Generations Speaker Lee Kikel at Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish
2024-11-11 19:00 (America/New_York) | Upper CDC Center at the Saints John and Paul campus – Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish, 2586 Wexford Bayne Rd, Sewickley, PA, 15143, United States

“A Night of Hope & Hops” at Acclamation Brewing
2024-11-14 18:00 | Acclamation Brewing, 314 Arch St, Verona, PA, 15147, United States
Join us at Acclamation Brewing for “A Night of Hope & Hops” with Generations Speaker Debbie Stueber! Hear her tell stories of her parents, Kurt and Edith Leuchter, including their experiences of surviving the Nazis, joining the French Resistance, and making new lives in America. Kurt and Edith will likely join at the end for Q&A with the audience.
This event will also feature a celebrity bartender! Liz Berlin is a captivating solo performer and founding member of triple-platinum Pittsburgh band Rusted Root. Seating and bar with Liz will open at 6:00, Debbie’s talk will begin at 6:30. Acclamation will generously be donating all tips to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
RSVP: https://www.acclamationbrewing.com/event-details/pub-speaker-debbie-stueber-the-holocaust-center-of-pittsburgh
Liz enchants audiences with her original songs, from tranquil to funky to raging. Over the years, she’s explored various musical genres and bands, from childhood roots in classical music, to indie psychedelic Americana band Drowning Clowns, to Social Justice Disco, an anthemic activist collaboration with jazz diva Phat Man Dee. Beyond her music, Liz and her husband Mike Speranzo co-own Mr. Smalls Theatre and Recording Studio, showcasing world-renowned acts and local artists alike. She’s dedicated to education, founding Creative Life Support’s youth artist development programs.

A Night of Hope and Hops: A Generations Talk by Debbie Leuchter Stueber
2025-01-31 18:00 | Hazel Grove Brewing Company, 4609 Irvine St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15207, United States

Edith and Kurt Leuchter: A Story of Love and Resilience
2025-03-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Cranberry Public Library, 2525 Rochester Rd., Cranberry Township, PA, 16066, United States
She was born in Bruchsal, Germany. He was born in Vienna, Austria. As hidden children, their paths crossed briefly in a French orphanage. This is just a part of their story, separately and together: surviving the Holocaust, fighting Nazis in the French Resistance, and making a new life in America. This is the true story of Kurt and Edith Leuchter, as told by their daughter Deborah Stueber. Kurt and Edith will attend virtually to answer audience questions.
Deborah Leuchter Stueber has been a volunteer for the past 30 years at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. In 2021 she was chosen as their Volunteer of the Year. Sharing her parents’ Holocaust experience with schools, universities, and various organizations for the last several years has been her passion. She feels strongly that it’s the responsibility of her generation and generations to come to carry on the survivors legacy.
Register here.

Generations Speakers Series - 80th Anniversary of Liberation: Alison Brown Karabin
2025-03-12 18:00 | Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Hall, 5798 Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
Alison Brown Karabin will share the story of her grandmother Elizabeth Brown (z”l), a beloved Pittsburgh survivor originally from Hungary. Alison will recount Elizabeth’s survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Volary death march, before settling in Squirrel Hill and raising her family. This event is part of a series of programs in 2025, recognizing the 80th anniversary of liberation.

Register here.

A Holocaust Story: Love and Resilience During World War II
2025-03-24 19:00 | Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA, 15146, United States
RSVP here.

Generations Speaker - Lee Goldman Kikel
2025-03-27 17:30 - 18:30 | C.C. Mellor Memorial Library – Edgewood, 1 Pennwood Ave, Edgewood, PA, 15218, United States
“Generations Speakers are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. They have all been recruited, vetted, and coached by the Holocaust Center staff and veteran Generations Speakers to develop presentations about their survivor relative’s story. The Generations Speakers are all extremely passionate about what they do: preserving their family legacy; making sure that future generations hear a factual, well-researched, personal account of a Holocaust survivor; and most importantly, never forget what their parents and/ or grandparents experienced.” ~https://hcofpgh.org/resources/speakers/
Book sale and discussion will take place after the presentation. Learn more here.
Speaker Bio:
Lee Goldman Kikel grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where she spent many of her early years in her family’s jewelry business, both as a child and an employee.
Lee’s father, Melvin Goldman, did not talk much about his childhood in Poland, or his family. In the 1970s, he began recording details of his experiences on cassette tapes, which lay dormant until 2015, when Lee found them and finally listened to his testimony. Lee honored his wishes to transcribe his story as a book, published in 2019 as Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey From Poland to America. In April 2023, Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre debuted a theatrical adaptation of her book, entitled Perseverance, written by playwright L. E. McCullough and generously supported by a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
Over the years, she has told her family’s story to many audiences, and she has also become a generations speaker as part of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. She has discussed the Holocaust and anti-semitism with diverse audiences around the region and beyond. These engagements have fostered multidisciplinary ways to reach audiences of all ages and in a variety of subject areas, and have taught her both the importance of sharing Holocaust education and the value of presenting the content in engaging ways.
Goldman Kikel is a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, having earned both a BS in psychology and a master’s degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh. She also worked in the mental health field as a rehabilitation counselor.

Andrew Laszlo: Growing Up in Hungary, Surviving the Holocaust, and Coming to America
2025-04-03 19:00 | Beit Kulanu (Formerly Rodef Shalom Congregation), 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Join Andrew Laszlo Jr. as he shares the extraordinary journey of his father, Andrew Laszlo, from a middle-class childhood in Hungary, through the horrors of the Holocaust, to an inspiring new life in America. More than a story of survival, this presentation highlights resilience, determination, and the pursuit of dreams against all odds.
Laszlo survived Bergen-Belsen, escaped post-war Soviet-occupied Hungary, and arrived in the U.S. with only $2.36 to his name—eventually becoming a world-renowned cinematographer behind films such as Shogun and Rambo: First Blood. His story remained a secret for 50 years until a book arrived on his son’s doorstep, revealing the past he had kept hidden.
Through personal reflections and powerful storytelling, Andrew Laszlo Jr. explores themes of survival, reinvention, and the forgotten heroes who risked everything to help others. This is an unforgettable narrative of courage, loss, and the enduring human spirit.
Register here.

Generations Speaker Clare Drobot at Connellsville Canteen
2025-05-21 17:00 - 19:30 | Connellsville Canteen Café and Museum, 131 West Crawford Avenue, Connellsville, PA, 15425, United States

A Night of Hope and Hops with Generations Speaker Debbie Leuchter Stueber
2025-06-03 19:00 | Acrospire Brewing Company, 1702 Mt. Royal Blvd., Glenshaw, PA, 15116, United States
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Edith and Kurt Leuchter: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resilience
2025-06-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Castle Shannon Library, 3677 Myrtle Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15234, United States
As hidden children, Kurt and Edith crossed paths briefly in a French orphanage after their parents were taken by Nazis. Their daughter, Deborah Stueber, will be here to tell their amazing story, from fighting Nazis in the French Resistance to making a new life in America.

Register here.

Generations Speakers Series: Lee Goldman Kikel
2025-07-24 16:00 - 17:00 | Community Library of the Shenango Valley, 11 N Sharpsville Ave, Sharon, PA, 16146, United States
In middle age, Melvin Goldman (z”l) recorded a series of cassette tapes telling his life story, leaving them to be found decades later after his passing. His daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel, discovered the recordings—a priceless family heirloom conveying memory and the history of a Polish Jewish family which became the basis of a 2019 Holocaust memoir. Lee’s presentation focuses on her father’s recounting: his pre-war childhood, ability to survive the Lodz ghetto, Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and a miraculous recovery while knowing most of his family perished.

Lee tells how hope, tenacity, and perseverance amid major losses guided her father to become a United States citizen and start a new life in Pittsburgh. Her presentation also describes his journey to becoming a well-respected Squirrel Hill jeweler who created joy for others.

For questions, please visit the library’s website: CLSV Community Library of the Shenango Valley
