History at the Memorial Summer Series with Author Nancy Wright Beasley
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oin us for a lunchtime lecture on Tuesday, June 17th as we host author Nancy Wright Beasley, who will discuss her book
With the release of Izzy’s Fire: Finding Humanity in the Holocaust by Nancy Wright Beasley, Holocaust survivor Edna Ipson saw her family’s story of struggle and survival—focused mainly on their hiding in a Lithuanian farmer’s potato field—recorded and published at the age of 93. The book depicts how 13 members of five Jewish families survived the Holocaust through their own ingenuity and the generosity of a poor Catholic farm family. All 13 Jews ended up living in a 9’x12’x4′ underground hole as World War II raged around them. Some lived underground for about seven months before being liberated by the Russian Army.
Dr. Michael Berenbaum, project director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (1988-1993) and author of The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, says, “Izzy’s Fire is filled with the passion of one woman determined to do justice to the story of another woman who lived in hiding throughout the war years. The war has soul. One feels the intensity of the struggle to survive. One senses the decency of those who were ready to rescue and the evil that haunted a mother and father and their young child in the dangerous world they lived. Nancy Wright Beasley has told a powerful story with dignified restraint. She has given voice to an underreported side of the Holocaust – life in hiding.”
Beasley draws from personal interviews, research and numerous memoirs, including extensive memoirs from Israel “Izzy” Ipson, who helped his family escape from Kovno Ghetto, one of the most notorious killing fields for Jews in Lithuania. The Ipps, as they were known then, relocated to Richmond following their liberation and later changed their name to Ipson.
Registration is not required for this free program. Pack your lunch and join our Summer Teacher Institute attendees for this special Author Talk. Free parking is available.
