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Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State
About the Encyclopedia
Teaching with the Encyclopedia
Steve Adler
Eva Tannenbaum Cummins
Henry Friedman
Robert Herschkowitz
Leo Hymas
Ed Kaye
Hester Kool
Peter Metzelaar
Magda Schaloum
Susie Sherman
Frieda Soury
Klaus Stern
Paula Stern
Writing, Art, and Film Contest
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Graphic Novel: More Than Any Child Should Know
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Voices for Humanity
  • Welcome to the Holocaust Center for Humanity
    Welcome to the Holocaust Center for Humanity

    Learn More

  • VOICES FOR HUMANITY
    VOICES FOR HUMANITY

    Join us for Voices for Humanity on Monday, October 16!

    RSVP TODAY

  • Museum Open Sundays!
    Museum Open Sundays!

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  • Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State
    Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State

    Hear the stories of our local survivors!

    EXPLORE THE ENCYCLOPEDIA

Speakers Bureau

Speakers Bureau - Hear stories of survival from our Speakers Bureau | Book a speaker on the Holocaust, Rwandan genocide, or Cambodia genocide.

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Plan your visit!  Finding Light in the Darkness - Open Sundays. Check out the calendar for special progamming in the museum, including "Ask a Survivor" and "Unlocking the Archives." 

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Student Leadership Board - Now in 3 locations: Seattle, Spokane, & SW Washington! Now accepting applications for 2023-24! For students in grades 7-12 in WA.

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Through stories and the history of the Holocaust, we see that our actions have the power to make a difference. Your support makes this possible! Make a gift today! 

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Back to School! Teachers, we have you covered with so many resources, including: Lesson Plans, Professional Development, Teaching Trunks, Traveling Exhibits, and more.

Holocaust Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State - Stories, artifacts, and photos of survivors who made Washington State their home.

 

More Upcoming Events

Betsy Touriel Kapner 720x720Betsy Touriel-Kapner, the daughter of Austrian Holocaust survivors, tells the stories of her parents escape from Austria to Bolivia. 

Betsy Touriel-Kapner’s maternal grandparents, Gisela and Friedrich Aschkenasi, lived in Vienna, Austria, where they were married in 1924. Their daughter Gerda was born in 1932. In March 1938, the Nazis annexed Austria (an event termed “the Anschluss”) and soon enacted laws to strip Jews of their citizenship and careers. Jewish children, like Gerda, could no longer attend school. Betsy’s grandfather was sent to Dachau concentration camp, then Buchenwald, with other Austrian Jews who were prominent community members or businessmen. Gisela sold most of their belongings to bribe her husband out of Buchenwald. 

The family of three managed to leave Austria by ship at the eve of World War II, traveling to Italy, then Chile, and overland to Bolivia with a visa from the Bolivian consulate. A German mining baron, Mauritz Hochschild, who operated tin mines in Bolivia, had convinced the Bolivian president to offer visas to Jews facing persecution in Austria and Germany. Some of these refugees, like Betsy’s grandparents, stayed in Bolivia permanently. Her grandfather became vice president of the mines run by Hochschild – who overall helped save nearly 20,000 Jews. 

Betsy’s mother Gerda spent the rest of her childhood in Bolivia and attended high school and college there. Gerda travelled to Seattle to visit family in the 1950s, when she met a local man, Gabriel Touriel, who soon became her husband. They made their home in Tacoma, where Betsy and her brothers were born and raised. 

After retiring from a career in the aerospace industry, Betsy felt a responsibility to share the story of her relatives and their unusual escape from Europe. Her grandparents and mother were refugees in South America, and her mother was later an immigrant to the United States. Their experiences of courage and rescue offer enduring lessons of resilience. Since 2020, Betsy has been a member of the Holocaust Center for Humanity Speakers Bureau, telling this family history to students and community members. 

henry friedman 720x720Henry Friedman was born in 1928 to a Jewish family in Brody, Poland (present-day Ukraine). When the Nazis invaded Brody in 1941, they swiftly deprived Jews of their basic rights. One day in February 1942, a young woman named Julia Symchuck ran to the Friedman’s house and warned Henry's father that the Gestapo was coming for him. Thanks to Julia, Henry’s father was able to flee. In the fall of 1942, the Nazis forced the remaining Jews in the area into a ghetto in Brody. Henry, his mother, his younger brother, and their female teacher hid in a barn owned by Julia Symchuck's parents. The Friedmans remained in hiding for 18 months, freezing and slowly starving as food became scarce. Finally, in March 1944 they were liberated by the Russians. Julia Symchuck was later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

Henry helped found the Holocaust Center for Humanity in 1989 and is an active member of the Speakers Bureau.

"When I was in hiding, I feared I would be the only Jew who survived. A terrible empty feeling came over me at the loss of so many cousins, and I felt as though I were standing all alone in a huge stadium." - Henry Friedman

 

Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State - Henry Friedman. Read more about Henry, view photos, and watch video clips. 

Pete 720x720Peter was born in Amsterdam in 1935. In 1942, when Peter was 7, the Nazis seized Peter's entire family except for Peter and his mother. Peter's mother contacted the Dutch Underground for help. The Underground found Klaas and Roefina Post who agreed to shelter Peter and his mother on their small farm in northern Holland, putting their own lives at risk. For two years they lived with the Posts until it became too dangerous and they found another hiding place with two women in The Hague. Peter, his mother, and his aunt were the only survivors of his family. Klaas and Roefina Post have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

After the war, Peter and his mother immigrated to the United States in 1949, arriving in New York. Peter was 13 and didn't speak any English, but was placed in the 8th grade. Peter had a long career as a radiology technologist. He and his wife Bea raised two children from Pete's previous marriage and had a third son in California. The Metzelaars moved to Seattle in 1997. Peter continues to be an active member of the Holocaust Center for Humanity's Speakers Bureau.

"My mother and I slept together in a bed that was inside a closet. I remember lying in that bed trembling in fear at times." - Peter Metzelaar

Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State - Peter Metzelaar. Read more about Peter, view photos and watch video clips.

 

JoshGortler 1 720x720Josh was born in Tomaszow, Poland in 1936, where his family had lived for almost a century. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, his family was incarcerated in the Ghetto. They made their way to Siberia and Uzbekistan, where life was incredibly harsh but not as dangerous for Jews. After liberation, Josh and his family found refuge in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Berlin.

In 1951, the Gortlers came to Amer ica, and Josh arrived with no formal education or English skills. He persevered, graduating from a Jewish high school before earning Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Social Work. Josh then moved to Seattle and worked at the Kline Galland Jewish nursing home for almost 50 years. He began telling his story when his grandchildren asked what happened to him during the Holocaust, and he is now an active member of the Holocaust Center for Humanity's Speakers Bureau and Board of Directors. In 2014 Josh was honored by Yeshiva Univer sity with a doctoral degree for his leadership in elder care in Seattle and on a national level.

"There’s a time to think, and there’s a time to talk. And I feel that now is the time to talk and retell these stories for the future generations to come. Because, if we don’t learn from the past, we will make the same mistakes in the future." - Josh Gortler

Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State - Josh Gortler. Read more about Josh, view photos, and watch video clips.

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  • Home
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    • Finding Light in the Darkness - Virtual Exhibit
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    • Virtual Lunch & Learn Series
    • Continuing Generations
    • Ambassadors for Change
    • Law Enforcement and Society (LEAS)
  • Teach
    • Resources for Teachers
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    • Lesson Plans & Best Practices
    • Speakers Bureau - Virtual & In-Person
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  • Learn
    • Survivor Encyclopedia: Washington State
    • Writing, Art, and Film Contest
    • Survivor Voices - Film
    • Graphic Novel: More Than Any Child Should Know
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    • What Is Genocide?
    • Letters from a Dachau Liberator
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Socialization (Café Europa) programs for Nazi victims, and educational programs, have been supported by grants from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.

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