SPEAKERS BUREAU
Elevate your school's educational experience with HMTC's on-site presenters at your school who deliver impactful Holocaust and tolerance testimonies in both large assembly programs and intimate classroom settings. Our survivors and second-generation speakers offer compelling narratives that resonate across various academic departments, including Social Studies, English, Social Sciences, and Humanities. Enrich your students' learning journey with HMTC's insightful presentations that promote empathy, understanding, and tolerance.
Holocaust Survivors
Born in 1937 in Varenz, Poland, the fear of the Nazis forced Alex Konstantyn’s family out of their home in 1941, seeking refuge in the countryside. Alex’s father was poisoned by a farmer, and the burden of survival was then assumed by his mother, as she had to contend with two powerful enemies: the Nazis and hunger. Following the Israeli army, Alex has dedicated his life to Jewish education.
Born in Nantes, France in 1939, Eva Kessner lived the early years of her life on the run. Eva's family was living in Nazi-occupied France when they quickly had to seek safety in neutral Switzerland during the height of the Final Solution. Her family spent four years in numerous refugee camps before coming to the United States in 1946. Eva dedicates her time to sharing those uncertain years of her life with others.
When World War II broke out, Manny Korman and his family were forced from their home in Germany, moving across different places before Manny and his brother were eventually separated from their mother and father through the Kindertransport. They lived in the English countryside, hiding their identities amongst the gentile population while both of his parents experienced their own struggles for survival on the European mainland.
Rosalie Lebovic Simon was born in 1931 in a small village in Czechoslovakia. She was 11 years old when she was expelled from school, and 12 when her family was removed from their home and deported to Auschwitz. She and her five sisters miraculously survived numerous brushes with death and were liberated by the American army just a short distance from the ditches intended to be her final resting place.
Arnold Newfield was born in Westerbork transit camp in Holland after his family left Vienna years prior. Arnie’s father was sent to Buchenwald from Westerbork, never speaking with Arnie about his experiences there. Arnie along with his two brothers and mother were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they were liberated.
Mireille Taub was born in Paris, France and was lucky enough to take the last train out before France surrendered to the Nazis. Her train was bombed, forcing her and her family to walk to safety, traveling across the Pyrenees and passing through Spain and Portugal, arriving in New York on August 11, 1940. Mireille also delivers testimony on behalf of her late husband, David Taub.
Leo Ullman was just three years old when World War II began. His parents made the ultimate sacrifice in giving him up to live in hiding with a policeman and his wife. For 797 days, Ullman was protected by his Dutch family, and when he was finally reunited with his biological mother and father he didn’t recognize them. Ullman is a Harvard graduate and has proudly completed 145 triathlons.
Born in 1935 in Belgium, survivor Gilda Zirinsky can still remember the sounds of enemy planes flying overhead as she sat, terrified in her own home. Gilda's family was forced to leave behind the lives that they had worked to create and grown to love, as they desperately tried to seek refuge wherever they would be taken in. Eventually, Gilda's family found a safe haven in Morocco, before later coming to America.
Born in Skala, Poland in 1936, Rene Zuroff and her family miraculously survived the Holocaust, hiding in woods, cellars, attics and even in underground storage holes meant for potatoes. In 1944, Zuroff and her family were finally rescued by Russian soldiers and lived behind the Iron Curtain for the remainder of the war, at which time she moved to Vienna, where she resided until her emigration in 1950.
2G - Children of Survivors
Evelyn Altenberg’s parents were both born in Berlin, Germany and together eventually came to the U.S. after World War II. Their journeys, however, took very different routes. Her father found refuge in the Dominican Republic. Her mother spent three years in nine concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Evelyn’s aunt, maternal grandparents, and other family members perished in the Holocaust. Evelyn uses her mother’s words, through excerpts from videos and letters, to help tell her parents’ story.
Debbie Cohn shares the stories of her parents, Ilse and Walter Loeb. At the age of 13, Ilse had to leave Vienna by herself for the Netherlands, ultimately going into hiding for three years. She never saw her parents again. Walter was arrested in Germany during the violent attacks of Kristallnacht and was sent to Dachau Concentration Camp. After being released, he eventually arrived in the U.S. in 1940, after which he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in WWII.
Dr. Bernie Furshpan tells the harrowing story of how his father, age 10, the only survivor of a family of eight, managed to live in a forest in Poland for three years as the Nazis entered his little village, Ludvipol. Poland. He is also available for a presentation on genocides that have occurred since The Holocaust.
Fred Gross shares the remarkable survival story of his parents Agi and Andi Grosz who lived in Beregszaz, a small town in Czechoslovakia. Although diverse, the town's people tolerated and respected each other. Agi and Andi fell in love and married in 1935 and in 1938 they were quickly engulfed in the spread of Nazi persecution. The story of Fred's parents is one of survival, resistance, and courage, and the renewal of life.
Susan Herschenhous is a retired teacher and a long-time docent at HMTC. Her parents, Victoria and Leopold Rennert, were Holocaust survivors from Vienna, Austria. At 24 years old, their lives were upended when the Nazis marched across the German-Austrian border and annexed Austria. Susan’s parents' story is one of fear and danger under the Nazis, escaping to build a new life and the immense responsibility of trying to save the rest of their family.
Following the brutal massacre of her entire family, Felice Katz's mother, Ethel Katz, survived the Holocaust in hiding in her hometown of Buczacz. Trapped behind a false wall in her own home while it was occupied by Nazi soldiers, Ethel nearly died from starvation and dehydration as she waited for liberation. The Soviet army liberated Ethel and Buczacz in July 1944, with fewer than 100 Jews in the town surviving.
Hear Hana Keshet’s harrowing account of her father's survival in the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Arie Leib Weisbrot z'l, arrived at the camp at the tender age of 18 and was able to secretly hide his Jewish prayer book (siddur) during his stay. Despite being subjected to unimaginable horrors, Arie's unwavering faith and resilience allowed him to emerge as a survivor. Hana's story will take you on an emotional journey through her father's bravery and the power of hope in the darkest of times.
Dinah Kramer taught deaf and hard-of-hearing students in a NYC public high school for over 30 years. The daughter of two Holocaust survivors from Poland, Dinah became involved in Holocaust Education as a way to honor her parents’ legacy and to continue working with students after retiring. Dinah’s mother, Sara Gole, survived several forced labor camps and a death march. Sara's father, Elias Gole, survived several camps including Auschwitz and Mauthausen but hardly spoke about his experience.
Barbara Murray is the only child of Holocaust survivor parents who escaped to the Soviet Union from Poland in 1939. Her parents were sent to Siberian labor camps, where they lived until 1943 when they immigrated to Uzbekistan where Barbara was born in 1945. Shortly after the war ended, they were illegally transported in freight trains back to Lodz, Poland where they discovered that family members were gassed and cremated in Auschwitz and Treblinka.
Livia Rothman is a child of two Hungarian Holocaust survivors. She shares her parents’ experiences during the Holocaust; their tragic losses and struggles as they survived the Nazi atrocities. Their survival and struggles didn’t end with World War II; they lived under Soviet occupation in Hungary and were there during and after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 until they left in 1963.