IF YOU HEARD WHAT ADRIANNA HEARD

ADRIANNA SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER, LILI MONTAG WEINBERG, WHO WAS FROM DEČÍN, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, WHICH WAS A SMALL TOWN NOT FAR FROM PRAGUE. SHE WAS THE MIDDLE CHILD OF IRMA AND LUDWIG, AND HAD A YOUNGER SISTER NAMED AUGGIE AND AN OLDER BROTHER NAMED MICKEY. WHILE JUDAISM WAS IMPORTANT TO THEM, THEY HAD MANY FRIENDS WHO WERE NOT JEWISH, AND NEVER FELT ANTISEMITISM IN THEIR TOWN. THEY HEARD FROM FAMILY IN POLAND THAT ANTISEMITISM WAS ON THE RISE, BUT DIDN’T BELIEVE IT COULD HAPPEN TO THEM IN THEIR TOWN, UNTIL THE NAZIS INVADED. THE NAZIS SEPARATED LILI, HER MOTHER, AND HER SISTER AUGGIE FROM HER BROTHER AND FATHER, AND FORCED THEM ONTO CATTLE CARS WHERE THEY WERE SENT TO A LABOR CAMP, AND ULTIMATELY TO AUSCHWITZ, WHICH LILI DESCRIBED AS BEING IN A NIGHTMARE. SHE WAS SENT ON A DEATH MARCH TOWARDS THE END OF THE WAR, AND ULTIMATELY LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIANS. BY THE TIME SHE WAS LIBERATED, SHE WAS MALNOURISHED, HAD TYPHOID, AND WAS EXTREMELY FRAIL. AFTER REGAINING HER STRENGTH AND RECOVERING, SHE MET HER HUSBAND, MIKE WEINBERG, WHO WAS ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AND THEY QUICKLY WORKED HARD TO REBUILD THEIR LIVES. TODAY THEY HAVE A VIBRANT FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO THRIVE AND MAINTAIN THE TRADITIONS OF JUDAISM THAT WERE SO IMPORTANT TO THEM.

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