EVELYN’S STORY
Evelyn’s parents didn’t just witness anti-Jewish violence, they were on their way to a concentration camp when Allied soldiers liberated them in 1945. With a heightened awareness of antisemitism as a very real part of her family history, Evelyn enjoyed the freedom she experienced growing up in Holland.
However, she began seeing disturbing antisemitic trends returning to the Netherlands as early as 2000. It was then that she began hearing chants of “Jews to the gas” in the streets of Amsterdam. When she spoke to other Jews who were targeted and beaten in the street she made the decision to become active against antisemitism. She co-founded an organization in Holland that knocked on doors of authorities to do more to stop antisemitism. When antisemitism further intensified she decided to leave the land her family had called home for centuries.
Even before a growing wave of antisemitic sentiment began to sweep her new home—America—she knew she couldn’t remain silent. Today, she confronts the hatred that drove her out. Not with anger or prejudice of her own, but instead with facts, honesty, respect and compassion.