Mila's Survival: A Holocaust Exhibit

0:00A new Holocaust exhibit from the Czech Republic's Museum of Melada Bolslov just landed at Southern Connecticut State University's Bully Library, called Those Who Returned and Those Who Did Not, its spotlights eight Jewish families deported from that small town during World War II. One story stands out, the family of Professor Deborah Weiss, whose mom Mila was the sole survivor. Back in 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and Jews faced grim odds. Mila's parents pushed her to escape through an arranged marriage to Richard Weiss, a guy with an American passport who needed funds to leave. She was 17, he was 21, it started as a deal, but turned into real love, and they made it to the US together. Deborah Weiss calls it a total surprise that her family's tale made the cut. Growing up, she heard her mom's stories, but seeing them in beautiful panels with never-before-seen photos like a high school shot of her mom, hit. Hard, the exhibit matches her mom's accounts pretty closely.

1:01Meanwhile, tragedy struck the family left behind. Weiss's grandfather died in the local ghetto after a beating, her uncle in a military mishap, and her grandmother got sent to Auschwitz where she was, murdered. The museum sits right on the old ghetto site, making it even more poignant. Open April 15 for Yam Hoshowa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, this display keeps those survival stories alive. Deborah wishes her mom, who passed the 99, could have seen it honoring their close-knit life in Bridgeport, powerful reminder of resilience amid the horror. That wraps heart for news today, brought to you with AI.