IF YOU HEARD WHAT JARED HEARD

JARED SHARES THE STORY OF HIS GRANDMOTHER, DEBORAH KILSTEIN EILENBERG. SHE WAS BORN IN 1925 ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CZESTOCHOWA, POLAND, AND GREW UP IN AN OBSERVANT, RELIGIOUS JEWISH HOME. HER CHILDHOOD WAS NORMAL AND HAPPY—UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1939.

WHEN THE NAZIS INVADED HER TOWN, THE JEWS OF CZESTOCHOWA WERE ROUNDED UP. MOST OF DEBORAH’S FAMILY WAS SENT TO TREBLINKA EXTERMINATION CAMP. SHE WAS SEPARATED FROM THEM AND FORCED INTO HARD LABOR AT AN AMMUNITION FACTORY, ENDURING YEARS OF BRUTALITY AND DEPRIVATION.

WHEN LIBERATION FINALLY CAME IN JANUARY 1945, SHE RETURNED HOME ONLY TO LEARN THAT JUST THREE OF HER SIBLINGS HAD SURVIVED. IT WAS IN THE SHATTERED REMNANTS OF POST-WAR CZESTOCHOWA THAT DEBORAH MET THE MAN WHO WOULD BECOME HER HUSBAND. THEY MARRIED IN AUSTRIA WHILE TRAVELING TO A DISPLACED-PERSONS CAMP IN BARI, ITALY, AND EVENTUALLY IMMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES, WHERE THEY BUILT A NEW LIFE—ONE DEFINED NOT BY WHAT THEY ENDURED, BUT BY WHAT THEY CREATED.

FROM THE ASHES OF LOSS, THEY BUILT A FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW AND THRIVE TODAY.

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