"Carry that Torch:" Zikaron BaSalon and a survivor’s story
Ben Cohen, grandson to Judy Meisel, shares the importance of hearing the stories of Holocaust survivors and taking up the activism mantle
Judy Meisel with her grandson, Ben Cohen. Photo courtesy of Ben Cohen.
On Monday, April 20, the eve of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Zikaron BaSalon participants signed into Zoom calls across the world to commemorate and engage in important conversations about the Holocaust. Zikaron BaSalon translates to “memories in the living room,” and in a normal year, the social initiative does just that—folks gather together in cities across the globe in the living rooms of their families and friends to honor the memories of the Holocaust together and, if possible, hear first-hand from a survivor of the Holocaust.
Each Zikaron BaSalon features a testimony, followed by expression and open discussion sections. YALA Twin Cities, the young adult program of the Minneapolis and St. Paul Jewish Federations, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas partnered up to keep the tradition going virtually this year, and Ben Cohen, the grandson of local Holocaust survivor Judy Meisel, was there to offer testimony.
If you’ve heard of Judy Meisel, it may be because she made international news three years ago when she gave eyewitness testimony in the trial of a former Nazi guard of Stutthof Concentration Camp. While Judy was unable to travel from her home in St. Louis Park to Germany for the actual trial, Ben was—as he explained at Zikaron BaSalon—willing and eager to go and represent his grandmother and family. To his surprise, he was the only family member of a Holocaust survivor present.
“My grandmother’s story has always been something that my family, myself included, have shared with people willingly and often,” Ben said in a post-Zikaron Basalon interview, “but the trial has really driven the way I talk about the story because I can tell it from my own perspective, having attended.”
Ben has spoken across the country to groups about his grandmother’s experience, passing on her remarkable story. Although COVID-19 has restricted how we meet in person, it’s also opened a virtual door for him to hopefully reach even more people—not unlike how he was able to be featured in Zikaron BaSalon in Minnesota while across the country in New York.
“Now that we live in a more virtual world, whether that’s short-term or long-term—we’re never going to quite go back to the way things were,” he said. “I hope there’s more opportunity to share this story through virtual meetings and events like [Zikaron BaSalon]. That was really exciting for me to be able to do that. I know there are people all over the world who would be amazing audiences and would really be interested in it. I never felt like I could propose [a virtual presentation] and all of a sudden that’s the only way—it doesn’t matter where I am.”
Judy’s legacy
Judy has long been an activist—she was active in the Civil Rights movement and has used her own story to educate others on the Holocaust and the importance of speaking out against hatred and fascism. It’s a lesson that her children and grandchildren have taken deeply to heart.
“When I look at my grandmother’s lifetime commitment to sharing her story, it just feels like a very important tribute to her to continue that as best we can and to carry that torch,” Ben said, speaking on how incredible and strange it was for his family to be at the center of an internationally-noticed trial. “We’ve always felt like Judy is the most special person in the world. You know, she’s our grandmother, so we’re a little biased. And every survivor’s story is so valuable and important for people to hear. In a weird way, it’s not that surprising to me that her story would suddenly be interesting now to people. It feels right that she’s having that chance so late in life to have this new avenue to share it.”
Judy (left) and her sister Rachel both survived. Photo courtesy of Ben Cohen.
And as we learn about Judy and other survivors, we take on their stories and have a right—even a duty—to tell them to future generations who won’t have met survivors firsthand. And, Ben pointed out, this is also a last chance to hold former Nazis accountable and have them try to explain themselves.
“We're able to get some insight into, ‘How does someone become a perpetrator of these crimes?’ Oftentimes people have this false sense that the Third Reich and Hitler’s army were like an alien station that came to earth, did these things, and then left. But these were human beings also.” Germany, he pointed out, was an educated, advanced country where Jews were well-assimilated—by all outward appearances, the last place the Holocaust should have happened. But outward appearances hardly matter, as Ben explained, when real people—the perpetrators—are capable of and willing to do terrible things.
“If you think that that can’t happen again, you’re wrong,” he said. “We have that capacity as humans to do those things. How many people have ever really heard a perpetrator explain themselves? You can't actually explain it, but I think it’s worth forcing that difficult conversation.”
So how can we all become activists? How do we take up such a weighty, important mantle? How do we stand up against the capacity in other humans for evil and hatred? Ben, whose activism is deeply rooted in Judy’s story and example, had some ideas. He notes that there are so many important causes and organizations that people can research and become involved with and passionate about.
“Beyond that, I have this conversation with Judy frequently, especially over the last two years,” he added. “She has two fears, which are kind of in contradiction. The first one is that people will not remember her story, or not remember what happened in the Holocaust.” This, he explained, is what motivated Judy’s activism and his own. “But her other fear is that if her own grandchildren spend all our energy and all our time reliving her trauma, we won’t be able to live a fulfilling and joyful life. So there’s a tension there, between ‘Everyone should be an activist, everyone should try to make the world a better place,’ but we can’t do that at the sacrifice of our own individual happiness either.”
It’s yet another reason why Ben sharing Judy’s story at Zikaron BaSalon was such a good fit—it’s a platform uniquely designed to empower young Jews to become activists, to take ownership over the memories and lessons of the Holocaust, and to carry on the essential work of telling the stories of survivors.
“What can I do for my grandmother,” Ben asked, “To show her that she actually survived and went on to make the world a better place? [I’m just] striking that balance—honoring her by sharing that story, and also honoring her by living my life as best as I can for myself.”
To learn more about Judy and the ongoing work Ben is doing to tell her story, visit judymeisel.com. There, you’ll find more information about The Judy Project, which encompasses Ben’s curation of the website, an in-progress film, and other important educational materials.
To learn more about Zikaron BaSalon or become a host for your own program, visit zikaronbasalon.org or reach out to Emma, YALA Twin Cities Manager at edunn@jewishtwincities.org