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Human Rights Under Democracy Can Disappear Fast
Over two decades of researching my nonfiction trilogy, I often delved into the darker sides of the mind and heart. Having never known my paternal grandparents—they were killed in the Holocaust in 1942—I discovered their lives through letters. Of the 400 letters Dad preserved, 44 were from his parents, along with other documents he obtained…
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Out of Our Memory
The idea for the museum, a memorial to the Holocaust, first began in 1978 through President Jimmy Carter’s establishment of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. In the Final Report of the Commission in 1979, President Carter’s words “never again” lodged their place in history: “Out of our memory…of the Holocaust, we must forge…
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My Road to Truth
As I watch the endless news stories about the Ukrainian people driven from their homeland by a ruthless tyrant, I think of my journey to understand my father’s refugee years and how what I learned changed the trajectory of my life and my view of the world. I look at the face of a refugee…
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Refugee trauma last a life time.
Having had a father who was a Czech refugee during WWII, the echoes from the letters Dad saved that reached him on the run through five continents from other refugees sound much like the Ukrainian people as they flee the violence of the Russian army. There’s no doubt this trauma will impact the lives of…
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Building Peace in the Minds of Men and Women…UNESCO – International Holocaust Remembrance Day
“Building Peace in the Minds of Men and Women”…UNESCO – International Holocaust Remembrance Day Joanie Holzer Schirm It wasn’t until I was in my 50’s that I learned there was an International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, now commonly known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day was created…
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Wannsee Conference – What it Means for Today
The 80th Anniversary of the Wannsee Conference …What it Means for Today By Joanie Holzer Schirm “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” —Simon Wiesenthal In late May 1942, train records indicate that my paternal Czech Bohemian grandparents, Arnost and Olga Holzer, perished at the hands of the Nazis…
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Partnering with Echoes & Reflections for a More Peaceful World
Partnering with Echoes & Reflections for a More Peaceful World In these times of considerable uncertainty, one thing is sure. We all recognize the importance of education when seeking to end prejudice and discrimination while inspiring a more caring and respectful world. With that shared goal in mind, please consider a free partnership…
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I’m one of the lucky ones.
It is often said that digging into family history can transform us. Findings have the power to alter who we are. I’m one of those lucky people. Two decades ago, after my parent’s deaths in January 2000, I chose as my inheritance a secret collection of World War II letters, documents, vintage photographs, and film,…
Steadfast Ink: The Journey Within
MY DEAR BOY: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation
Adventurers Against Their Will
