In December of 2025, after many months of resisting, my mother quietly passed away as I held her. Gone after 98 resilient and powerful years.

I retired in August 2020, when she was 93, as she needed more care and support. I saw she was fading, and I knew that her Kindertransport story would fade with her. I knew that this story needed to be told, and that I needed to be the one to do it!

I took a course provided by the Kindertransport Association and gave my first PowerPoint presentation in December 2023. Then, in early 2024, I joined Teach the Shoah and discovered the power of storytelling.

I remember the day when, instead of a chronological presentation, I started the third-person story on the morning after Kristallnacht when my 11-year-old mother headed to the town square in Breslau, Germany. The story was now three dimensional and filled with emotion!

I presented the story to my mother and videoed her reaction to hearing it, which was very powerful and validating. I include that video at the end of my slide presentation – after I’ve told her story. It is a way for her to be there, even though she isn’t telling the story.

In 2025, I had a full season of school presentations. I shared with my mother that I had taken her story on the road. She was so proud of me for doing so, even though she never would have done it herself. Her pride fueled me even more!

And then I lost her. As the 2026 school speaking season came around, I was nervous. Could I tell her story without crying? It didn’t feel the same. I was still missing her.

My first telling was in early April to a small history class in a charter school. I told the teacher about the circumstances, so he would be prepared in case I was overcome with emotions. During the telling, I was aware of feeling sad, but it didn’t bubble up, and I was able to tell her story.

The very first question of the Q&A was, “Is your mother still alive?”

I felt the emotions come up to the surface and overflow; my eyes started tearing. With some difficulty, I held it together and told them that she had recently died.

I said that in the Jewish faith, we have an expression: May their memory be for a blessing. By this, we mean that any time the departed person is thought of or spoken about, they are fully present and we are blessed to be once again in their presence.

Before and After: The purpose and drive to do this is still the same. Now my heart is heavier, but my mother is with me, fully present when I tell her story. Like her, I am brave and will continue telling. I have to.