Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Memory Keepers Story Hour Series: Maddy Israel and Esther Loewenthal to Speak

Please join the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center from the safety and comfort of your own home on March 9 at 7 p.m. to hear Maddy Israel and Esther Loewenthal speak of their grandparents’ Holocaust story.

Life was not easy for Maddy Israel’s grandfather, Ben. Growing up in Romania, Ben Israel began experiencing antisemitism in the 1930s. He remembers, when German soldiers barged into his home, intent on taking away his father. His mother whispered to him to cry, but he couldn’t. He didn’t understand why. For years, Ben blamed himself and thought that, if he cried, his father would not have gone away.

Despite all that he endured, he remained positive and always tried to see the good in people.

Maddy wrote her grandfather’s story as part of the Safekeeping Stories Program. She won a Silver Key as part of the Scholastic Writing Awards Program.

Esther Loewenthal is the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Kurt and Gretl Lowenthal. She tells the story of Kurt, who lived in Munich. He escaped the detention cap at Dachau, where he was taken along with 30,000 Jewish men, the day after Kristallnacht. With the help of his wife, Gretl, both of them obtained visas to flee Germany.

As third generation Holocaust survivors, Maddy and Esther feel it is important to tell their grandparents’ story to insure that no one forgets the Holocaust.

For more information: Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrecny.org

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