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By : Zvi Szafran
This year, we are honoring Holocaust survivors Daniel (who also survived Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and the Death March) and Simona Szafran’s life and legacy. Their remarkable survival story serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable terror. Daniel, Simona, and their two children, Zvi and Drorit lived in Syracuse for more than 50 years, starting in 1959. Simona taught at the Hebrew Day School in Syracuse for most of those years.
Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, powerfully stated, “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”
His words highlight the crucial importance of remembering and honoring those who perished in the Holocaust, ensuring that such atrocities are never repeated, while also preserving the courage of survivors like Daniel and Simona to inspire future generations.
3GNY is an educational non-profit organization founded by grandchildren of Holocaust survivors ("3Gs"). As a living link, we preserve the legacies and the lessons of the Holocaust. Our mission is to educate diverse communities about the perils of intolerance and to provide a supportive forum for the descendants of survivors. Through our flagship initiative, the WEDU ("We Educate") program, 3Gs share their family Holocaust stories in classrooms and community settings, making history personal and inspiring students to combat antisemitism and hate with courage and compassion.
This list highlights a range of suggested titles for exploring the history and impact of the Holocaust, though it is by no means exhaustive.
Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope, My True Story
Authors: Irene Butter, John D. Bidwell, Kris Holloway
6th Grade - Adults
Irene Butter's memoir of her experiences before, during and after the Holocaust is not a recounting of misery and tragedy; rather it is the genuine story of a girl coming to terms with a terrible event and choosing to view herself as a survivor instead of a victim. When the Dutch police knock on their door, Irene and her family are forced to leave their home and board trains meant for cattle. They are taken to Nazi-controlled prison camps and finally to Bergen-Belsen, where Irene is a fellow prisoner with Anne Frank. With limited access to food, shelter, and warm clothing, Irene's family needs nothing short of a miracle to survive. Irene's memoir tells the story of her experiences as a young girl before, during, and after the Holocaust, highlighting how her family came to terms with the catastrophe and how she, over time, came to view herself as a survivor rather than a victim. Throughout the book, her first-person account celebrates the love and empathy that can persist even in the most inhumane conditions.
Irene's words send a poignant message against hate at a time when anti-Semitic, fascist and xenophobic movements around the globe are experiencing a resurgence. Irene, through her book, reminds us of the impact one person can have in choosing to follow the mantra, 'never a bystander' -- a phrase she adopted only 33 years ago, after her own voice was silenced by her cousins in the years after the Holocaust. Now, Irene Hasenberg Butter is a well-known inspirational speaker on her experiences during World War II.
The Most Precious of Cargoes
Author: Jean-Claude Grumberg
6th Grade - Adults
Once upon a time in an enormous forest there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife. Around them a war wages, and hunger is a constant companion. Yet every night, the woodcutter's wife prays for a child.
On a train crossing the forest, a Jewish father holds his twin children. His wife no longer has enough milk to feed them. In hopes of saving both their lives, he wraps his daughter in a shawl and gently throws her from the train.
While foraging for food, the woodcutter’s wife finds a bundle, a baby girl wrapped in a shawl. She knows that this little girl will be pursued, but she cannot ignore this gift: she will accept the precious cargo, and raise her as her own. . .
Set against the horrors of the Holocaust and told with a fairytale-like lyricism, The Most Precious of Cargoes, translated from French by Frank Wynne, is a deeply moving fable about family and redemption, a story that reminds us that humanity can be found in the most inhumane of places.
The Happiest Man on Earth
The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku
Book review by: Sharon Glazier Hochstein
8th Gade - Adults
While normally I don’t study the titles of a book, this one truly takes your breath away. The essence of Eddie Jaku’s personality shines right from the cover of this memoir, but how can the reader possibly swallow the author’s claim to be the happiest man on earth as an Auschwitz survivor?
Jaku doesn’t sugar-coat the nightmare that he went through, and he doesn’t shy away from the diabolical details. Rather, he faces his experiences and presents them head on, illustrating for the reader and for history how he walked, stumbled, and crawled through the hells of Buchenwald and Auschwitz. This horror culminated in the forced death march as the nazis were losing the war and wanted to get rid of any evidence of their atrocities. He had previously suffered the indignity and fear of having to pass for a Christian as his family desperately tried to save him, even as all of them suffered increasing persecution. In the end, most of his family didn’t make it.
But he did, and as he wrote this memoir at the triumphant age of 100, you can only be in awe of his positive spirit and his complete faith in the good of most humans. Jaku tells his story matter-of factly and in language that any middle schooler can understand. He has a simple belief which he lives by that you should treat everyone the way that you want to be treated and try to face each person that you meet with a smile. Coming from him and his background, that is a very powerful message.
While you may approach a book like this prepared to be equally moved and appalled, it is a testament to Jaku’s goodness that he presents this alternative possibility to humankind. This memoir of those dark times is inspiring and serves as a bright ray of hope during our own troubled times.
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