The Passing of Dina

It was with great sadness yesterday that I learned of Dina Jacobson’s passing. She died Thursday at home with her family at her side. Her life had been so full of pain and triumph: growing up on a farm in Poland, surviving Auschwitz, meeting her future husband in a Displaced Persons camp, then coming to America without any job and knowing no English. Then, for twenty-five years, she shared the stories of her experience with students, all in the hope of preventing another Holocaust. I had the privilege of meeting her in 1998, when I was a freshman in high school. For the last year, I have been interviewing her, researching her past, and imagining all the gaps in between. The courage and generosity she showed in reliving her trauma every year for the benefit of young people will be greatly missed.