned.
In 1956, at the age of 18, Robert and some friends were able to escape Communist Hungary and cross the border into Austria. On December 24, 1956 he finally boarded a ship which would bring him to the United States. He settled in New York City and met his life-long partner, Jimmy. They lived together for 55 years until Jimmy passed away in 2017.
Watch Robert’sFull Story on YouTube
Henry, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client
Henry was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1924. During Kristallnacht, his father was arrested and sent to Buchenwald but was released due to his status as a WWI hero. The Nazis seized his father’s business, giving it to a Nazi employee. The family remained in Leipzig as forced laborers until they were deported to Theresienstadt in 1943, under the guise of an “honor” for his father’s military service.
In Theresienstadt, Henry collected clothing from the deceased and prepared the camp for a Red Cross inspection. Later, his family was sent to Auschwitz, where his parents and sister were killed. Henry was moved to Friedland, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, and worked in a factory until liberated by Russian troops in 1945. After the war, he discovered his family’s fate.
Henry and his wife were smuggled into US-occupied Germany and immigrated to the USA in 1949. He built a career in New York City’s fashion industry, starting as a messenger and rising through the ranks.
Watch Henry’s Full Story on YouTube
Episode 1: Meet Ruth Zimbler
Ruth Zimbler is a 95-year old Austrian Kindertransport survivor. Ruth was only ten years old when Kristallnacht occurred in 1938. During Kristallnacht, she and her younger brother, Walter, witnessed the destruction of the largest synagogue in Vienna from their apartment. Later, her family was locked out of their apartment and her father was sent to Dachau. Concerned about the safety of his children, Ruth’s father secured places for them on the first Kindertransport, a series of rescue efforts that brought thousands of refugee Jewish children out of German-occupied Europe.
Episode 2: Meet Jill Chase
At just six months old, Jill Chase was forced into hiding with Catholic nuns as a safety measure by her family. Jill recounts the horrors of being “thrown out of her home and forced to live in hiding.” Jill stayed in a convent with this group of Catholic nuns for three years. In 1944, a Jewish chaplain from England retrieved Jill to bring her back to her family and home.
HEARTS: HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL ARTS
Episode 1: Meet Fred Terna
HEARTS is a virtual exhibition featuring artwork created by Holocaust survivors. Through their art, survivors contemplate their Holocaust memories and process the emotions they carry. By viewing these works, we’re brought closer to the history of the Holocaust.
View the HEARTS virtual exhibition
* To view the virtual gallery, please use Google Chrome or Firefox. Internet Explorer is not supported.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS STOP SHARING THEIR STORIES
HELP EDUCATE FUTURE GENERATIONS
Selfhelp is dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and raising awareness of the survivor population still in need today. Through creative educational initiatives, we’re ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust will not be forgotten by generations to come. Help us educate future generations about the Holocaust.
