Zoom assembly sparks daylong outpouring of family stories, inspiration for Yom Hashoah

This bracelet belonged to my paternal great grandmother, Eva. She immigrated to America alone as a thirteen year old girl and was committed to creating a new life of beauty, hard work, and dedication. I wear her bracelet everyday as a reminder of the life she built and the values she held.

This picture was taken in May of 2004. The woman sitting in the middle is my great grandmother Leah Henson, who survived the Holocaust. I am named after her daughter Ruth, who was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany and unfortunately died when my dad was a teenager. My Bubbe Leah died when I was two years old. I feel so lucky to have been able to meet and spend time with my amazing grandmother...

My grandfather, Jerome Field, was recruited out of college to design and engineer bombers during World War II. He was a pilot for the last few months of the war, and did his part in defeating the Axis and liberating his brothers and sisters in Europe. At his funeral, we were given this flag that covered his casket to remember him and his service.

This is a photo of my Zadie’s hats that are hung up in my dining room. These are really special to my family because my Zadie was such a light in everyone’s life. Even though I was never able to meet him I have heard so many amazing things about his life and his personality. He was kind, respectful, and just simply happy. Having these hats in our dining room reminds my family every day that he...

My grandfather went through many different labor camps during the holocaust. After making it out he traveled to Canada and worked hard to make a living there. Eventually, he bought this watch. It has since been handed down through my family. From it, I remember how strong-willed and determined to succeed he was. ...

This was my great grandmothers locket. Her name was Anna, I was named after her. She was not physically in the holocaust but she lived in that time. My mom gave this to me a few years ago, I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do with it or why she gave it to me at all. I didn’t know my great grandmother and had felt no real connection to her at that time. Over the years I have tried to ...

My maternal great grandmother, Klara Birnberg and her siblings, found an abandoned Torah right after the war on their way back to their hometown, Czernowitz. In 1947, they immigrated to Israel and their ship was diverted to a DP camp in Cyprus where my grandmother was born. They were later allowed to immigrate and moved to Rishon Letzion. They kept the Torah with them the whole time. This picture...

The picture displays my great grandfather, Emil Katz who was in both the Hungrian labor battalions and the Wu Tang Clan. He was born in 1917 in rural Eastern Hungary in the town of Nyíracsád. He went to a traditional cheder and then yeshiva before becoming a printer. It was to his great regret that he was a weak learner in his youth, but he made up for that by completing two cycles of daf yomi. In...

These are my Great-Great-Grandmother Sara's Silver Candlesticks. Sara and her mother had to escape Poland and their home within a few minutes of an SS Soldier coming to their door and warning them to run and not come back. All they took was the clothing on their backs, and Sara’s mother grabbed her mothers’ silver candlesticks which she had used every Shabbat before her death. The candlesticks...

My family on both sides came to America before World War II, so we were spared the destruction of the Holocaust. This is a photo of my great grandfather, Manes Tuller, outside his general goods/grocery store on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, NY. You can see from the phot that he was proud of the store. For many immigrant Jews in America, it was quite an achievement to own a store. But the Depression...

This is a photo of my family from Belostok, Poland, circa 1910.  My Great Grandpa Yuliy Skurnik is third from the right in the second row.  My Great Grandma Revekka is seated first from the right.   Yuliy was a successful businessman whose manufacturing facility and business were moved to Moscow in 1912, invited by the administration of the Tsar.  Yuliy and Revekka's family moved...

Although I don’t have any direct family members that were impacted by the Shoah, my family has done its part in ensuring that the horrors of the Shoah will never be forgotten and will never happen again. This is a picture of my aunt and my dad in Auschwitz, both leading the Builders of Jewish Education’s March of the Living trip held annually for high school seniors (separate from Shalhevet’s...

This is a hat that my great-grandfather made. He escaped the war and went to Canada, where he became a furrier. Although he escaped, his family stayed behind because his father, a Chasidic rabbi, believed that G-d would save the family. His brothers made many fake passports for other jews and helped a lot of people escape Poland.

My father, Richard Cohen of blessed memory, was a U.S. Air Force navigator during World War II, and when the war was over he went to work for the Joint Distribution Committee helping Jewish refugees coming out of hiding in the forests and elsewhere throughout Europe. Most of the survivors went first to refugee camps called Displaced Persons camps, or DP camps, and sometimes my father took newspaper...

This 100 year-old tea cup belonged to my great grandmother, who handed it down to my grandmother in Austria, and then to my mother. My mother went to British-controlled Israel when she was 12 with the help of the Zionist underground on a ma'apilim ship, but was sent to Cyprus by the British. Six months later, my mother returned to Israel and made aliya. The tea cup was given to my mother by my g...

This is a video of my grandfather, Joe Perl, sharing one of his miraculous experiences during the time of the Holocaust. He never misses an opportunity to share his stories and inspire people. My grandfather's messages of resilience and faith have always been meaningful to my family.

This is my grandmothers ring that my grandfather gave her and has been passed down since then. This ring is meaningful to me since it is one of the connections I have to my grandmother since I’ve never gotten to meet her but I am named after her.

My great great grandfather was the only Jew who worked in this dairy farm in Lithuania before the Holocaust. His non Jewish friend who worked with him told him that him and his family had to leave because people were planning to kill the Jews the next day, and were going to kill his family specifically. My great grandma was 19 and she and her sisters sewed these silver cups into the hems of their ski...

I never really knew anything about my paternal grandmother or her legacy as she passed away when my dad was two years old and is a sensitive topic for my family to discuss. Today was actually the first time I ever got to see a sentimental artifact from my dad’s family, once I asked my mom if we had any. This is a music box keychain circa 1960, containing a locket that my dads mother always carried...

An artifact of my family is an old kiddush cup. It has been passed down from generations, starting with my great great great great great great grandfather, Julius Rosenfelder. The kiddush cup is passed down to each first grandchild. My father has the kiddush cup at this current time. It is important to me because it tells the history of my family and from which they came. It has been passed from generation...

The picture is of the passport my great grandmother Gretl used to get out of Germany in 1934. She was thirteen years old when she left Germany by herself on a boat. Her Uncle Jack in Green Bay, Wisconsin brought fifteen family members over from Germany to live in his house. My great grandmother did not speak English and had never met her uncle until then. He saved that entire part of the family. People...

One of the ways I personally connect to the Shoah is through my mother’s story of how her family took in Kindertransport refugees in 1938, including Chana with whom the family never lost contact. The photographs are of my mother (on the left) and Chana (on the right). Chana's parents did not survive the Shoah and, after the War, she was determined to go to [British Mandate] Palestine as her older...

This is the Hungarian version and English version of the diary my great grandfather, Frank, wrote. He gave it to my grandfather, Andy, and to my mom, Molly. This is his whole life's story from before, during, and after the Holocaust. It is such a special thing in my family and will be passed on, through generations.      ...

This is a painting of my grandfather (my papoo) and painted by my grandmother (nonee).  Both were first-generation Americans when their families fled anti-semitism.  My grandmother's family left Russia at the turn of the 20th century to escape the progroms and my grandfather's family left Turkey during WWI as the Ottomans drafted all Jewish young men and used them on the front lines as cannon...

This is an opal ring that used to belong to my Great-Grandmother, Elizabeth Spitz. Although she passed away when I was younger, I would like to think that I had a special bond with her because of what she gave me. Not only did she give me this ring, but she also gave me the gift of knowing her story when I was old enough to understand. With both of these gifts, I carry a responsibility, because...

My family is fortunate enough to have not endured the holocaust. However, they experienced their own hardships. My father's family came from Iraq and endured terrible anti-semitism. Many family members one of whom named Mordechai Ben Porat had a big role in operation Ezra VeNachamia (took Iraqi jews to Israel). Mordechai also went back to Iraq after the operation as a spy and was the only spy that...

This was my great grandfather tucker’s scrap book from his college days. i just opened it for the first time and i could almost picture tucker sitting around with his friends joking about some of the stuff in here. the second photo is of a friend of my great grandfather and the caption reads “a football idol”. based on how my grandma was, i read it as sarcasm and it was probably the firs...

This is my grandfathers yellow star. He was forced to wear it in Germany. Whenever I see it, it is my reminder to stay strong through all the hard stuff. ...

This was my great-grandmother Magda’s siddur. She survived Theresienstadt concentration camp carrying her newborn daughter, my  grandmother. Magda’s husband, my great-grandfather, perished at Dachau and never got the chance to meet his daughter. The siddur is written in Hungarian as Magda was born in Hungary, and immigrated to Chile after the war. I did not know of this artifact until...

This is a photo of my great-grandmother right after WWII on the day of her wedding. She was only 17 here and getting married. This picture was taken in Germany but there’s an American flag in the background because she was being married by an American chaplain. This picture has always fascinated me because she was the same age as I am now, but she was getting married and starting a new life of total...

This is my grandfather, Ephraim Frankel's Megillah. (We used it at Shalhevet the last two years) Born in Germany, raised in Palestine (Before 1948) where his family escaped the Nazis, my gradfather eventually spent his adult life in America. Dr. Ephraim Frankel was a learned man, a scholar, and an old-school educator. He demanded a lot from his students, children and grandchildren, and had no prob...

The item that I have chosen is my great great grandfather’s pocket watch from 1907. Even though he was in America and didn’t go through the Holocaust I still find his watch very meaningful. He received this as a wedding gift from a good friend who unfortunately we don’t have records or information on. At that time this watch was worth ten dollars which in those days was pretty expensive and w...

Here's my great-grandfather (my father’s grandfather),Rabbi Chaim Uri Etner's, business card.  He was born in Lithuania and escaped to London with his wife and three children just as the war began and ended up a pulpit rabbi in California. My great-grandfather took in my father after my grandfather died at the age of 28. He gave up his pulpit job in California to move to New York, where he...

I am very lucky that both of my parents family came to America before the Holocaust. These pictures are of my paternal Great Great Great Grandfather's (Rav Chaim Soloveitchik) gemara's that have been passed down from generation to generation, all learning from them. They are unfortunately not in the best shape anymore and are very hard to learn out of but they still hold tremendous value a...

Fortunately neither side of my family was in Europe at the time of the Holocaust. My mother’s side was in Iran and my father’s side was already in America. This is my great-grandmother Gloria in the 20’s. She was an incredible dancer and performed on Broadway as a teenager. The picture with the three girls is my great grandma, great aunt, and grandma performing for wounded World War II soldiers in a ho...

Here are the siddurim of my mother-in-law, grandmother and grandmother-in-law. We have daughters named after them and are saving each siddur to be used by her namesake. I believe strongly in the power of names and the connections they foster.

Last year, I made this painting to remind myself of who I am at the core. A Proud Jew. That in spite of all our enemies we are still here. I chose to paint Jews from different backgrounds at the Kotel to show that we are united!!!!   

After his bar mitzvah, our great-grandfather Yehoshua Heschel Brook left his town of Kelme, Lithuania, to study in the Yeshivas of Telz, Slabodka, and - eventually - Hebron. After surviving the Hebron Riots in 1929, he alone immigrated to South Africa, a faraway land. Being on the other side of the world, he was spared from the Nazis; however, his town and extended family were not as fortunate. T...

This is the silverware of my great grandmother who I was named after and is one of the few things my immediate family has of hers. She was not a Holocaust survivor, being born and raised in America, but she was a true inspiration and a great woman. Using her silverware on high holidays is a way for my family to remember her and to feel her presence.

It’s been touching to read all of today’s posts. And thank you, Ilana, and the others, who made today so powerful. I'm choosing to share the memory of my late mother-in-law. Maria Susana Ceballos was born in 1950 - she would've been 70 just two months ago. She passed from a sudden heart-attack 17 years ago, when my wife, Cristina, was only 23 years-old. Cristina and I have known one another since...