How Growing Up as a Child of Holocaust Survivors Has Shaped My Life
Karen Wolff: How Growing Up as a Child of Holocaust Survivors Has Shaped My Life • Saturday, January 22, 2022
Karen Wolff, 2022
As a child of Holocaust survivors, I was confronted with challenging tasks. I needed to learn to be “an American” yet respect my parents and their values. I was raised with a political perspective and an awareness of the power of prejudice. How could I apply this to my life?
Raised by two refugees from the Nazis—my mother from Berlin, my father from Metz. They had both been politically active before they were forced to leave, my father was a lawyer for labor unions and a Social Democrat. My mother was forced to leave high school and joined the communist movement. She was a messenger.
I struggled with how to be an American culturally and find a place in a work world that felt safe for me. I look forward to sharing my observations.
Karen Wolff grew up in New Rochelle, New York and has a brother, Richard. After college she lived in Paris with a cousin and her family for a year. After traveling around Europe for a few months, she returned to the United States and started a regional magnet high school with a group of teachers in New Haven, CT. Karen taught public high school history for 24 years, then acted as principal for six years. In 2008, she moved to California and was the principal of a charter school in Oakland for a year. Her three sons now live in California and they are very close.
If you would like to view our archive video of the presentation, contact Dr. Marion Gerlind for access.
