Downtown Kehillah Yom Ha'Shoah Commemoration
Apr 11, 2010 - 5:00 pm
Town and Village Synagogue
334 East 14th St (at 1st Ave)
Join CBST at the Annual Downtown Kehillah Yom Ha'Shoah Commemoration.
Music by the CBST/Downtown Kehillah Chorus
Reading of Names of Victims
Featured Speaker: Johanna Reiss
Johanna Reiss was born in the Netherlands. Two years into WWII, she, as a Jewish child, went into hiding. After the war Reiss completed her education and taught at elementary schools. In 1955 she came to America for what was supposed to have been a one-year stay, but she married an American, raised her two daughters in New York City and became a writer.
Her first book, The Upstairs Room is about her years in hiding. It was translated into various languages and received numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor Award. The Jewish Book Council Juvenile Book Award, and the Buxtehuder Bulle (Germany). A sequel followed, also a classic young adult title, The Journey Back , about what it was like to be free again. In her new book for adults, A Hidden Life, a Memoir of August 1969 , Reiss tries to shed light on her husband’s suicide, committed while she was in Holland with her daughters, ages 7 and 9 at the time, to research and relive her time in hiding. It was a NY Times Editors Choice of March 1, 2009.
