HOLLAND, Mich. — Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II as a child. She will be coming to speak at Hope College on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 9:30 a.m.
The event will take place in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts hosted by the Hope Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP). The college has invited the public to come as well. They said admission is free.
Preceding Friedman's visit the college will screen the PBS documentary “Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah" on Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. The documentary highlights Friedman’s story and will take place at the Knickerbocker Theatre. Following the documentary there will be a panel discussion. The screening is also open to the public with free admission.
Friedman was one of the youngest of the 7,000 prisoners found alive when Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army in 1945. She was just six years old. Over one million people, mostly European Jews, were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. The concentration camp complex was located in southern Poland.
Friedman will speak on the rise of anti-Semitism and prejudice in the world using her own memories and experiences. Joining her on stage will be her daughter, Taya Friedman, as well as Emmy-winning writer and HASP member Milton Nieuwsma of Holland serving as moderator.
Nieuwsma previously interviewed Friedman and two other women who had been among the children liberated, Frieda Tenenbaum and Rachel Hyams, for his 1998 book “Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah." Nieuwsma also wrote and co-produced the documentary. The documentary was based on the book and produced in 2005 by PBS affiliate WGVU of Grand Rapids.
The documentary is centered on Friedman and Tenenbaum as they returned to Auschwitz in the summer of 2004. They were accompanied by their children on the visit as they both reflected on their experience at the camp and their lives before and since.
After the war, Friedman and her family immigrated to the United States. Friedman spent 25 years working as the director of a nonprofit social service agency. She continues to work as a therapist. Friedman published her memoir “The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope” in 2022. She authored the memoir with journalist Malcolm Brabant.
Friedman will be available after the presentation on Oct. 10 to sign copies of her memoir. However, her book will not be available for purchase at the event. Her book is available for purchase at the Hope College Bookstore in the DeWitt Center, Reader’s World in downtown Holland and the HASP office in the college’s Anderson-Werkman Financial Center in downtown Holland.
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