Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, Holocaust survivor Gabriella Major visited Spence to speak with Upper School students during an assembly and to Middle School members of the Jewish Culture Club (JCC).

Born in Debrecen, Hungary, during WWII, Gabriella shared the story of her childhood, which was shaped by the German invasion of Hungary in 1944. Shortly after, Gabriella was sent to a concentration camp when she was two-years-old. Gabriella was deported with her mother and grandmother to a concentration camp near Vienna after many months of living in a ghetto. 

“28 people in my family were murdered,” she told students. “You need to know everything about the Holocaust. Why? Because history might repeat itself.” Eventually her family was liberated by the Russians, but she spoke in detail about the long-lasting trauma inflicted on her during her time in the camp, including hiding food and an inability to trust adults. 

Today, Gabriella shares her story in order to teach and to remind young people of what happened. “I always tell students: you are my ambassadors. I will rely on you to tell your friends, parents, neighbors, or anyone who will want to tell you the Holocaust didn’t happen. You will tell them you met Gabriella. You can continue to testify."