Holocaust Survivor Helga Luden Shares Her Story of Escape and Remembrance

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

• 🕯️ International Holocaust Remembrance Day was marked by illuminating 16 landmarks across New York in yellow, including the Mario Cuomo Tapenzy Bridge.
• 🕊️ Gatherings took place across the area to honor the roughly 6 million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.

Helga Luden's Survival Story

• 👧 Helga Luden, a survivor, shared her experience of escaping a Nazi transit camp at just 6 years old.
• 🎶 She recounted how a Nazi officer, who took a liking to her singing, warned her mother about the impending gassing and shooting of children, helping them escape.
• 🤝 Luden and her mother hid with a local family for months before boarding a ship to the Dominican Republic.

Settling in the United States and the Importance of Memory

• 🇺🇸 The family eventually settled in the United States in 1946.
• ⚠️ Luden emphasized the imperative to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust, especially in light of current anti-semitism.
• 🙏 She expressed hope that remembering the horrors of the past ensures they remain in the past, marking 81 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.