NEW LIVES: Stories of Survival
and Resilience _____________ Why do we remember the stories of the Holocaust? The Holocaust (or Shoah) was a watershed moment in world history that altered how the world understood what intolerance and hate truly meant. In the span of just a few years, one of the world’s most “civilized” nations and its collaborators systematically murdered six million Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe. In addition to targeting Jewish people, the Nazis and their collaborators also directed their attacks to any groups deemed ‘undesirable’ for inclusion in the Nazi’s vision of an extreme nationalistic state due to their race, politics, ideologies, or behaviors.

We are all capable of great good and great evil, but it is the choices we make that will define our legacies. Even in the darkness of the Holocaust years, there were many who chose to courageously respond with virtue. On this site are the stories of individuals whose choices were inspired by resilience, rescue, resourcefulness, and resistance.

Those who survived the Holocaust carried not only their grief with them as an inheritance for the next generation, but also their hope for a better tomorrow. Coupled with that hope is a challenge to all of us to undertake the hard work needed to realize that “better tomorrow.” To ensure this never happens again, we must accept those different from us, stand up against injustice and hate, and learn from the past.
Background image: Hands of Norbert Friedman z"l, Poland, and his grandson Gavin Friedman. Photographed by Dr. Julie Zweig, mother of Gavin and daughter-in-law to Norbert Friedman.

The KL on Mr. Friedman’s arm stands for Konzentrationslager, German for ‘concentration camp’ and was tattooed upon his arrival.