West Bloomfield is a hub for Michigan's largest Jewish community, with thriving synagogues, a large JCC, and a highly active community. It is also the site of the March 2026 attack on Temple Israel, one of the country’s largest synagogues. The impact of that tragedy was very much on our minds when, on June 20th, we drove a half-mile past the site of the March attack to Temple Kol Ami. Temple Kol Ami Sisterhood invited us to present a book talk following attendance at their Shabbat service and closing luncheon.
Authors Joy Wolfe Ensor, Rita Benn and Eszter Gombosi, who each descended from different homelands and were raised in different countries, focused the presentation on three questions: How do we draw on the lessons from our parents to face the challenges of the present moment? How have time and maturity shifted our perspective on the struggles we experienced growing up in the shadow of our parents’ trauma? And how do we situate our sense of religion and peoplehood in our current community, far from where we were planted and where our families lived for so many centuries? 
We were delighted to see that the audience was highly attentive and engaged, sharing their own stories and commitments to educating the generations after in our shared project of remembrance. We feel gratitude to have been so warmly welcomed into their community. 

​Each year since 1987, Oregon State University in Corvallis hosts Holocaust Memorial Week with programs, workshops and educational events for students, faculty and the community. Last year, Irene Butter, a Holocaust survivor and honorary member of our TBE Second-Generation group, presented at this conference. This April, one of our authors, Ruth Finkel Wade, gave a keynote talk. She began by telling the story of her father Sidney Finkel, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor who then later joined her via Zoom for a lively Q&A session with the audience. The following day, Ruth spoke with an Honors Holocaust History class about intergenerational trauma based on her chapter from our book. It was a rare experience for students to hear the perspectives of both Ruth and her father of the impact of this trauma on both their lives. 

Please join us in Chicago for a book talk and discussion sponsored by the USHMM on June 10th. The event will be held at the Wilmette Public Library at 7:00 pm. RSVPs are requested, using this link.

On April 24, 2025, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), one of our book's Second-Generation (2G) authors, Sassa Akervall, was interviewed by April Baer on Michigan Public Radio's Stateside program. With more 2Gs than actual Holocaust survivors alive, the importance of our remembrances of the impact of the Holocaust on our parents and ourselves cannot be overstated. Scroll to the 12:43 minute point of the program where Sassa begins to share aspects of the effects of this inherited trauma, responding thoughtfully and eloquently to April's sensitively posed questions.

On March 18, 2025 three of our authors, Rita Benn, Julie Ellis and Eszter Gombosi took part in a presentation for University of Michigan Hillel's SHARE Program (Students for Holocaust Awareness, Remembrance, and Education.) Several of the students who attended the program had also participated in the the student book club that sponsored our book as the chosen "read". After each author read an excerpt from their chapter, the students did not hesitate to engage with us, asking very thoughtful questions. Students were interested in how the holocaust influenced our choices to share our parent's stories with our own children as well as in forming our career decisions. Two young women in particular noted that they had grown up in families that had experienced trauma, so they could identify very closely with the situations and feelings described in our book. As the topic of antisemitism was raised, Eszter asked the audience, "How many of you have experienced antisemitism since October 7th?" Almost every hand went up. We were grateful to delve further with the students into this very important issue. Several students noted that while they had heard Holocaust survivors speak before, this was the first time they had thought or learned about the perspectives and experiences of the second generation. They shared how meaningful they found our book and our evening time together. 

We are over half-way through a six-week program we created based on our book entitled, "The Next Generation's Legacy of the Holocaust". This educational series is sponsored through the online programming arm of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Each of the weekly sessions includes different panels of authors presenting  their personal reflections and stories related to a major theme, with Rita Benn, Ruth Wade and Joy Wolfe Ensor taking turns serving as the moderators. Participants have the opportunity to expand on their learning by visiting a syllabus we developed that lists a variety of resources related to each topic. We are very excited that 35 participants from 14 different OLLI schools spanning 10 states have enrolled. The committment of participants to attend each week has been amazing, and equally so, has been their level of engagement. Week after week, they return listening respectfully, asking thoughtful questions, sharing their own personal stories, and showing their appreciation. We are very grateful to online OLLI for this opportunity - one that enriches both our presenters and OLLI participants. 

On January 14 and 28th, Rita Benn and Ruth Wade offered for the first time, a two-session memoir writing workshop for second-generation descendants of the Holocaust sponsored by the Holocaust Learning Experience, a program of the MorseLife Foundation. The program, limited to 25 participants, filled up almost as soon as it was announced.  Attendees were very excited by this program. They appreciated the opportunity to be in community with others who shared the same ancestral background. The structure of prompts and paired interaction created a safe space to explore the impact of the Holocuast on their own lived experience. Many had not delved into writing about their own family experiences prior to their enrollment. As one participant remarked, "Thanks so much for offering this important workshop. I also appreciate you sharing your book and your own moving personal stories. I see my parents, myself and my family in the stories and it is amazing at this point in my life to have this shared experience. Until I met my husband, I had never met another survivor family. I’ve been writing my parents’ story for awhile and only recently began to write mine. The prompts you gave brought out new ideas and helped me to see things in a different way. The workshop has moved me forward in my personal writing journey ... being part of a small writing group is so helpful." In reflecting on what's next, the majority of participants exclaimed a desire to continue writing together.  We are in discussion with MorseLife on ways to promote this opportunity. 

On January 30, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo hosted a two-hour session where three of our authors -Natalie Iglewicz, Ruth Finkel Wade, and Joy Wolfe Ensor - presented their excerpts from our book to illustrate and reflect on three major themes: intergenerational trauma, dehumanization, and post-traumatic growth. The Q&A and discussion that followed was deep and meaningful. Participants spoke of their awareness of the parallels between the history of the Holocaust and present-day events, and many shared their own personal family Holocaust connections  (an uncle who liberated camps; a father who’d immigrated from Germany at a young age; a family who had a rule about not looking at the past). The instructor feedback survey was unanimous in giving the session the highest ratings. Attendees praised “the authenticity and vulnerability demonstrated by the presenters who simultaneously showed strength and courage,” and the session as “very moving, difficult and beautiful.” Most powerful for us was one comment in particular, “We are your witnesses and we will pass your stories along”.  Having our stories live on in those who have listened or read our chapters affirms a major purpose we had in publishing our book. 

As word of our book has spread, we have been excited to accept invitations by law firms who are interested to strengthen their staff's understanding of the larger world and clients they serve through ongoing education. On January 29, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day observance, we presented a program called “Carrying Our Legacy Forward” for BCLP, a large international law firm headquartered in St. Louis. We were thrilled that our Survivor elder Irene Butter (the recipient of multiple international humanitarian awards and the author of our book’s foreword) joined Joy Wolfe Ensor, Ruth Wade and Rita Benn in sharing her story. Irene focused her remarks on her experience living through a Nazi dictatorship, and the perils of creeping autocracy, speaking with heart, clarity and purpose - 'never be a bystander'. Rita and Joy spoke to their second-generation legacies, and Ruth moderated the discussion. The audience of 75 attendees was deeply moved by the presentation, asking probing questions about history, remembrance, and reconciliation, and most of all, inspired by 94-year-old Irene.

On the afternoon of December 15, authors Joy Wolfe Ensor, Nancy Szabo and Fran Lewy Berg presented on how their parents shared their wartime experience, ranging from the highly secretive to the more open perspective. The participants included 2G members of a synagogue and a book club based in Colorado. A couple of women from Israel were also able to join the Zoom. The richest part of the event followed the authors’ presentation. Participants chose to each speak on how the Holocaust had affected them, some stating that this was their first opportunity to ever do so. It was an emotionally moving experience for all. A most wonderful result from this presentation was that the attendees decided to start meeting regularly as a Jewish women's circle.