Frank Makes a Special Visit to Norfolk, VA

Post date: Apr 17, 2013 5:47:31 PM

On Sunday, April 7, 2013, Frank was the featured speaker for the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s commemoration of Yom Hashoah, the Jewish calendar's official Holocaust Remembrance Day. He addressed about 600 people Sunday night in Norfolk, a community bordering Virginia Beach where he and his family lived for several years. The event was held at Temple Israel and was the first of several stops for Frank in the area during his stay.The following day, Frank spoke to about 400 sixth through ninth graders at the Norfolk Academy, a private school for grades 1-12 where his grandson is a first grader. This event also included about 65 middle schoolers from the Williams School, a smaller school in Norfolk, that had also been invited to hear him. Elena Baum, director of the Holocaust Commission , escorted Frank and reported that the students were excited to meet Frank, hear his story and ask him questions. "You could have heard a pin drop during his presentation," she said. Afterwards, several students approached him with more questions and words of thanks for his presentation.

On Tuesday, April 9, Frank had the opportunity to speak to nearly 200 seventh and eighth grade students at Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach. The students were enthralled with him and asked great questions. Following the visit to Cape Henry, Frank and Barbara accompanied Baum on a special visit aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman to see one of the Commission’s What We Carry programs, being held in honor of the Days of Remembrance. Frank was especially excited about this aspect of the trip because he had never been on the base, despite his many years of living in the area.

Commission volunteer and local survivor, Dana Cohen, delivered a presentation to approximately 140 sailors aboard the Truman. Frank had dined with Dana on Saturday evening and was very interested in hearing her story of survival as presented through What We Carry. Deported from their home in Lvov, Poland, Dana and her mother were shipped east through the steppes of Kazakhstan to a Siberian gulag, where they were forced laborers for nearly two years, before their release and harrowing escape of Europe led them through Uzbekistan, Iran, India, and finally to Uganda. After the presentation, Frank was also introduced to the sailors as a survivor. They were excited to meet another survivor and asked him several questions before he and Barbara had a chance to tour the ship with Dana, and the Commission volunteers. During the visit, Baum also donated a signed copy of Misa’s Fugue to the ship’s library. The sailors watch many films during deployment and are looking forward to learning more about Frank’s story.

Although Frank’s visit ended last week, it is only the beginning of collaboration between the Misa’s Fugue team and the Holocaust Commission. According to Baum, “Our White Rose project, named for the only group to openly protest the Nazis, before they paid with their lives, provides educational materials to schools and sometimes military commands each year with donations we solicit around Yom Hashoah. We have about 130 schools on our list. In the past we have given such items as The Paper Clip Project book and video, memoirs of our local survivors David Katz and Anne Friedman, of blessed memory. Often we send the books written by survivors who visit us to speak at Yom Hashoah, like Leo Bretholtz, Irving Roth, and Sidney Finkel. We have also sent the Tak for Alt film and associated lesson plans by survivor Judith Meissel, and are planning to send Frank’s film.” The team is excited about this opportunity to reach teachers in the Tidewater area of Virginia.