IF YOU HEARD WHAT EVEY HEARD

EVEY SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDFATHER, JAY SHALMONI (YITZKAH FREIDMAN), WHO WAS BORN IN 1928 IN UZHOROD, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, TO A LOVING ORTHODOX JEWISH FAMILY. IN 1939, AT JUST 16 YEARS OLD, HE FIRST LEARNED ABOUT THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS. THAT SAME YEAR, HUNGARIAN FORCES TOOK OVER THEIR TOWN, AND JAY AND HIS FAMILY WERE FORCED INTO THE GHETTO. SOON AFTER, HE WAS TRANSPORTED TO AUSHWITZ WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS, PARENTS, AND SIBLINGS.

JAY WAS SEPARATED FROM HIS FAMILY, AND THROUGHOUT THE HOLOCAUST HE WAS MOVED FROM CONCENTRATION CAMPS TO DEATH CAMPS, SENT TO AUSCHWITZ II-BIRKENAU, BUCHENWALD, JAWISCHOWITZ BERGA/ELSTER AND WAS TAKEN TO WORK IN A POLISH COAL MINE.

NEAR THE END OF THE WAR, THE PRISONERS WERE FORCED ON A DEATH MARCH. IN A MOMENT OF COURAGE AND DESPERATION, JAY ESCAPED BY RUNNING FROM THE LINE, AND HE SURVIVED HIDING IN A BARN IN SUDETENLAND UNTIL THE TOWN WAS LIBERATED BY THE ARMED FORCES.

JAY RETURNED TO UZHOROD AND WAITED FOR HIS FAMILY, THOUGH FEW RETURNED. A FEW YEARS LATER, HE IMMIGRATED TO ISRAEL, WHERE HE IMMEDIATELY JOINED THE ISRAELI ARMY AND FOUGHT IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. HE EVENTUALLY MOVED TO CHICAGO, WHERE HE TRAINED AS AN UPHOLSTERER, AND LATER SETTLED IN LOS ANGELES, WHERE HE OPENED HIS OWN BUSINESS AND MET HIS WIFE, ANN LAUTENBERG, WHO WAS ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR. TOGETHER, THEY BUILT A BEAUTIFUL LIFE AND A FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW AND THRIVE TODAY.

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