WWII History; Refugees; Immigrants

  • My Road to Truth

    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…

  • 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

    “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…

  • Kindness is not an action most expect.

    Kindness is not an action most expect.

    My writing journey never disappoints—often reminding me of the kindhearted strangers who’ve entered my life when I just let them in. In 2018, I connected with a Chinese born gentleman, Jim Fang, now a Canadian citizen, who is planning a Toronto museum dedicated to previous Christian missionary work in China. Jim was born in Yochow…

  • A Last Goodbye – 80 years ago

    A Last Goodbye – 80 years ago

    Learn from the past. Change the future. On this day 80 years ago, May 21, 1939, my twenty-seven-year-old Czech Jewish father, Oswald “Valdik” Holzer said his last good-bye to his parents at the Prague railway station. After Nazi-occupation and persecution, dad was driven from his native land. His 1st port of refuge was Shanghai, China.…