Michele StuevenIn May of 2020, a synagogue was graffitied near the Grove with obscenities towards Jews. It was one of five or six antisemitic incidents Carolyn Siegel watched unfold on the news that year.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, it was one of more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents that year. She thought that if more people today heard the stories she had heard about what her grandparents lived through during the Holocaust and how they survived, maybe there wouldn’t be such levels of hate.
Carolyn Siegel with grandparents, Ama and Papa (Lea and Moses Locker). Courtesy Carolyn Siegel
That was the beginning of If You Heard What Heard, a group of the last generation to hear stories about surviving the Holocaust firsthand from its grandparents. Siegel has painstakingly documented and recorded memories from more than 70 families.
The seed was planted when an eight-year-old Siegel was in the kitchen with her grandparents. Her grandfather started talking about the holocaust and how he lost his parents. Her grandmother shushed him and told him to stop talking about that time. Siegel insisted he go on with the story, that she needed to hear about this. Her grandmother, Lea, whom she called Alma, told her that she had lost her brothers and parents. As she told the emotional story, she dropped the dish she was washing, and it shattered in the sink. She recalled when her own mother had her back broken from the torture in the camp. After that story, Carolyne’s grandfather turned to her and said, “You must never let anyone forget what we went through.”
On Sunday, the non-profit organization held A Night of Resilience at the Petersen Automotive Museum, hosted by Defiance actor Mark Feuerstein, featuring therapeutic, laugh-out-loud comedy from Dan Levy and Moshe Kasher, mind-blowing magic from Justin Willman, of Magic For Humans on Netflix, and music from Distant Cousins.
The evening honored board member Aaron Aftergood with its first Legacy Award and recognized Holocaust survivor Andrew Stern with its first Medal of Resilience.
Behind the scenes, filming an interview (Courtesy Carolyn Siegel)
“It’s an important cause,” Feuerstein of the New York Feuersteins told LA Weekly at the event that featured Mediterranean fare from Yoav Schverd and grilled cheese sandwiches from Eric Greenspan, who took a break from his duties at the nearby Tesla Diner. “Anything that documents our people’s history, our suffering, tells the story to prove to the world that might sometimes deny it, that survivors from the holocaust to October 7 and the trauma for the generations in between have been through hell and back.”
“I’m excited to perform at this event tonight,” comedian Levy chimed in. “Jews always laugh through pain, and here we are. It’s comedy, it’s cars, and it’s magic.”
A Night of Resilience. From left: Mark Feuerstein, Dan Levy, Aaron Aftergood, Justin Willman, and Carolyn Siegel (Zusha Goldin)