IF YOU HEARD WHAT ALIZA HEARD

ALIZA SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDFATHER, JACK WAKSAL, WHO WAS BORN IN JEDLIŃSK, POLAND, AND RAISED IN A CLOSE-KNIT JEWISH COMMUNITY WITH HIS SIBLINGS AND FRIENDS. HIS CHILDHOOD WAS MARKED BY WARMTH AND BELONGING, UNTIL ANTISEMITISM BEGAN TO RISE 1937, SIGNALING THE DANGER TO COME. WHEN GERMANY INVADED POLAND IN 1939, A GHETTO WAS ESTABLISHED, AND JACK AND HIS FAMILY WERE FORCED TO ENDURE BRUTAL PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS.

AFTER SURVIVING A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE, JACK ESCAPED INTO THE FOREST. DRIVEN BY UNCERTAINTY, JACK RISKED HIS LIFE BY INFILTRATING THE SOŁA LABOR CAMP, WHERE HE LEARNED HIS FATHER HAD BEEN MURDERED AND HIS MOTHER AND SISTERS SENT TO TREBLINKA. LATER TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER LABOR CAMP, JACK ESCAPED ONCE AGAIN UPON LEARNING HE WOULD BE SENT TO AUSCHWITZ, LEADING A GROUP INTO THE FOREST TO JOIN THE RESISTANCE. JUST MONTHS BEFORE LIBERATION, THEY WERE CAPTURED. JACK SURVIVED BY HIDING IN WATER AND SHELTERING IN A BARN UNTIL LIBERATION.

AFTER THE WAR, JACK RETURNED TO JEDLIŃSK AND RECONNECTED WITH THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BECOME HIS WIFE, SABINA, ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR. DESPITE UNIMAGINABLE LOSS, HE REBUILT HIS LIFE - TESTIFYING AGAINST NAZIS, AND EVENTUALLY IMMIGRATING TO THE UNITED STATES. SETTLING IN DAYTON, OHIO, JACK AND HIS WIFE RAISED THREE CHILDREN AND BUILT A LIFE ROOTED IN RESILIENCE, FAMILY, AND HOPE.

IF YOU HEARD WHAT ALIZA HEARD, YOU WOULD NEVER FORGET.