Sixteen Speakers to Share Testimonies at John Carroll’s Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day

Each year, The John Carroll School hosts Holocaust Remembrance Day — an opportunity for the school community to honor Holocaust victims, hear from survivors and gain an understanding of the continued impact from their families. The John Carroll School’s Holocaust education program promotes tolerance, understanding and respect among high school students of diverse backgrounds and motivates participants to make a personal commitment to combat prejudice and hatred.

The day-long program includes personal accounts from Holocaust survivors, second- and third-generation testimonies, video rescues, and a heartfelt luncheon for speakers and student guides. By showcasing the diverse experiences of survivors, event organizer Louise Géczy allows the Senior class to gain a deeper understanding of the various aspects of the Holocaust. The significance of this event grows as the number of survivors dwindles with time.

Earlier this month, the Class of 2025 took the annual Senior trip to Washington, D.C. to the Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Cemetery. This trip enables students to broaden their understanding of the Holocaust, explore the concept of genocide, and connect with history on a personal level. The John Carroll School is grateful to the Klein Family Foundation for their generous support of John Carroll's Holocaust programming.

According to Mrs. Géczy, “In a world where divisiveness and othering has become common, I think the more information we provide our young people about the lessons of the Holocaust, the greater chance that they will commit to make positive change throughout their lifetimes. John Carroll is committed to providing our students with multiple opportunities, both in the classroom and with special programs, to explore human rights issues.”

Holocaust survivors Dr. Charles Heller, Vera Kestenberg and Marsha Tishler, who were children during the Holocaust, will share their experiences alongside children and grandchildren of survivors. These individuals feel compelled to preserve the stories and lessons learned from the genocide, ensuring future generations understand the gravity of this historic tragedy.

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Schedule of Events

9:15–10:15 a.m.: Keynote Speaker, Marsha Tishler
10:15–11:00 a.m.: Small Group Testimony, Session 1
11:15 a.m.–12:10 p.m.: Small Group Testimony, Session 2*
12:15–1:10 p.m.: Lunch Sessions*
1:15–2:15 p.m.: Large Group Session, President Steve DiBiagio

*Suggested visiting time(s)

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Expected Guests

• • Vera Kestenberg, First Generation: Vera was a hidden child with false identity from Budapest. Her now deceased husband was also survivor of numerous concentration camps.
  • ·Dr. Charles Heller, First Generation: Dr. Heller isJ ewish but was raised Catholic. At age 9, he and his parents survived, but 25 other family members were killed. Post-war, Dr. Heller had to escape from the Communists  
  
  
  • Marsha Tishler, First Generation: Marsha’s parents fled into the countryside to escape the Nazis when she was just three months old. She was then raised in Polan from just after birth until three-years-old by non-Jews. Post-war, she lived with her parents in DP camp for four-and-a-half years.
  • Richard Grilli, Second Generation: Richard’s mother, from Chotebor, Czechoslovakia, was rescued by Sir Richard Winton on last train transport of children to England.                                               
  • Steve Salzberg, Second Generation: Tells his father’s story and speaks on trans-generational trauma
  • Lola Hahn, Second Generation: Tells mother and aunt’s stories who were saved by Oskar Schindler
  • Jessica Silverman, Third Generation: Shares her grandmother’s story, who survived a ghetto and four concentration camps, including Auschwitz
  • Anne Pfeffer, Second Generation: Born in a displaced persons camp after the war, her parents were Holocaust survivors
  • Bob Lowy, Second Generation: Bob's mother, from Czechoslovakia, was in three camps – Terezin concentration camp, Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen death camps. After the war, she fled to Ecuador for two years until she could immigrate to the U.S.
  • Berly Hershkovitz, Second Generation: Berly’s mother, born in Ukraine and escaped from ghetto, spent three years running and hiding from the Nazis.
  • Dorothy Gold, Second Generation: Both of Dorothy’s parents were Holocaust survivors, originally from Poland. They were in Auschwitz for over three years after being in a labor camp for about one-and-a-half years and were teenagers at the start of the war.
  • Jamie Neumann, Third Generation: Her grandmother, Johanna Neumann, escaped Nazi Germany and was rescued in Albania. Jamie continues her legacy of sharing her story of the moral code of Albania, Besa, and the story of righteous Muslims who saved Jews in Albania.
  • Esther Rechthand, Second Generation: Esther’s home was traditionally Jewish kosher home where they celebrated the major Jewish holidays. She married another first-generation child of survivors, so the memories and experiences of their parents were ever present.
  • Philip Leder, Second Generation: Philip, originally from Kasakhstan, Russia, was sent to an orphanage while his mother worked and his farther was captured and forced to serve in the military for three years.
  • Nancy Kutler, Second Generation: Her mother lived through Kristallnacht, followed by four years in various ghettos and concentration camps. She was separated from her mother, never to see her again. Then, near the end of the war, she contracted typhus and would have been left behind to die had it not been for her best friend.
  • Irma Pretsfelder, First Generation: Born in 1926 in Buergeln, approximately 50 miles north of Frankfurt, Irma was one of only two Jewish families in her town. Her family lived an orthodox Jewish life. On November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht, the synagogue was set on fire, and all men were arrested and put into camps. Her brother left Germany for America in 1938 at age of 16, and his family could not join him due to quota system. Irma never saw brother again, as he was killed in WII during the liberation on Manila in 1945. Her mother, father and Irma reached England in1939.
  • John Carroll President Steve DiBiagio, Second Generation (Baltimore, MD): Shares his father’s American GI story of the liberation of Ahlem Camp
  • Allison Baumwald, bio pending
  • Judy Gartner, bio pending

·        Dr. Charles Heller,First Generation: Dr. Heller isJ ewish but was raised Catholic. At age 9, he and his parentssurvived, but 25 other family members were killed. Post-war, Dr. Heller had to escape from the Communists  

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