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Surviving the Holocaust Together

Public Program
Twins Marion and Steven Hess in Amsterdam before the war. Courtesy of the Hess Family

Twins Marion and Steven Hess in Amsterdam before the war. Courtesy of the Hess Family

Jewish newlyweds Karl (Carl) and Ilse Hess fled their home in Nazi Germany in 1936 and found refuge in Amsterdam. Two years later, the couple welcomed their newborn twins—Marion and Stefan (Steven). The family thrived until Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940.

Join us to hear Marion and Steven describe how their parents’ resourcefulness and determination to keep the family together helped them endure persecution, including barbaric conditions and abuse at the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps. Defying these Nazi crimes, the young family managed to stay together and survive the Holocaust.

Featured Speakers
Marion Lewin, Holocaust Survivor
Steven Hess, Holocaust Survivor

Host
Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice, Senior Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

After the program, copies of Inseparable: The Hess Twins' Holocaust Journey Through Bergen-Belsen to America will be available for purchase and signing.

For more information, please contact the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office at midatlanticoutreach@ushmm.org.  

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    Deportations of Jews from the Netherlands began in the summer of 1942. The last train left Westerbork for Auschwitz on September 3, 1944. During these two years, the Germans and their Dutch collaborators deported some 107,000 Jews, mostly to Auschwitz and Sobibor, where they were murdered. In addition, 25,000–30,000 Jews went into hiding, assisted by the Dutch underground. Two-thirds of those Dutch Jews who went into hiding managed to survive.

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