Historian Robin Judd introduces us to the Jewish women who lived through genocide and went on to wed American, Canadian, and British military personnel after the war.

Registration for this event has sold out. A limited number of standby tickets may be available on the day of the event.

Facing the harrowing task of rebuilding a life in the wake of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors viewed marriage as a way to move forward after unspeakable loss. Robin Judd, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust and married an American soldier after liberation, offers an intimate portrait of how these unions emerged and developed—from meeting and courtship to marriage and immigration to life in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom—and shows how they helped shape the postwar world by touching thousands of lives.

In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Judd discusses her new book with scholar and author Ann Kirschner, whose mother's letters are held by the library and published in the book Letters to Sala: A Young Woman's Life in Nazi Labor Camps. Letters to Sala and the collections of The New York Public Library were used in Judd's research.

To join | Please register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open around 1:30 PM. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Robin Judd is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University, where she directs the Hoffman Leaders and Leadership in History Fellowship program. She is a specialist in Jewish, transnational, and gender history, with particular interests in Holocaust studies, the history of antisemitism, the history of religion, the history of leadership, and the history of migration. She is the author of the recently published Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides After the Holocaust (University of North Carolina Press, 2023) and Contested Rituals: Circumcision, Kosher Butchering, and German-Jewish Political Life in Germany, 1843-1933 (Cornell University Press). In recognition of her work in Holocaust studies, Governor Dewine appointed her to Ohio’s Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission in 2021.

Ann Kirschner is a leader in higher education, a strategic advisor, and board director. The thread that runs through her diverse career is understanding the impact of technology on how we work, shop, entertain, and learn. In 2023, Dr. Kirschner was named the interim president of Hunter College at The City University of New York, where she previously served as Dean of Macaulay Honors College. She also serves as Senior Advisor to the President at Arizona State University, and on the management committee of EdPlus and Learning Enterprise. Her writings include the award-winning book Sala’s Gift, the story of her mother’s wartime rescue of letters from Nazi labor camps, which has been published in seven languages. It is the basis for Arlene Hutton’s award-winning play Letters to Sala, which has been performed off-Broadway and at over 170 theaters and schools.

READ THE BOOK:

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog


• E-Book app: SimplyE, available on iOS and Android

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

CONNECT

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Courtesy Robin Judd
Courtesy Ann Kirschner