The life of local author and child Holocaust survivor Erika Hecht will be remembered through readings and discussion of her recently published memoir.

STOWE, VT (January 11, 2023):  The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe (JCOGS) invites the public to convene for the United Nations-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day to honor and remember Holocaust survivor Erika Hecht as well as the other survivors and victims of the Holocaust, both Jewish and non-Jewish, on Saturday evening, January 28th at 5:30 PM.

Erika Hecht, a Vermont resident of several decades, passed away on December 20th, 2022. She is remembered as a creative woman who learned and adapted from her early traumatic life experiences as a young child in Hungary during World War 2. Erika demonstrated extraordinary courage, attending medical school in Austria after the war, followed by her move to Montreal, where she became a well-known interior designer. Erika’s love for Stowe brought her to JCOGS as a founding member, and where she shared her Holocaust survival story with local youth. Last year, Erika completed her memoir, “Don’t Ask My Name: A Hidden Child’s Tale of Survival” (East End Press).

The commemoration, also marking the culmination of Vermont’s first Holocaust Education Week, will be held at JCOGS, 1189 Cape Cod Road in Stowe, on Saturday, January 28th at 5:30PM. The program is sponsored in cooperation with the Hecht family, Vermont Holocaust Memorial, and East End Press. Copies of Erika Hecht’s memoir will be available for free to participants. A light collation and reception, including viewing of Vermont Holocaust Memorial’s traveling Holocaust exhibit, will follow.