Over 350 Holocaust survivors settled in North Carolina, with the first wave of refugees coming in the 1930s. Some of those survivors published memoirs about the challenges they faced during the Holocaust, and we have listed them below, along with links to purchase them where applicable. We encourage teachers to buy them so that students can learn about the Holocaust and how it has impacted our neighbors, and so that you are supporting the survivors and their families today. Consider choosing five or six titles and purchasing a few copies of each to create literature circles, or write a Donor’s Choose grant to purchase a class set of a title.

The NC Council on the Holocaust is also working on writing memoirs for some of the remaining survivors who have not published yet, so stay tuned for more inspiring stories from NC Holocaust survivors! The first in the series about Holocaust survivor Margot Lobree was just released and is available as a free PDF below! We will provide options soon for ordering printed copies of these new texts.

Our Great Escape: The Story of a Dutch Family’s Flight from Persecution (1942-1943) by Lex Silbiger

When Lex was only six years old, he was unexpectedly taken on a long and dangerous journey. His Jewish parents, after living for two years under the German occupation of their native Netherlands, had little illusion about the fate awaiting them unless they managed to get away. For Lex, the journey was a frightening but at the same time an exciting adventure, as the family traveled through several countries while hiding their true identities. It took nearly a year, including several months of a forced stay in a refugee camp in Jamaica, to finally find asylum in the Dutch island of Curaçao. There, the family could once again live in safety, and Lex could get back to school, which he had missed all this time.
In Our Great Escape, the author gives a vivid description of this extraordinary period in his life, illustrated by a large number of preserved photographs, documents, and maps. He continues to describe the aftermath, his family’s eventual return to the much-changed post-war world of the Netherlands, and, after finishing high school, his move to the United States. In recent years, as he became aware of the similar experiences of refugees in many parts of the world as well as the widespread resurgence of antisemitism, he decided he must write and publish this story of his early life.

Click here to access the list of memoirs