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.

Julie Kohner, founder and CEO of Voices of the Generations, presented the VOG program to students and parents at Temple Shalom in Norwalk, Connecticut on Sunday, April 23, 2023. Thank you to Rabbi Jason Greenberg for brining the program to their congregation.

VOG Founder, Julie Kohner, presented Voices of the Generations and “This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner, in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day, with a Film Screening & Tools for Education and Action. The event was held via Zoom, with 600 registered participants online for the event.

The program included a screening of the 1953 historic airing of This Is Your Life featuring Hanna Bloch Kohner, a Holocaust survivor who lived through four concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Broadcast only eight years after the end of World War II, this show brought the horrors of the Holocaust into the living rooms of American families for the first time on national television. The groundbreaking program paved the way for future Holocaust dramatizations and documentaries in television and film.

Following the screening, Teresa Drenick, Interim Director of the ADL Western Division, held a conversation with Hanna’s daughter, Julie Kohner. Additionally, ADL senior staff across the west coast shared resources for education and action.

Voices of the Generations presented to the United Jewish Federation of Stamford, New Canaan and Darien Connecticut, and the Jewish Historical Society of Fairfield County, at Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT on April 16, 2023. More than 100 attendants heard VOG founder, Julie Kohner, present her parents story and viewed the episode of This Is Your Life, Hanna Bloch Kohner, followed by a great Q&A session. Julie signed her parents book, Hanna and Walter, A Love Story, following the presentation.

It is with great pleasure to announce that Voices of the Generations is now working with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission to bring the VOG program to schools throughout Tennessee. This week Julie Kohner presented VOG to Apollo Middle School in Antioch, Tennessee and to Bellevue Middle School in Bellevue. Both classes have been studying Holocaust history through their 8th grade English classes. Both presentations sparked great question and answer sessions with the students, who have been studying Holocaust through readings of Diary of Ann Frank and other notable works.

Thanks to the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, Alyssa Trachtman, Director of Operations, and Ken Gluck, Education Coordinator.

Voices of the Generations founder and CEO, Julie Kohner, presented at University Synagogue to 250 senior Los Angeles area high school students preparing to travel to Poland and Israel. The March of the Living trip will tour Holocaust remembrance sites such as Auschwitz in Poland, and memorial sites in Israel. Thanks to Maya Aharon, Director for March of the Living.