Nearly 200 people made their way to the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood last Sunday, March 13, to see three separate and truly emotional episodes of Ralph Edwards “This Is Your Life”. These most memorable episodes each featured Holocaust survivors, with different and compelling stories. These three individuals, Ilse Stanley, Sara Veffer, and Hanna Bloch Kohner, were surprised by host Ralph Edwards during his introductory remarks as he walked down the aisles of his studio audience.  My mother, Hanna Bloch Kohner, was the first Holocaust survivor, in 1953, to have her story told on national television.  I would like to thank the UCLA Film and Television Archive for the opportunity to speak to a truly receptive audience about my mother’s experience, growing up as a child of a Holocaust survivor, and our non-profit charity, “Voices of the Generations”, founded  to inform people across the country, utilizing “This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner”,  as a personal and unique approach to Holocaust education.  – Julie.

In case you missed this great review by Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times on March 3.

Here is the link: LA Times review of UCLA Festival of Preservation.

The UCLA Festival of Preservation, Sunday night March 13 showing of “This Is Your Life” event has been posted to the UCLA Hillel site.  See it at http://www.facebook.com/HillelatUCLA

Appearing in the Jewish Journal.com “Picks and Clicks” for the week of March 8 – 18, 2011, is a pick for Sunday, March 13, 7pm – UCLA Festival of Preservation.  Three restored episodes from the 1950’s television show, “This Is Your Life” with three different Holocaust survivor stories will be presented.  Julie Kohner will also speak about her mother, Hanna Kohner, the first Holocaust survivor to share her story on national television.

On the web at JewishJournal.com

Public Radio International’s “This American Life” March 4-6 will feature an episode from Allison Silverman discussing stories about the perils of giving and receiving gifts including what happens when – surprise! – your whole life past gets laid out for a live TV audience. This story will include excerpts of  “This Is Your Life”.

In a 1953 episode, Ralph Edwards surprises the lovely Hanna Bloch Kohner and discusses her heartbreaking and terrifying journey from being a young girl in the Sudetenland, through four concentration camps, and finally to the arms of her husband Walter in the United States. His description is vivid.”

Julie Kohner and Allison Silverman spoke at length regarding the feelings Hanna Kohner had about being a surprise guest on “This Is Your Life”.

To listen to the archived audio of this broadcast from March 4, 2011, click here.