Note: We will be hosting a Social Hour at noon, followed by the featured speaker at 1:00. Non-members are welcome, but please let us know you’ll be coming by emailing info@kolshalom.org

Holocaust Rescuer, Survival Story Featured Topic for Oct. 20 Program

Jill Neuwelt will be our speaker talking about her family’s experience in Austria during World War II and about Aristides de Sousa Mendes whose heroic actions saved 30, 000 people fleeing Nazi Germany.

Jill’s Viennese mother took refuge in England in the early 1940s. Her father went from Vienna to Russia to Japan to Hawaii. He was the on the last civilian boat leaving for the mainland U.S. He joined the United States Army and went back to Europe to join the Allied troops. Today her mother still lives and the family is involved in helping refugees in Europe and elsewhere. This is just a bit of a fascinating story that you will have to come to hear and learn more.

Jill will also speak about Aristides de Sousa Mendes who was the Portuguese council in France during WW II. He defied dictator Salazar’s orders and issued visas to refugees. Jill learned about this largely unknown man on a trip with many of his descendants as well as descendants of the refugees following the path the refugees took through France to Portugal. In 1966, the Righteous Among Nations award for rescuers recognized Sousa Mendes.

Please join us between noon and 2 to socialize, nosh and learn more of this engrossing history.