Reggie Guigui
Reggie Guigui was born in Germany, the daughter of survivors from Poland and Czechoslovakia. She grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, a teacher by profession, and started lecturing when she realized some students didn’t know what the Holocaust was. She has been involved in Holocaust education in Cincinnati before moving to Charleston and works with the
Shirley Mills
Shirley Mills is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Born in a refugee camp in Italy, raised in Israel. Shirley came to the States as a young teen. Her parents’ story is of pain, hope, and amazing courage and resilience. In their memory, she wants to share their story because humanity has not learned from
Hershel Greenblat
In present-day Ukraine, Hershel Greenblat was born with the name Grischa Grinblat in 1941. Prior to World War II, his mother was born in Kremenchug, Ukraine and his father was born in Lublin, Poland. They married in a synagogue shortly after the beginning of World War II, and (Grisha) Greenblat was born a year later.
Henry Fenichel
Henry Fenichel was born in The Netherlands in 1938. Shortly after the Nazi rise to power, sensing the danger, Henry’s parents sent a request for their relocation to Palestine where his father’s family resided. After Henry’s father was deported and murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz, Henry and his mother still had no response to
Justin and Sonja “Sunny” Kirschner
This week’s Holocaust Speaker Series will feature two speakers, 3rd Generation Holocaust Survivor Justin Kirschner, and his grandmother, Holocaust Survivor Sonja “Sunny” Kirschner, in conversation about her experiences during the Holocaust and the lasting legacy of this history. Sunny was born in Schwarzenborn, Germany in 1935. Her father, Siegfried was arrested on Kristallnacht, and spent
Lisa Macvittie
Lisa was born Liselotte (Lilly) to Kurt and Elisabeth Isaak in Berlin in 1932. Kurt was Jewish and Ruth was Lutheran. Lisa had been stricken with polio as a child and was in a body cast when the family decided to make their escape to Shanghai. They rigged up a stroller and made their way
Sarah Schneider
In the fall of 1941, two sisters, Helli and Rita Buchholz, arrived in Cincinnati. Originally from Vienna, Austria, the girls’ parents made the difficult decision to send them on a children’s transport to France in March 1939. In France, the girls lived at the Rothschild estate Château de la Guette with about 130 other Jewish
Joel Nahari
Joel’s parents both escaped the Holocaust as children. His mother, Ruth Dresel was born in Germany in 1926, and experienced anti-Semitism before escaping to Israel with her family at age 9. Eight members of her family were murdered in the Holocaust, and the few known survivors escaped to Israel, China, England, Chile, and the United
Andrea Herzig
Andrea Angell Herzig is a retired educator and author of “Courage in the Little Suitcase.” The novel, written for middle grades, is historical fiction that centers on her distant relative, Mordechai Anielewicz, leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At 20 years old, Anielewicz led 300 to 500 young men and women between the ages of
Cheryl Hecht
Cheryl Hecht tells the story of her father, David Hochstein, a Holocaust survivor from Cologne, Germany. Rescued by a Kindertransport, he was taken to London when he was 15. The Kindertransport movement was unique in that people of many religions came together to rescue 10,000 mostly Jewish children, bringing them to Great Britain. David’s story
Conrad Weiner
Conrad was born in Storojinetz, a small town in Bucovina, once part of Romania (currently part of the Ukraine) in 1938. After a brief occupation of the region by the Soviet Army in 1941, Romanian authorities in alliance with German forces, started a massive campaign of annihilation and deportation of Jews to Transnistria. They were
Mark Heiman
Mark tells the story of his family, originally from Demmelsdorf, a small farming community in Bavaria. Mark’s grandfather, Karl, served in the German army in WWI. He later moved to Munich where he established a textile business and raised a family. Mark’s father, Paul, was 12 years old when he witnessed his Jewish school being
