These days, Livia Horovitz worries more about her finances than she has in years, according to her daughter, Debbie Ryan.

Julie Menin, the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council, is very aware of her family’s experiences during the Holocaust.

Every Tuesday night in Manhattan, a circle of chairs was arranged to hold a universe of intersecting worlds. Around the table sat a remarkably diverse group: four older adults born into the thick of the Second World War, and ten New York City high school students hailing from a kaleidoscope of backgrounds; Black, BIPOC, Latino, German, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, and non-Jewish.

New York is home to one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in the world. For decades, this city has been a place where survivors rebuilt their lives: raising families, building communities, and contributing to the fabric of a place that offered refuge and possibility after unimaginable loss, but we are now at a turning point.