The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum welcomed Julie Kohner and Voices of the Generations for a speaking engagement on Sunday, November 24, as part of their monthly Survivor Hour program. The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is a Holocaust museum with a mission to “use the history and lessons of the Holocaust to reject hatred, promote understanding, and inspire change”.

Following the engagement, which featured “This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner”, and a new film documenting the placement in Amsterdam of two Stolpersteine honoring Julie’s mother Hanna, and her first Husband, Carl Benjamin who did not survive Auschwitz, Julie took audience questions and signed copies of her parents autobiography, Hanna and Walter, A Love Story.

VOG would like to thank the Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum and Helen Turner, Director of Education, for hosting this wonderful and well received program.

Julie Kohner was invited to present Voices of the Generations to Congregation Emanu-El on November 7, 2025, in Redlands, California. Rabbi Cantor Jennifer Bern-Vogel arranged for the presentation as part of the Congregation’s Kristallnacht memorial service. Julie presented This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner, a new presentation on the placement of Stolpersteine in Amsterdam honoring her mother, and followed up with questions and answers, and a book signing.

As a part of this evening’s Kristallnacht memorial service, a dedication ceremony was held for the receipt of a Holocaust Memorial Torah scroll, saved from the destruction of the Nazis.

Everyone has a story and a history, and a Torah scroll is no exception. Thanks to the facilitation of Debra Duncan, CAPT, United States Navy [ret], and a former congregant in Norfolk, VA with Rabbi Cantor Bern-Vogel, and the board of Temple Adath Joseph of St. Joseph, Missouri, this precious Holocaust Memorial Scroll was received by Congregation Emanu El, which is taking over the care of the scroll formally allocated to Temple Adath Joseph in 1993.

The Holocaust Torah is Memorial Scrolls Trust (MST) #17, one of the 1564 Torah scrolls that survived the Shoah in Czechoslovakia. MST #17 is recorded to have been written in 1800. It was one of 25 scrolls taken from smaller communities outside of Prague, and placed in the Malvazinky Cemetery Chapel for safe keeping during the Second World War. They were later moved to the Jewish Museum in Prague. In 1958, all of the scrolls were moved by the communists to a warehouse near Prague. They were saved from further destruction and loss in 1964 and were donated to the Westminster Synagogue in London that year. The Memorial Scrolls Trust was later created as an independent charity to care for the Holocaust Torah Scrolls. Memorial Scrolls Trust has distributed some 1400 Holocaust Torah Scrolls to communities and organizations around the world.

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The Savannah Jewish Federation hosted Julie Kohner and her Voices of the Generations program at a Federation Lunch and Learn, on Thursday, October 30, 2025. The Jewish Federation is a focal point of community life in Savannah. Savannah is also the location of Congregation Mickve Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in the United States. Thanks to Michelle Allen, director of programming at the Savannah Jewish Federation for bringing the program to the community.

The New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum and its Director, Alexander King, sponsored a Voices of the Generations presentation by Julie Kohner, held at the Albuquerque Jewish Community Center on Sunday, May 25. The event was well attended, with an engaging Q&A session following the program.

Julie Kohner was the invited speaker at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, for the Yom Ha Shoah remembrance service on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Sponsored by the Colorado College Chaplain’s office and CC Hillel, the service included music of remembrance, readings from Elie Wiesel’s book, “Night”, memorial prayer for the Six Million by Rabbi Jay Sherwood of Temple Shalom, and Voices of the Generations presented by Julie Kohner. The service was also covered by Southern Colorado TV station KOAA News 5. Below is a link to the TV coverage including an interview with Julie.

VOG founder, Julie Kohner, recently spoke at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. The event was held on March 27, 2025, in the Hale Library on the campus of KSU. Julie was introduced by Karin Westman, Associate Professor and Department Head for the Department of English at KSU.  Students, faculty, and community members were in attendance.

On the previous day, Julie presented Voices of the Generations program to 10th, 11th and 12th grade students at Manhattan High School.

Julie Kohner and Karin Westman at Kansas State University

On Sunday, May 5, 2024, it was a great honor to present Voices of the Generations to the United Jewish Congregation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This date also marks the 79th anniversary of my mother, Hanna Bloch Kohner’s, liberation from the Mauthausen, Concentration Camp at the end of the Second World War. Hanna was fortunate to have survived her ordeal in four Nazi concentration camps, and the memory of those who both perished and survived is the basis of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Ha Shoah. VOG was also honored to be the very first presentation by an outside speaker at the new United Jewish Congregation of Baton Rouge, just opened in March 2024. I would like to thank the Jewish Federation of Baton Rouge, and Director, Ellen Sager for hosting VOG.

Julie Kohner presented the Voices of the Generations program to the Harpeth Presbyterian Church congregation on Sunday, March 3. Paster Rachel welcomed VOG to her church members. The church was established in 1811. After introducing the program and sharing the video presentation of This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner, Julie conducted a question and answer session with congregation members. Julie shared with members the importance of remembering the Holocaust and keeping those memories alive.

Julie Kohner and The Rev. Dr. Rachel Thompson Orfield

On April 27, 2023, Julie Kohner, Founder and CEO of Voices of the Generations, presented the program to her home Synagogue as part of Thursday Lunch-and-Learn, and West of 65 group event. Nearly 70 guests were treated to lunch hosted by the Congregation, followed by the VOG presentation. Special thanks to Rabbi Laurie Rice, Membership Director Mindy Drongowski, and West of 65 organizer Paula Kirwan for planning and organizing the event.