ARCHIVE: 2020

This is the poster that was created for the 2020 Holocaust Remembrance program that had to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic. A “virtual” program was created for the website; it is below the poster.

Holocaust Remembrance Program poster - 2020

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Tegged PDF for print size 8½" x 11"

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Tegged PDF for print size 11" x 17"


2020 “Virtual” Federal
Holocaust Remembrance

Due to the coronavirus, our live Holocaust remembrance program scheduled for April 23rd was cancelled. However, we remain committed to providing Holocaust education to the federal workforce and the public during these Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. This year we salute two courageous Holocaust survivors, Lisl Schick and Steven Fenves – our scheduled speakers – who share their stories with you on this website.

Introduction to Our Remembrance
     
Steven Fenves
Steven Fenves
Watch Steven Tell His Story
Learn More about Steven
  Lisl Schick
Lisl Schick
Watch Lisl Tell Her Story
Learn More about Lisl

If you have a question for either Lisl or Steven, please send it in an email to holocaustremembrance@gao.gov, indicate to whom your question is addressed, and Lisl or Steven will be happy to respond!

“I have been very lucky in my life, having escaped during the Holocaust on the Kindertransport with my younger brother and eventually being reunited with both my parents. Because of my experience and the fact that there are still Holocaust deniers all over the world, I have made it my lifetime mission to educate others about the dangers of hatred and prejudice, so ‘never again’ will not be an empty phrase.” — Lisl Schick, Holocaust Survivor

“Whenever I am asked to speak on my Holocaust experience, I strongly emphasize that inequity, injustice, prejudice, and discrimination, in any form, anywhere, particularly when condoned or led by governments, can lead to oppression, segregation, genocide, and possibly another Holocaust. I share the guilt feeling of survivors, wondering why I was the only one of my classmates to come out alive. But, I also have a sense of pride: pride in having occasionally been able to help others, and pride for having witnessed sporadic acts of humanity and selflessness while surrounded only by brutality and bestiality.” — Steven Fenves, Holocaust Survivor


Holocaust Remembrance Program poster - 2020

Small version of the 2020 poster. Click here for the full-size poster.




Steven FenvesSteven Fenves was born in Subotica, Yugoslavia. In 1941, when he was 10, the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia. The country’s “Aryanization” campaign seized the Fenves family’s property and forced them into a Jewish ghetto. His father was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in April 1944; two months later, Steven, his sister, mother and grandmother were as well. Steven used his fluency in German to act as an interpreter for the Kapos (overseers) and aided the camp’s resistance. His mother and grandmother perished at Auschwitz. In October 1944, Steven was transferred to the Niederorschel camp. In April 1945 he went on a forced death march to the Buchenwald camp and on April 11th, the camp was liberated by the American Army. After the war, Steven returned to then Communist-controlled Yugoslavia, reuniting with his surviving sister and his father, before escaping to the U.S. in 1950. Steven was drafted into the U.S. Army 18 months later. After his military service, Steven pursued an academic career, earning a doctorate and teaching computer science and civil engineering at the University of Illinois and Carnegie Mellon University for 42 years. Steven later worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He now resides with his wife in Rockville, Maryland, and regularly volunteers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Watch Steven Tell His Story, First Person interview, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, April 17, 2019 (55 minutes)
“Newly accessible records tell story of Holocaust, journey of survivors”, TribLIVE.com, January 26, 2020
Ask Steven a question via email at holocaustremembrance@gao.gov, and he will be happy to respond
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Lisl SchickLisl Schick was born in Vienna, Austria in 1927. As a young girl in 1938, she witnessed Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) in Vienna. Shortly thereafter, her family fled Nazi persecution. In 1939, 11-year-old Lisl escorted her seven-year-old brother on a train to England that was part of the “Kindertransport,” a heroic effort that evacuated 10,000 children from Germany and Nazi-occupied countries. Lisl’s father separately reached safety in England, but spent two years at an enemy alien camp on the Isle of Man. Her mother found passage on a ship from Italy to New York City in May 1940. The family reunited there in 1945 to start a new life in America. Although Lisl’s immediate family survived, her grandparents and members of her extended family perished in the Holocaust. Lisl moved to Florida with her late husband, Alfred. She now resides in Largo, Florida, and speaks about her wartime experiences at schools, events, and the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, which honored her with a volunteerism award in 2016. Lisl became involved in Hadassah, beginning with the local chapter and eventually becoming one of the organization’s national vice presidents.
Watch Lisl Tell Her Story, Presentation at the Florida Holocaust Museum, October 22, 2015 (40 minutes)
Audio interview in Largo, Florida, October 5, 2009 (1 hour, 51 minutes)
One minute video clip of Lisl on treatment of Jews in Vienna, University of South Florida
2022 update: We are sorry to note that Lisl Schick died June 28, 2022. She was 94. Click here for the notice in the Tampa Bay Times.

Information on Holocaust survivor Steven Fenves
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Other Holocaust-related Links:
The Florida Holocaust Museum
Portraying Courage: Holocaust Survivors in Voice & Image, The University of South Florida
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum


YouTube videos of programs from previous years:
April 30, 2019 program featuring Hans Fisher (survivor of the St. Louis refugee ship) and Thomas Buergenthal (concentration camp survivor)
April 12, 2018 program featuring Halina Silber (Schindler’s List survivor)
April 26, 2017 program featuring Renée Fink (hidden child survivor) and Roman Kent (concentration camp survivor)