Holocaust Stories of Champaign-Urbana

"There is a lot of literature and research today about how Holocaust survivors would hold back from sharing their family's fate with their children. Often they opened up more to the third generation. And this was the case in our family as well." 

Michael LeRoy is the LER Alumni Professor of Labor and Employment Relations and affiliated faculty of the College of Law at UIUC, as well as long time C-U community member. His father, Otto Lefkowitz, or Robert LeRoy, was a survivor of Auschwitz. Michael talks about his fathers upbringing in the German town where his family had resided for over 350 years, and the ways that the area grew increasingly hostile after the Nazi regime came to power. He has the account of where most family members were taken, and if they did or did not survive. Michael also shares the way that the way his upbringing was effected by growing up as a child of a Holocaust survivor, and the difficulty with telling this story. 

"Not a day went by that my father didn't cry for his lost family"

Sharon Shavitt is Professor Emerita at the Geis College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor. In this episode, Sharon talks about her mothers incredible story of survival, and how she used a combination of cleverness and luck to help her family evade the Nazi's. Her mothers' resilience in the face of atrocity will surely inspire and empower any listener. Thank you, Sharon, for sharing your families story!

"That’s one set of [false identity] papers, but there was my mom and her sister. So my mom ... remembers just staying up, lying awake for hours just trying to figure out how she could make this work... what she could do to save both of them."

This episode is generously sponsored by Alaina and Larry Kanfer.

Listen in as Brian Kahn from the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation's Holocaust Education Center talks about the 1990 Illinois mandate (Public Act 86-780) to teach the Holocaust in elementary and middle schools, and how the HEC has worked to help implement that. He talks about the best ways to teach about the Holocaust, and current initiatives that the HEC has. 

"We don’t have to wonder how to teach the Holocaust. We know best practices now--primary source documents, reading nonfiction texts, and learning to incorporate writing poetry and studying drama."

Hear Linda talk about her parents story of survival and her birth in a displaced persons camp. Listen to her upbringing in Germany, in Colorado, and her eventual move to Champaign-Urbana. Linda Bauer previously served as the Executive Director for the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation.

"I have a friend that found out about my family history and the concentration camps and all that and they asked ‘well, what did you guys do?’ 

I said ‘we didn’t do anything.’ "

"Helping to Advocate Towards Your Healing Journey"

In this episode, Bill talks about his experience of surviving the Holocaust as a child and how his family rebuilt after. From the Warsaw Ghetto, to the Siberian work camps, to Ellis Island, this won’t be a story you are easily able to forget.

His family story also is documented in the book Tunnel, Smuggle and Collect - A Holocaust Boy’s Story by Bill’s nephew, Jeffrey Gingold. 

"One boy, seemed very articulate... said ‘I don’t think that what you’re sharing with me is factual,’ and I said ‘well, all I can do is share with you what I think I know, and what I’ve learned over time.’ "

This episode is generously sponsored by Kendrick Counseling, PLLC.