Before she rocketed to 1980s TV fame as sex advisor Dr. Ruth, she was simply Ruth Westheimer. And long before she was Ruth Westheimer, she was Karola Ruth Siegel of Wiesenfeld, Germany. It is those formative early years that provide the most resonant and affecting passages in Ryan White’s solid documentary, “Ask Dr. Ruth,” opening…
Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener recently spoke to children at the Tulen Center, a martial arts studio celebrating its 10th anniversary. Wiener is the author of From A Name to A Number: A Holocaust Survivor’s Autobiography. “Alter Wiener was amazing,” says Silvia Smart, who founded Tulen Center 10 years ago with her husband, Jeff Denson. “I…
Serge D’Rovencourt’s yellow Nazi star has the word “Juif ” written in black. Forced to wear this as a child in France, he’s kept it along with meticulous records of how his life evolved. We met him at his “office away from home,” the Starbucks in the Pearl at NW 11th Avenue and Lovejoy. He’d…
In recognition of its 25th anniversary, the Annenberg Foundation has honored its top 25 Visionary Leaders. The list includes local Holocaust survivor Rachella Meekcoms Kryszek, z”l. Chella, as she is known to thousands of Oregon students and teachers, was one of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center’s most prolific public speakers. Over the past three decades,…
Born in Lithuania in 1940, Maia Ilina was smuggled out of the ghetto in Kaunas shortly before it was liquidated in 1944. She spent the rest of World War II in hiding with a Lithuanian family; all her known relatives perished. After the war ended, she was taken to a Jewish orphanage. Now nearly 72…
