“Reverberations of the Holocaust” A Panel Discussion
With Children & Grandchildren of Lodz Ghetto Survivors

This conversation with representatives of the 2nd and 3rd generation, from different continents and spheres of interest, will explore how our shared history as descendants of Holocaust survivors has shaped our lives. What is our role in preserving Holocaust memory as keepers or researchers of memory−or as educators, healers, or agents of change? In what way does the collective trauma of the Holocaust remain frozen or begin to repair itself through our lives and choices? Finally, how does this profound history inform or relate to current world events?

The panel:

Janet Bychek is the daughter of two Lodz ghetto survivors. Like most survivors of the ghetto, her mother was deported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944, but her father was among the small group left behind to clean-up the ghetto after the final deportation. As a licensed Clinical Social Worker in Boulder, Colorado, she provides counseling and psychotherapy to individuals, couples and families.

Dr. Liat Steir-Livny is a Professor & Lecturer at Sapir College and the Open University of Israel. One of her grandfathers was a survivor of the Lodz ghetto, labor camps and a death march. One grandmother survived the Warsaw ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The author of numerous articles and five books, Dr. Steir-Livny’s research focuses on the changing commemoration of the Holocaust in Israel since the 1940s.

Miriam Friedman Morris is the daughter of Holocaust survivors David and Hildegard Friedmann. Her father, David Friedmann, survived as an artist in the Lodz ghetto and Auschwitz subcamp Gleiwitz I. Morris, who lives in New York, facilitates exhibitions, lectures and writes — and is dedicated to the preservation of his legacy. She is currently writing a book about her father’s life through art: http://z.umn.edu/becausetheywerejews

Aron Krochmalnik, from Germany, pursued professions in literature, theatre, the pharmaceutical industry and real estate. For the past 3 years, he has focused on historical and family research and writing. His father Josef, born in Lodz in 1923, survived the ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau, a death march, and several camps including Gross-Rosen, Flossenbürg and Dachau. His mother from Tomaszow Lubelski, who recently died from Covid-19, was one of the “Tehran Children.”

Ellen Korman Mains (Moderator) travels from Colorado to Poland regularly, especially to Lodz. Her mother, Masza Goldblum, was born in Lodz in 1920 and survived the ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Ravensbruck. Her father, Szapsa Korman, was born in Kozienice. From an early age, she was drawn to Buddhist meditation, healing, dialogue, and peace work. Her award-winning memoir is “Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust.”