About Susan’s Presentations

Susan Straus (she/her) is the daughter of Jewish holocaust survivors. In one presentation, she tells the story of her mother, Judy Levy Straus, who was born in Germany the day after Hitler came to power in 1933. Susan describes Judy and her family’s experiences after moving to Amsterdam, being deported to Westerbork, a transit camp in 1943, and later to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp that the Nazis used as a propaganda tool to attempt to convince the world that they were treating the Jews well. Judy and her mother survived the war; Judy’s father, who was ultimately deported to Auschwitz, did not.

In a separate presentation, Susan tells the story of her father, Henry Straus, who was born in Germany in 1928. She describes Henry’s experiences growing up in Germany under conditions of rampant antisemitism and what he and his family endured during and after Kristallnacht, the November 1938 pogrom.

In telling her parents’ stories, Susan encourages the audience to think about how victims of the Holocaust could be resilient in the face of unimaginable challenges and the effects of indifference toward others’ pain and suffering. She also encourages participants to consider what they can do to promote social justice in the world.