IF YOU HEARD WHAT ILANA HEARD

ILANA SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER, ELS SALOMON BENDHEIM, WHO WAS BORN IN 1923 TO AN OBSERVANT JEWISH, ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY IN AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND. ELS HAD A HAPPY CHILDHOOD IN AMSTERDAM, UNTIL ANTISEMITISM STARTED TO RISE AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOR JEWS IN THEIR CITY STARTED TO CHANGE. IN 1939, ELS AND HER FAMILY IMMIGRATED TO CANADA, BARELY ESCAPING NAZI PERSECUTION. THE FAMILY ULTIMATELY SETTLED IN THE U.S. WHERE ELS GRADUATED FROM BARNARD COLLEGE IN 1944.

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