Bearing Witness, is a series that features Holocaust survivors, all Atlanta residents, who recall their experiences during the Holocaust. Their words rise above hatred and retribution to speak about the strength and will that enabled them to survive and to go on to build new lives. The Breman Museum is pleased to offer free admission to the Bearing Witness series through a generous grant from the Sara Giles Moore Foundation.
“The Bearing Witness series is about hearing the full and untold stories of Jewish survival during the Holocaust. Through the Breman lens of the 4Rs: resilience, resourcefulness, resistance and rescue, we see how people survived this dark period in history.
“Even as we teach about the horrors of the Holocaust, we want to shine a light on the strength of our survivors and their families who were able to live through this time,” says Rabbi Joseph Prass, Director of the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education. “It is through the first-hand recounting of our speakers that we learn the lessons of history so that we will never forget and never allow it to happen again.”
Rabbi Joe continues, “Through the generous grant from the Sara Giles Moore Foundation, the Bearing Witness series allows us to welcome a wide audience of new and returning visitors to the museum who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to hear a speaker first-hand. Because of this gift, we believe future generations will learn the vital lessons of history from those who witnessed it.”
Fall 2018 Bearing Witness Schedule
September 30 MURRAY LYNN (Hungary)
Murray Lynn was only 14 years old when he, his mother and three brothers were sent by cattle train to Auschwitz-Birkenau. His mother and brothers were murdered upon their arrival, but Murray survived despite unbearable conditions and a death march that lasted many weeks. As an orphaned teenager, he was sent to England, Ireland and ultimately America, where he began a new life.
October 21 HELEN WEINGARTEN (Romania)
Helen was one of seven children. She entered Auschwitz as one of five sisters, but only four survived. Helen narrowly escaped death when the 500 women she was with were redirected from the entrance to the gas chambers and sent to Germany for slave labor.
November 11 HENRY BIRNBREY (Germany)
Henry Birnbrey was brought to the United States on a special mission to rescue Jewish children. Years later, Henry would return to Germany as an American GI, serving with the forces that stormed the beaches of Normandy. He was among the first American eyewitnesses to the devastation of the Nazi concentration camps. What he saw would change his life forever.
EVENT CANCELED December 9 EUGEN SCHOENFELD (Czechoslovakia)
Brutalized by Nazis, Eugen survived the Holocaust in the notorious camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau. Yet after the war, when given the chance to kill one of the most brutal guards, he refused. What powers led Eugen to give up hostility to his enemies? The former Chair of the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University, Eugen will reflect on this question and other aspects of rebuilding life from the brink of destruction.
Spring 2019 Bearing Witness Schedule
January 13 BEBE FOREHAND (Belgium)
Like Anne Frank, Bebe Forehand was hidden away from the Nazis in an attic. A family friend brought food, books and materials to read during the hours while they were in hiding. As a result, her mother, father, grandfather and brother were all able to survive the Holocaust.
Febuary 24 ROBERT RATONYI (Hungary)
Robert remembers a childhood scarred by fear, upheaval, hunger and loss. He was six years old when forced to wear a yellow star and face the terrors of war and ghetto life without his parents, both of whom were deported to concentration camps. He grew up under communist dictatorship and escaped Hungary following the bloody uprising of 1956. A graduate of MIT and Drexel University, Robert went on to a successful business career.
March 24 BEN WALKER (Romania)
Ben was six years old when he and his family were ordered to report to the railroad station within four hours. He and his mother survived the Holocaust in conditions beyond description in Transnistria, in southern Ukraine. Following the war, he and his mother immigrated to Israel where he served in the Israeli army. Mr. Walker later moved to the United States, where he attended the University of Florida and Syracuse University before moving to Atlanta.