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Episode 1: Schwartz to Sarkozi: “Volunteering” to Take a Hungarian Name

My father-in-law, Laci (pronounced: Lut-zee), has self-published a book for his grandchildren that described what he called “episodes” about his life. On the front cover is this picture you see here of a 1912 postcard of his grandfather's…
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Ellen Kaidanow – 2G Storykeeper

Ellen is a Second Generation Storykeeper who grew up in California and lives with her family in Westchester County, NY. Which workshop did she take? Safekeeping Stories of the Holocaust Workshop led by Jill Sarkozi in 2016. Who did she…
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Debby Ziering – 2G Storykeeper

Debby is a Second Generation Storykeeper who grew up in New Rochelle, New York. She lives with her husband in Greenwich, Connecticut and has three grown children. Which workshop did she take? Safekeeping Stories of the Holocaust Workshop…
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Yonat Assayag – 3G Storykeeper

Yonat is a Third Generation Storykeeper who grew up in Beachwood, Ohio just outside of Cleveland, and lives in New Rochelle, NY with her husband and three children. Which workshop did she take? Safekeeping Stories of the Holocaust Workshop…
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Discovering Pieces of the Family Story

By Third Generation Storykeeper Yonat Assayag Bobby never wanted to talk about her experiences during the Holocaust. But occasionally, when we asked, she would talk to her grandkids. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with her…
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Finding The Catholic Family Who Hid Ellen

by Second Generation Storykeeper Ellen Kaidanow Shifra-Marusia changed her name to Ellen when she emigrated to the United States after the war. This Slice is about her return to Dubno, Ukraine for the first time since the war with her…
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Growing Up Hunting Nazis

by Second Generation Storykeeper Debby Ziering Herman joined forces with Elliot Welles to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Elliot was also a survivor of the Riga Ghetto whose mother was shot by Maikovskis.  Herman was determined to have…
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Why Are You Just Sitting There? Run!

by Second Generation Storykeeper Ellen Kaidanow Our names are a foundational connection to identity and family. In this Slice, Ellen tells her mother-in-law's journey into hiding during the Holocaust which included changing her name from…
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Wartime Bar Mitzvah

by Second Generation Storykeeper Debby Ziering It was December 1939 in Germany and Herman, was turning 13. Under normal circumstances, when a boy reaches the age of 13, the family would be busy planning a bar mitzvah, a major milestone in a…
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Prewar Life in Strobochova

by Third Generation Storykeeper Yonat Assayag My grandmother, Chana, was born in 1924 in a Czechoslovakian village called Strobochova. She became “Bobby” when I was born, and she became a grandmother for the first time. Bobby’s parents…