November 9, 2018 marked the 80th anniversary of the November Pogrom known as Kristallnacht. During the November Pogrom, Nazi thugs went through the streets of Germany and, in plain view, set synagogues on fire, smashed the window fronts of Jewish businesses, attacked Jewish people and vandalized their apartments. Houston Holocaust survivor, Ruth Steinfeld experienced the November Pogrom first hand. Ruth and her sister Lea lived in Sinsheim, Germany when Hitler came to power. The family was deported to the Gurs interment camp in 1940, and their mother was faced with a very difficult decision: to let a Jewish philanthropic organization called Oeuvres de Secours aux Enfants (OSE) take her daughters to safety, or keep them with her. Ruth and her sister’s lives were forever altered after that moment.
Holocaust Museum Houston’s young professional group, NEXTGen, is honored to have Ruth Steinfeld share her story at NEXTGen’s Conversation with a Survivor. This annual event gives young professionals the opportunity to meet Holocaust survivors living in the Houston area and learn through firsthand accounts the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy. This special event is in collaboration with the Museum’s current traveling exhibition, In the Country of Numbers, where the men have no names, on view through May 2019.
Cookies for the event are generously donated by SMOOSH Cookies.
