Come together with fellow CBE members for a special gathering in honor of Yom HaShoah, in partnership with the CBE Holocaust descendants small group. We will screen Family Treasures Lost & Found followed by a Q&A with director Marcia Rock and Author & producer Karen A. Frenkel in conversation with members of our community and Rabbi Matt Green.
Reception and book signing of Karen A. Frenkel's memoir of the same name to follow.
In mid-May 1939, a young Polish doctor stood on the gangplank of a French ship in Havana Harbor. On the dock, his first wife, an American, was entreating an immigration officer to let him disembark. The reply: “He can’t because he’s a Jew.”
That doctor was my father. Growing up, I knew nothing of his past. So I investigated.
— Karen A. Frenkel
In Family Treasures Lost & Found, we follow Frenkel on her investigation as she uncovers story after incredible story. She chronicles the survival of her Polish Jewish parents, the fates of other relatives, and her own journey to recover her family history—particularly the parts her father refused to talk about and those her mother glossed over. Using her skills as a journalist, she investigated unspoken parts of her parents’ pre-war lives and WWII experiences, drawing on her mother’s recorded oral history and rare personal archive of photos, art, and correspondence, as well visiting Kraków, Lviv, Tarnów, and Vienna. In the end, Frenkel was not only filled with newfound admiration for her parents—she came to love people she had never met.
Far from dusty archival research, Family Treasures reveals the complexity and satisfaction of this investigative adventure. These riveting stories of survival, luck, and loss, will interest all generations and inspire many to delve into their own family history.