IF YOU HEARD WHAT YONA HEARD

YONA SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER, HELEN STARK PHILIPS, WHO WAS BORN IN KISKOVESD, SLOVAKIA, TO A LARGE RELIGIOUS OBSERVANT FAMILY, AND WAS ONE OF TEN SIBLINGS. SHE HAD A HAPPY AND NORMAL UPBRINGING, AND THE FAMILY WAS VERY CLOSE, UNTIL 1944, WHEN THE NAZIS INVADED HER TOWN, ROUNDED UP ALL OF THE MEN, AND MOVED THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN INTO A GHETTO. THE CONDITIONS IN THE GHETTO WERE INHUMANE AND TERRIFYING. NOT LONG AFTER, HELEN AND HER SISTERS WERE FORCED ONTO A CATTLE CAR AND SENT TO AUSCHWITZ, WHERE THEY WERE IMMEDIATELY SEPARATED FROM THEIR MOTHER, AND SENT INTO FORCED LABOR. UNDER BRUTAL CONDITIONS, HELEN MANAGED TO SURVIVE THROUGH A SERIES OF MIRACLES, BY STAYING WITH HER THREE SISTERS, AND BY FORGING FRIENDSHIPS WITH OTHER PRISONERS WHO THEN LOOKED OUT FOR EACH OTHER. IN EARLY 1945 THEY WERE LIBERATED AND HELEN AND HER SISTERS RETURNED TO THEIR VILLAGE TO FIND ONE OF THEIR BROTHERS SURVIVED. IT WAS AFTER LIBERATION THAT HELEN MET THE MAN WHO WOULD BECOME HER HUSBAND, HUGO FILIPOVITZ, ALSO A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AND TOGETHER, THEY REBUILT THEIR LIVES AND A THRIVING FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW TODAY.

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